Congress cheats within the inventory market. This isn’t a principle. It’s a mathematical actuality. The returns these elected officers generate for themselves beat most of the high retailers on Wall Road. 12 months after 12 months, they outperform on a regular basis traders utilizing a remarkably easy technique: they take data realized in committee conferences—privileged particulars about upcoming laws or authorities actions—and commerce on it.
This sample repeats yearly. Congress outperforms the market just about each single 12 months. However the information exhibits the state of affairs has develop into much more excessive than most individuals notice.
The outcomes of the 2025 Congressional Buying and selling Report are in. These aren’t slight outperformance numbers. They’re statistical anomalies that may get any regular citizen investigated.
I wish to stroll via the typical returns, the highest performers, and—most significantly—the precise shares they’re shopping for. As a result of when you see the disparity between their portfolios and everybody else’s, you notice the sport is rigged.
However that doesn’t imply you may’t play it.
The 2025 Congress Inventory Buying and selling Report
The inventory market had an important 12 months in 2025. The S&P 500 returned 16.8%—considerably greater than the long-term common of 9% or 10%.
Dozens of members of Congress slaughtered that quantity.
Take into consideration that. These aren’t skilled inventory merchants. These aren’t Wall Road hedge funds with multi-million greenback analysis budgets. These are people who received elected to Congress putting a few trades from their mobile phone of their Robinhood account between conferences.
They usually aren’t simply beating the market by some extent or two. They’re producing 50%, 60%, and 70% returns.
Consultant Warren Davidson posted a 78.8% portfolio return final 12 months. That’s almost 5 occasions the S&P 500.
A Bipartisan Downside
One frequent false impression is that it is a political challenge particular to at least one celebration. The info proves in any other case.
After we break down efficiency by celebration, the corruption is evenly distributed:
- Democrats: Common return of 31.8%
- Republicans: Common return of 35%
- S&P 500: Return of 16.8%
Each events are making roughly double the market index.
This isn’t a one-year phenomenon both. Knowledge compiled by Uncommon Whales for 2024 confirmed members hitting 50%, 60%, 70%, and in some instances 100-plus % annual returns.
Warren Buffett had an exceptional 12 months at round 24%. But a good portion of our legislative physique left the Oracle of Omaha within the mud.
Humiliating the Hedge Funds
The info turns into much more stunning while you evaluate Congressional returns to the people who find themselves truly paid to beat the market: skilled hedge funds.
Hedge funds are mainly like mutual funds on steroids. They’re solely open to institutional traders. They will do something to generate alpha—purchase distressed belongings, put money into actual property, commerce international debt and metals, make the most of every kind of loopy methods. They’ve received T1 traces proper underneath the exchanges. They make use of the neatest quantitative analysts on the earth.
The very best hedge funds on the earth in 2024 typically posted returns of 20% to 25%. That’s phenomenal. A pair funds—not folks, whole funds—managed 54%, 59%, or 80%.
In the meantime, you could have a half-dozen members of Congress doubling these returns.
The “Congress Buys” Technique
Does following them truly work?
There’s a web site referred to as Quiver Quantitative that focuses particularly on political trades. They run one thing referred to as the Congress Buys Technique. Because the identify implies, the technique merely buys the shares that Congress is shopping for.
The efficiency hole is overwhelming.
For the reason that post-COVID lows of April 2020, the Congress Buys Technique has generated a 37.4% compounded annual progress charge.
That’s completely decimating the market. It confirms these politicians aren’t simply fortunate. They’re buying and selling on an data benefit that most of the people—and even Wall Road—doesn’t have.
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Case Examine: The Susie Lee Anomaly
How precisely are they doing this? What sort of shares are they shopping for?
Due to the STOCK Act, they’re required to report these trades publicly. They file two varieties of studies:
- Periodic Transaction Report (PTR): Filed weeks after a selected commerce
- Monetary Disclosure Report: Filed yearly, displaying every part they personal
I wish to spotlight a selected instance from Consultant Susie Lee to indicate precisely what to search for.
Susie Lee’s total holdings aren’t extraordinary. She’s not extraordinarily rich. She’s received slightly belief with half one million bucks—semi-wealthy, however nothing loopy. She has a rental property in Las Vegas, and a small IRA with a pair hundred thousand {dollars}. Her portfolio consists of normal positions: an ETF fund, Boyd Gaming, Carnival Cruise, a on line casino inventory. Nothing that raises eyebrows.
She’s not a really lively investor. She doesn’t commerce loads in comparison with different members of Congress.
Nonetheless, about 18 months in the past, a Periodic Transaction Report hit. She purchased precisely one inventory.
Rheinmetall (Ticker: RNMBY).
That is the important thing to recognizing the corruption. You wish to search for the outlier trades.
If she had purchased Apple, Nvidia, Google, or Microsoft, there can be no purple flags. Everybody owns these mega-caps. However Rheinmetall is a small-cap German arms producer.
