Scoring Guide

Overview

Congress Trade Tracker monitors US congressional stock trade disclosures, detects anomalous trades using a composite scoring algorithm, and surfaces suspicious activity via real-time alerts. Every trade filed under the STOCK Act is fetched, scored across five independent factors, and flagged when its score meets the suspicion threshold.

Scoring System

Each trade receives a composite anomaly score from 0 to 100, calculated as a weighted sum of 5 independent factors. Higher scores indicate more suspicious trading patterns. The score is deterministic: given the same trade data and configuration, the score is always the same.

Scoring Factors

Each factor is scored independently from 0 to 100 and contributes to the composite score according to its weight.

Timing

40%

Measures how quickly a trade was disclosed after execution. The score uses a linear decay from 100 (immediate disclosure) to 0 (at the 45-day legal deadline). Weight: 40% of the composite score.

A high score means the member filed unusually fast, suggesting possible urgency.

Trade Size

30%

Maps the estimated trade amount to a score using STOCK Act disclosure brackets. Larger trades score higher because they represent greater financial exposure and potential for informed trading. Weight: 30% of the composite score.

A high score means the trade involved a large reported amount relative to typical congressional disclosures.

Committee Alignment

15%

Evaluates whether the traded company's sector aligns with the member's committee assignments. A direct sector match scores 100, a parent committee match scores 60, an adjacent sector scores 25, and no match scores 0. Weight: 15% of the composite score.

A high score suggests the member may have sector-specific non-public information from their committee work.

Cluster Activity

10%

Detects when multiple members trade the same stock within a 7-day window. More members trading the same ticker increases the score. Frequently traded tickers (over 50 total trades) receive a noise penalty that halves the score. Weight: 10% of the composite score.

A high score suggests coordinated or informed activity across multiple legislators.

Legislative Proximity

Measures proximity between the trade date and legislative activity in the company's sector. The score decays linearly from 100 (same day) to 0 (30 days apart). Weight: 5% of the composite score.

A high score means relevant legislation was active near the trade date, raising the possibility of informed trading.

Suspicion Threshold

Trades scoring 49 or above are flagged as suspicious and appear on the Alerts page.

Trades below the threshold are still tracked but do not trigger alerts.

Market Cap Badges

Each traded stock displays a market capitalization badge based on its current market value.

Category	Threshold	Description
Mega	> $200B	Mega cap: market value exceeding $200 billion.
Large	$10B – $200B	Large cap: market value between $10 billion and $200 billion.
Mid	$2B – $10B	Mid cap: market value between $2 billion and $10 billion.
Small	< $2B	Small cap: market value below $2 billion.

Industry Sectors

Sectors are derived from each company's SIC (Standard Industrial Classification) code provided by the SEC. Sector names remain in English as they are standardized financial terminology.

Trade Types

Category	Description
Purchase	Purchase: the member bought shares of the company.
Sale	Sale (full or partial): the member sold shares of the company.
Exchange	Exchange: shares were exchanged, typically as part of a tax-free corporate reorganization.

Estimated Amounts

The STOCK Act requires disclosure of trade amounts in ranges, not exact values. The reported bracket indicates the estimated value of the transaction.

Range	Score
$1,000 or less	0
$1,001 – $15,000	5
$15,001 – $50,000	20
$50,001 – $100,000	35
$100,001 – $250,000	50
$250,001 – $500,000	65
$500,001 – $1,000,000	75
$1,000,001 – $5,000,000	90
$5,000,001+	100

Disclosure Delay

US law requires members of Congress to disclose stock trades within 45 days of the transaction date. The lag value shown on each trade represents the number of days between the trade and its public disclosure. Most members file within 20 to 30 days; faster disclosure may signal urgency.