Insider trading, decoded

Who is buying and who is selling their own company, straight from Forms 4 filed with the SEC. Open-market trades only: grants, vestings, tax withholding and gifts are decoded out and shown separately, because counting them as selling is how a headline gets it wrong.

The month shown is Mar 2026, the last one whose filings have all arrived. Form 4 is due within two business days of a trade; amendments and late filings keep landing for months, which is why this chart stops well short of the trades listed further down.

Twenty years of insider sentiment

Unique insiders buying vs selling each month, every US filer since 2006. Selling is chronic because pay arrives in stock; it is the buying spikes that marked the bottoms of 2008 and 2020.

The chart, in numbers

Month	Buying	Selling
Jan 2006	1,287	2,916
Feb 2006	1,566	4,403
Mar 2006	1,646	4,374
Apr 2006	1,225	2,789
May 2006	2,365	4,498
Jun 2006	1,793	2,485
Jul 2006	1,508	1,802
Aug 2006	2,187	3,607
Sep 2006	1,430	2,521
Oct 2006	1,333	2,605
Nov 2006	1,800	4,870
Dec 2006	1,691	3,342
Jan 2007	1,395	2,610
Feb 2007	1,603	4,523
Mar 2007	1,940	3,477
Apr 2007	1,333	2,866
May 2007	2,177	5,034
Jun 2007	1,697	3,340
Jul 2007	1,762	2,308
Aug 2007	3,501	3,544
Sep 2007	1,686	2,557
Oct 2007	1,673	2,506
Nov 2007	3,474	3,415
Dec 2007	2,627	2,693
Jan 2008	1,821	1,627
Feb 2008	2,281	2,614
Mar 2008	2,706	2,208
Apr 2008	1,677	1,982
May 2008	2,686	3,715
Jun 2008	2,093	2,269
Jul 2008	2,053	1,750
Aug 2008	2,569	3,029
Sep 2008	2,009	2,149
Oct 2008	2,378	1,284
Nov 2008	3,973	1,657
Dec 2008	2,826	1,812
Jan 2009	1,446	1,035
Feb 2009	2,402	1,561
Mar 2009	3,126	1,539
Apr 2009	1,132	1,386
May 2009	1,889	2,496
Jun 2009	1,605	2,164
Jul 2009	1,158	1,718
Aug 2009	1,582	3,332
Sep 2009	1,393	2,535
Oct 2009	1,296	1,817
Nov 2009	1,905	3,256
Dec 2009	1,722	2,966
Jan 2010	1,058	1,696
Feb 2010	1,417	2,918
Mar 2010	1,624	4,062
Apr 2010	1,126	2,693
May 2010	1,950	3,201
Jun 2010	1,748	2,203
Jul 2010	1,158	1,579
Aug 2010	2,067	2,691
Sep 2010	1,315	2,507
Oct 2010	1,003	2,221
Nov 2010	1,711	4,371
Dec 2010	1,522	4,208
Jan 2011	932	2,138
Feb 2011	1,313	4,112
Mar 2011	1,560	3,812
Apr 2011	957	2,422
May 2011	1,721	4,115
Jun 2011	1,444	2,321
Jul 2011	936	1,858
Aug 2011	3,233	2,111
Sep 2011	1,832	1,570
Oct 2011	1,058	1,691
Nov 2011	1,911	2,851
Dec 2011	1,690	2,476
Jan 2012	961	1,905
Feb 2012	1,349	4,233
Mar 2012	1,460	3,852
Apr 2012	981	2,027
May 2012	2,243	3,070
Jun 2012	1,536	2,058
Jul 2012	1,050	1,925
Aug 2012	1,602	3,693
Sep 2012	1,110	2,912
Oct 2012	982	1,899
Nov 2012	1,939	3,635
Dec 2012	1,664	3,768
Jan 2013	872	2,085
Feb 2013	1,020	3,974
Mar 2013	1,415	4,137
Apr 2013	995	2,243
May 2013	1,615	5,212
Jun 2013	1,289	2,685
Jul 2013	1,060	2,626
Aug 2013	1,627	4,158
Sep 2013	1,060	3,117
Oct 2013	1,072	2,538
Nov 2013	1,403	4,434
Dec 2013	1,345	3,132
Jan 2014	944	2,319
Feb 2014	1,208	4,153
Mar 2014	1,257	4,204
Apr 2014	1,113	2,218
May 2014	1,791	3,833
Jun 2014	1,228	3,267
Jul 2014	1,047	2,152
Aug 2014	1,623	3,553
Sep 2014	1,225	2,646
Oct 2014	1,168	2,220
Nov 2014	1,662	4,002
Dec 2014	1,885	3,176
Jan 2015	958	2,040
Feb 2015	1,315	3,915
Mar 2015	1,509	4,078
Apr 2015	901	2,342
May 2015	1,696	3,902
Jun 2015	1,410	2,968
Jul 2015	1,144	1,961
Aug 2015	2,420	3,067
Sep 2015	1,402	1,889
Oct 2015	1,009	1,831
Nov 2015	1,786	3,274
Dec 2015	1,746	2,324
Jan 2016	1,136	1,160
Feb 2016	1,839	2,397
Mar 2016	1,551	2,910
Apr 2016	791	1,793
May 2016	1,616	3,480
Jun 2016	1,333	2,528
Jul 2016	835	1,895
Aug 2016	1,361	3,877
Sep 2016	1,129	2,296
Oct 2016	848	1,545
Nov 2016	1,563	3,971
Dec 2016	1,207	3,054
Jan 2017	723	2,076
Feb 2017	988	3,896
Mar 2017	1,375	3,718
Apr 2017	776	1,842
May 2017	1,629	3,897
Jun 2017	1,151	2,796
Jul 2017	733	1,698
Aug 2017	1,705	3,100
Sep 2017	988	2,339
Oct 2017	837	2,038
Nov 2017	1,464	3,846
Dec 2017	1,290	2,932
Jan 2018	729	2,170
Feb 2018	1,231	3,076
Mar 2018	1,382	3,302
Apr 2018	834	1,765
May 2018	1,484	3,650
Jun 2018	1,161	2,808
Jul 2018	898	1,825
Aug 2018	1,404	3,511
Sep 2018	1,107	2,390
Oct 2018	1,159	1,424
Nov 2018	1,878	2,665
Dec 2018	1,923	1,819
Jan 2019	841	1,514
Feb 2019	912	3,284
Mar 2019	1,335	3,253
Apr 2019	803	1,902
May 2019	1,858	3,104
Jun 2019	1,420	2,539
Jul 2019	971	1,875
Aug 2019	1,969	2,816
Sep 2019	1,168	2,333
Oct 2019	820	1,676
Nov 2019	1,367	3,276
Dec 2019	1,094	2,666
Jan 2020	659	1,930
Feb 2020	1,332	3,084
Mar 2020	3,766	2,047
Apr 2020	835	1,374
May 2020	1,835	2,966
Jun 2020	1,363	2,848
Jul 2020	944	1,950
Aug 2020	1,385	3,448
Sep 2020	1,223	2,399
Oct 2020	852	1,949
Nov 2020	1,115	4,013
Dec 2020	1,198	3,613
Jan 2021	759	2,413
Feb 2021	918	4,064
Mar 2021	1,238	4,969
Apr 2021	783	2,606
May 2021	1,281	4,183
Jun 2021	1,184	3,813
Jul 2021	904	2,240
Aug 2021	1,545	3,802
Sep 2021	1,180	3,009
Oct 2021	770	2,063
Nov 2021	1,672	4,006
Dec 2021	1,613	2,840
Jan 2022	857	1,693
Feb 2022	1,009	2,461
Mar 2022	1,635	3,194
Apr 2022	829	1,583
May 2022	2,062	2,509
Jun 2022	1,427	2,159
Jul 2022	592	1,258
Aug 2022	1,394	3,267
Sep 2022	1,278	1,958
Oct 2022	719	1,570
Nov 2022	1,392	3,159
Dec 2022	1,368	2,471
Jan 2023	638	1,873
Feb 2023	785	3,157
Mar 2023	1,661	3,270
Apr 2023	717	1,398
May 2023	2,093	2,915
Jun 2023	1,055	2,810
Jul 2023	542	1,727
Aug 2023	1,352	3,286
Sep 2023	1,093	2,231
Oct 2023	736	1,253
Nov 2023	1,347	2,834
Dec 2023	989	3,121
Jan 2024	584	2,010
Feb 2024	934	3,383
Mar 2024	995	3,769
Apr 2024	674	1,674
May 2024	1,171	3,381
Jun 2024	960	2,484
Jul 2024	560	1,975
Aug 2024	1,104	3,316
Sep 2024	873	2,515
Oct 2024	611	1,822
Nov 2024	1,023	3,917
Dec 2024	991	2,897
Jan 2025	590	1,831
Feb 2025	879	2,875
Mar 2025	1,183	3,014
Apr 2025	670	1,299
May 2025	1,256	3,141
Jun 2025	890	2,758
Jul 2025	554	1,684
Aug 2025	1,178	3,237
Sep 2025	732	2,564
Oct 2025	583	1,665
Nov 2025	1,246	2,730
Dec 2025	989	2,848
Jan 2026	519	1,787
Feb 2026	890	3,136
Mar 2026	1,093	3,174

