Family Trading
When members of Congress disclose stock trades, it's often not their own brokerage account - it's a spouse, a dependent child, or a joint account. The STOCK Act requires these to be disclosed too. Family trading is legal and common. This page presents the data for transparency, not as an accusation of wrongdoing.
Who Actually Makes the Trades?
Breakdown of trade ownership across all 41,860 disclosed transactions
Only 2% of congressional trades are made by the politician themselves. The rest are spouses, children, joint accounts, or filings where the owner wasn't even disclosed.
The Standouts — Politicians Who Don't Personally Trade
Current Congress members with 30+ trades and at least 50% by spouse/child accounts, sorted by family trading volume
| Politician | Self | Spouse | Child | Joint | Total | Family % | Family Volume | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
Michael McCaul Rep House | 7 | 3,417 | 1,677 | 0 | 5,102 | 100% | $539.6M |
 |
Ro Khanna Dem House | 0 | 7,878 | 6,798 | 0 | 14,678 | 100% | $247.1M |
 |
Richard Blumenthal Dem Senate | 4 | 1,040 | 0 | 0 | 1,059 | 98% | $151.1M |
 |
Nancy Pelosi Dem House | 0 | 45 | 0 | 0 | 53 | 85% | $91.2M |
 |
Scott Peters Dem House | 0 | 274 | 0 | 0 | 281 | 98% | $86.2M |
 |
Dave McCormick Rep Senate | 81 | 332 | 0 | 0 | 413 | 80% | $63.4M |
 |
Rick Scott Rep Senate | 63 | 85 | 0 | 0 | 148 | 57% | $39.4M |
 |
Doris Matsui Dem House | 0 | 31 | 0 | 0 | 31 | 100% | $29.9M |
 |
Lisa McClain Rep House | 0 | 1,441 | 0 | 0 | 1,444 | 100% | $14.5M |
 |
Sheri Biggs Rep House | 0 | 256 | 0 | 3 | 265 | 97% | $11.6M |
 |
April McClain Delaney Dem House | 0 | 0 | 448 | 0 | 448 | 100% | $9.3M |
 |
John Hickenlooper Dem Senate | 11 | 44 | 2 | 0 | 57 | 81% | $6.5M |
 |
Mike Kelly Rep House | 0 | 72 | 0 | 0 | 72 | 100% | $4.1M |
 |
Dan Meuser Rep House | 0 | 24 | 5 | 0 | 30 | 97% | $4.0M |
 |
Val Hoyle Dem House | 0 | 392 | 0 | 0 | 393 | 100% | $3.4M |
 |
Rick Allen Rep House | 0 | 64 | 0 | 0 | 93 | 69% | $2.5M |
 |
Pete Sessions Rep House | 0 | 65 | 0 | 2 | 98 | 66% | $1.8M |
 |
Shelley Moore Capito Rep Senate | 2 | 160 | 0 | 0 | 162 | 99% | $1.5M |
 |
Dan Newhouse Rep House | 0 | 149 | 0 | 0 | 160 | 93% | $1.3M |
 |
Michael Guest Rep House | 0 | 58 | 4 | 0 | 62 | 100% | $844K |
 |
Zoe Lofgren Dem House | 0 | 95 | 0 | 5 | 100 | 95% | $834K |
 |
John Fetterman Dem Senate | 0 | 0 | 96 | 0 | 96 | 100% | $817K |
 |
Angus King Ind Senate | 0 | 45 | 0 | 0 | 45 | 100% | $483K |
Family Trading by Party
Which party uses spouse and child accounts more (current members only)
What Family Members Buy
The top stocks traded by spouses and children of Congress members
| Ticker | Family Trades | Volume | Politicians |
|---|---|---|---|
| GOOGL | 237 | $11.2M | 22 |
| MSFT | 192 | $11.4M | 27 |
| NVDA | 178 | $24.9M | 22 |
| JTSXX | 168 | $7.3M | 1 |
| XSP | 165 | $1.4M | 1 |
| AAPL | 159 | $36.9M | 26 |
| AMZN | 155 | $9.9M | 21 |
| JPM | 154 | $44.5M | 22 |
| META | 139 | $6.2M | 13 |
| WFC | 137 | $4.0M | 12 |
| MU | 123 | $1.5M | 6 |
| BRK/B | 123 | $2.6M | 13 |
| UNH | 122 | $4.6M | 17 |
| DIS | 112 | $1.8M | 13 |
| AVGO | 111 | $7.9M | 11 |
Why Does Family Trading Matter?
The STOCK Act requires Congress members to disclose trades made by themselves and their immediate family - spouses and dependent children - within 45 days. This is intentional: family insiders can act on non-public information shared at the dinner table.
When a politician's spouse trades hundreds of stocks per year while the politician themselves makes zero personal trades, that's a pattern worth watching. Some of the most famous cases of suspected congressional insider trading have been "spouse" trades. Family trading isn't illegal - but it's worth knowing who's doing it and how much.