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- 1 ‘Congress beat the market,’ again.
- 2 Around $1 Billion in financial transactions disclosed by Congress in 2023.
- 3 Pelosi’s and Tuberville’s trade filings find special mention in the report.
Unusual Whales has been tracking the trading portfolios of members of Congress. It has published similar reports over the past 4 years and the latest one was published on January 2nd. Unusual Whales has analyzed these disclosures and highlighted trends in the transactions in 2023.
Whether politicians should be allowed to trade is a serious debate that is yet to be settled.
Unusual Whales Report Tracks Portfolios of Congress Members
Members of the US Congress are required by law to disclose financial transactions within 45 days. Over 11,000 transactions were filed by Congress members in 2023. In 2020, over 16,000 transactions were filed. In 2023, Democrats filed more transactions than Republicans in the House of Representatives. However, the report may not include all filings because politicians may not have yet filed transactions made in the last quarter of the year.
There are 435 members in the House of Representatives and there are 100 members in the Senate.
Of the 100 members that traded, 33% beat the SPY. Brian Higgins (NY 26th District), Seth Moulton (MA-6th District), and Ron Wyden (D-OR) registered the highest returns among Democrats. Mark Green (TN 7th District), Garret Graves (LA 6th District) and David Douzer (NC 7th District) were the top three Republican traders.
‘Last year, there was a sharp decline in the number of Congress members disclosing transactions compared to previous years! The 118th Congress had 115 members disclosing trades in its first year compared to previous classes 117th (January 2021 – January 2023) and the latter half of 116th (January 2019 – January 2021) with over 150 members disclosing trades.’
Unusual Whales noted that the Congress members sold more stocks than bought, sold more government securities (Treasury bills, bonds and notes). However, they bought more ‘corporate securities in the last two years’.
Apple (APPL) and Conocophillips (COP) were the most bought stocks. Microsoft (MSFT), WTT, Meta (META) and Google (GOOGL) were the most sold stocks.
Important Findings and ‘Unusual Trades’
‘Despite the downward trend of recent years, 2023 saw over $1 Billion USD in financial transactions disclosed by Congress (when taking the maximum disclosed amounts).’
Per the report, Kevin Hern, the Republican Representative of the 1st District of Oklahoma benefitted the most from the ongoing conflicts in Ukraine and Israel. Hern, Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ 5th District), Michael Guest (R-MS 3rd District), Markwayne Mullin (R-OK), Richard Larsen (D-WA 2nd District) were among those Congress members who registered positive returns from investments in defense stocks.
Former Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi (D-CA 11th District) and Senator Thomas Tuberville (R-AL) featured in the ‘unusual trades’ section.
Pelosi’s investments in California based multinational tech giant Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) had triggered public outrage earlier when Unusual Whales highlighted the conflict. Per its Jan 2022 report, Pelosi was the ‘fifth best trader in the Congress’. Later into the year, Pelosi reportedly invested Millions in NVDA just before she was to vote on a semi-conductor bill.
Pelosi divested her NVDA holdings soon after Unusual Whales reported on her filings and a month later, along with Representative Lofgern proposed a bill banning Congressional trading. However, after Chinese premier Xi Jinping’s visit and before the Biden administration’s announcement regarding semiconductors, Pelosi’s husband, Paul Pelosi reportedly invested over $2 Million in NVdA calls.
‘Pelosi has always been quite good at trading before news but to come back to a company she divested from due to conflicts before excellent news is quite stunning.’
Unusual Whales highlighted that the Senator’s investments in agriculture companies while being part of the Senate Committee for Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry and his investments in Humacte
Unusual Whales has launched 2 ETFs that replicate the investments of Congress members and their spouses in collaboration with Subversive ETFs. The two ETFs are ‘NANC: Unusual Whales Subversive Democratic Trading ETF’ and ‘KRUZ: Unusual Whales Subversive Republican Trading ETF’.
Pelosi and Tuberville are only two of the Congress members among several whose trades have been highlighted over the past four years. Unusual Whales’ reportage led to the proposal of bills that ban Congressional trading. What is really required is consensus and subsequent action over the debate around Congressional trading.
Adarsh Singh is a true connoisseur of Defi and Blockchain technologies, who left his job at a “Big 4” multinational finance firm to pursue crypto and NFT trading full-time. He has a strong background in finance, with MBA from a prestigious B-school. He delves deep into these innovative fields, unraveling their intricacies. Uncovering hidden gems, be it coins, tokens or NFTs, is his expertise. NFTs drive deep interest for him, and his creative analysis of NFTs opens up engaging narratives. He strives to bring decentralized digital assets accessible to the masses.
