About this page
WallStPal explains public SEC filings and congressional stock trade reports in plain English. Nothing is for sale; the site is free and supported by ads.
How to read it
- Form 4
- The form a company insider (officer, director or owner of more than 10%) must file with the SEC within two business days of buying or selling the company's shares.
- 13F
- A quarterly list of U.S. stocks held by an investment manager with more than $100 million, filed within 45 days after each quarter ends.
- STOCK Act
- A 2012 law that requires members of Congress to report stock trades by themselves, a spouse or a dependent child within 45 days.
A real example
In January 2016, when bank stocks were falling, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon bought 500,000 JPMorgan shares with his own money, worth about $26 million. His Form 4 made the purchase public within days, and investors read it as a strong sign of confidence.
Explain it like I'm 13
We read the long, boring forms that grown-ups file with the government and tell you what they say in normal words.
Data from public SEC filings and congressional reports. Information, not investment advice. Check every number against the filing linked on the page.
What the Famous Own and Trade
Billionaire founders and top executives must report every trade in their company's stock. Famous investors' funds report their holdings each quarter. Here is what those filings show.
Famous investors
Why some famous people are not here
Only people whose holdings appear in public filings can be shown. Company founders, directors and top executives must report every trade in their own company's stock on SEC Form 4, and investment managers with more than $100 million must list their U.S. stock holdings each quarter on Form 13F. Athletes, actors and other celebrities usually have no such duty, so their personal investments are private, and we never guess them. A celebrity appears here only when they have had a public filing duty, such as Oprah Winfrey while she sat on the board of WeightWatchers. Members of Congress report their trades under a different law; see Congress trades.
Examples
Elon Musk's sales of Tesla stock in late 2021, worth billions of dollars, were all public within days because he filed a Form 4 for each one. Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway shows its U.S. stock holdings four times a year on Form 13F, which is how the world learned in 2024 that it had sold about half of its Apple shares.
Explain it like I'm 13
Some very rich people have to tell the government every time they buy or sell their company's stock, a bit like a team captain who must announce every trade of team cards. We read those announcements and show them here in plain words.