Investment Guides — Insider Trading

Everything you need to know to read and interpret insider transactions from SEC filings. Practical guides written for retail investors who want to make data-driven decisions.

📚 Foundations (Beginner)
Guide 1

What is Insider Trading

Legal vs illegal definitions, SEC regulations, Form 4 filing process, and why tracking corporate insider transactions matters for investors.

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Guide 2

How to Read SEC Form 4

Step-by-step breakdown of every section, table column, transaction code, and footnote to extract actionable insider trading signals.

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Guide 3

Form 4 Transaction Codes

Complete reference for all codes — P, S, M, F, G, A, D, C, W, and more. Which codes signal real insider conviction and which are noise.

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Guide 4

SEC Filing Types Explained

Understand 10-K, 10-Q, 8-K, Form 4, 13F, 13D/G, S-1, and proxy statements — what each filing contains, who files it, and why it matters.

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⚖️ Laws & Regulation
Guide 5

Insider Trading Laws

SEC Exchange Act Section 16, Rule 10b-5, penalties, enforcement cases from Martha Stewart to SAC Capital, and how laws differ worldwide.

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Guide 6

What is a 10b5-1 Plan

How 10b5-1 trading plans work, why insiders use them, the 2023 amendments that closed loopholes, and how investors should interpret these transactions.

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Guide 7

STOCK Act Explained

The Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act: history, disclosure requirements, enforcement gaps, loopholes, and proposed reforms.

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📈 Strategies & Analysis
Guide 8

Best Insider Trading Strategies

Cluster buying, copy-trading insiders, contrarian signals, and sector rotation approaches backed by academic research.

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Guide 9

How to Follow Smart Money

The difference between Form 4 and 13F filings, tools for tracking institutional and insider flows, backtesting results, and practical implementation.

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Guide 10

Insider Buying Signals

Which purchases are meaningful based on insider role, transaction size, timing context, and cluster patterns. Separate conviction buys from noise.

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Guide 11 — Featured

Predictive Insider Trading Signals

Algorithms and indicators to separate meaningful insider buys and sells from noise. The WhaleSentiment Score explained: 6 indicators, complete formula, real-world examples.

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Guide 12

Cluster Buying Explained

How multiple insiders buying the same stock simultaneously creates the strongest predictive signal. Detection methodology, historical examples, and backtesting results.

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🔬 Advanced Topics
Guide 13

CEO Stock Compensation

RSUs, stock options, performance shares, golden parachutes. How to read Form 4 filings to distinguish compensation transactions from real insider signals.

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Guide 14

How Hedge Funds Use Insider Data

13F filings, quantitative strategies, institutional money flow analysis, and how retail investors can apply the same techniques.

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Guide 15

Short Interest vs Insider Trading

How to combine short interest data with insider trading signals. The relationship between short sellers and corporate insiders, and what happens when their views diverge.

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Guide 16

Dark Pool Data Explained

What dark pools are, how they work, their relationship to insider activity, how to access dark pool data, and what it means for retail investors.

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🏛️ Congress & Cases
Guide 17

Insider Trading vs Congress Trading

How corporate executive insider trading compares to stock trading by members of Congress. The STOCK Act, disclosure rules, performance differences.

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Guide 18

Congressional Stock Trading Scandal

The 2020 COVID selloff, notable congress members who traded on non-public information, STOCK Act limitations, and proposed reforms including trading bans.

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Guide 19

Most Famous Insider Trading Cases

Ivan Boesky, Martha Stewart, Raj Rajaratnam, SAC Capital, Chris Collins, and more. How they were caught and what investors can learn.

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Why These Guides?

Insider trading is one of the most powerful — yet least understood — indicators available to retail investors. Executives know their companies better than any outside analyst, and when they put their own money on the line, the signal is loud and clear.

These guides help you move from "executives are selling" to "here's what that actually means for my portfolio." No unnecessary jargon, just practical information based on public SEC data.

Also check out our real-time insider trading data to see the latest transactions.