Cluster buys, 90 days to Sep 18, 2026

Three or more insiders buying within two weeks of each other. Academically the strongest simple insider signal; still just a fact, not advice.

Largest open-market buys, 90 days to Sep 18, 2026

Largest discretionary sales, 90 days to Sep 18, 2026

Sales executed under prearranged 10b5-1 plans are excluded here; they answer a schedule, not a view.

Sales on autopilot

Share of the last year's sale value executed under prearranged 10b5-1 plans. A plan is scheduled and mechanical; the rest is somebody choosing the moment. These are the two ends of the market: the largest sellers whose year was all plan, and the largest whose year had none. Ordered by how much was sold.

Longest without an insider buy

Covered companies where no insider has bought a single share on the open market for the longest time.

How to read this

A Form 4 transaction code decides everything. P is an open-market purchase and S an open-market sale; those two are the only codes where an insider chose to trade. A is a grant, M an option exercise or vesting, F shares withheld to cover tax, G a gift. Most “insiders dumped billions” headlines are code F and M mechanics.

Sales flagged 10b5-1 run on a plan the insider adopted in advance; since 2023 every Form 4 carries that flag. Buys have historically predicted returns, sales mostly have not, and this page states filings, not advice.

Every number on this page comes from Forms 3, 4 and 5 filed with the SEC. The insider export runs on its own schedule, so it can be a few days behind the rest of the site; the date below says how far it goes. Data through Sep 18, 2026