That’s an extremely odd choose for the one inventory you purchase in a few years.
The Consequence
I don’t wish to be a conspiracy theorist, but it surely appears odd that the only inventory this girl purchased in three years was a small German arms producer that quadrupled in worth over the subsequent 12 months.
It simply so occurs she additionally sits on the Navy Appropriations Committee—the very committee that doles out massive protection contracts to small arms producers like Rheinmetall.
Following the Company Donors
This cash engine in DC goes even deeper than particular person inventory trades. This entire corrupt swamp on each side of the celebration goes even deeper. You may also spot the traits by taking a look at the place company cash is flowing.
The highest donors to the 2026 midterm elections reveal a transparent sample. These corporations don’t take sides. They hedge their bets. They greenback out cash to Republicans, Democrats, and Independents throughout the board. They simply need favor.
The highest shares on the donor checklist: Honeywell, Northrop Grumman, Residence Depot, Basic Dynamics, Boeing, Lockheed Martin.
It’s a listing dominated by massive protection corporations.
And the charts? Honeywell has gone from 190 to 250 simply within the final couple of months—just about going straight up. Northrop Grumman (NOC) is doing the identical factor. Lockheed Martin and Boeing are seeing super strikes greater.
These shares are seeing huge inflows of capital, which simply appears overly coincidental given the donor exercise.
Monitoring the High Performers
A technique to make use of their corruption to your benefit is to observe the trades of the individuals who have traditionally carried out the perfect.
Trying on the 2024 numbers, the highest two performers have been David Rouzer (149%) and Debbie Schultz (142%).
Debbie Schultz’s latest exercise tells an fascinating story.
Within the final couple of months, she’s been promoting off shares like Ango and VLRS—possible taking income. However in August, she purchased two particular shares:
- Stratus (SS1Y)
- Icore Holdings (ICR)
Whereas Stratus hasn’t carried out nice (up solely about 8%), take a look at what occurred to Icore.
Shopping for the shares they purchase, particularly from the highest performers, places you able to revenue proper alongside them.
The Demise of Reg FD
And the brand new insider edge
I dug deeper to know why this hole exists, and I discovered a comparability involving Warren Buffett that explains every part.
Enterprise capitalist Chamath Palihapitiya lately mentioned a principle relating to Warren Buffett’s returns that’s going to anger lots of people.
In 2000, a regulation referred to as Reg FD (Regulation Honest Disclosure) was launched. The purpose of Reg FD was primarily that in case you’re a CFO, you can not discuss to a person inventory supervisor and inform him one thing that you just then don’t inform everyone else. Earlier than this, it wasn’t explicitly unlawful for a CFO to name a fund supervisor and say, “Hey, the way you doing?” and he goes, “Man, quarter was a blockbuster.” You’ll go and purchase the inventory. Beginning within the 2000s, it grew to become unlawful.
There was networks of data arbitrage that took benefit of this.
Warren Buffett’s returns pre-Reg FD have been double the market returns. However the minute that data sharing grew to become unlawful—when he needed to mainly act on the identical edge as everyone else—his returns went to the market return. He generated zero alpha. In truth, he in all probability on the margins misplaced slightly bit.
The implication: that is the only greatest investor on the earth. That is what occurs when you could have data symmetry.
Markets thrive when there’s asymmetry. Billions and billions of {dollars} will probably be made in asymmetry.
Congress is the brand new data arbitrage.
They know what earnings are going to be. They know what drug trial releases are going to be. They know once they’re going to cross laws that advantages sure shares. They know once they’re going to go to warfare and improve protection spending.
Data Is the Commodity
Data is probably the most useful commodity on Wall Road.
Those that know greater than most of the people—those that know what the earnings are going to be, what the drug trial releases are going to be, once they’re going to announce massive earnings or massive buyouts or mergers—stand to profit enormously by shopping for the inventory early.
The info from the 2025 Congressional Buying and selling Report proves that our elected officers are utilizing this benefit to generate returns that dwarf the S&P 500 and even the world’s high hedge funds.
My motto has all the time been to observe the cash. Proper now, the cash is flowing into the accounts of the folks writing the legal guidelines. You may get indignant about it, or you may watch what they’re shopping for and use that data to your benefit.
Get a whole 12 months of dwell weekly mentoring classes, my publication, indicators, bonus studies, tons extra. Click on the hyperlink and I’ll see you within the subsequent dwell session.
DISCLAIMER: Merchants Company doesn’t supply monetary recommendation. The knowledge offered is for instructional functions solely and shouldn’t be thought-about monetary recommendation. Merchants Company will not be answerable for any monetary losses or penalties ensuing from the usage of the data offered. Buying and selling carries inherent dangers and is probably not appropriate for all people. You might be suggested to conduct your individual analysis and search personalised recommendation earlier than making any funding choices, recognizing the potential dangers and rewards concerned.