Insider Trading in 2026: The Year in SEC Filings

The big picture

Insiders sell far more than they buy in every year, because they are paid in stock and sell some of it to pay taxes, diversify or spend. In 2026 they bought 31.6 cents of stock for every dollar they sold. The more useful number is how many people bought: 4,266 different insiders spent their own money on their company's shares, including 1,975 purchases by chief executives worth $1.61B.

Month by month

Our Form 4 records begin Feb 13, 2026, so the year so far is measured from that month. Earlier months will be added if we backfill older filings.

Buying was most widespread in May, when 1,060 insiders made purchases. Months with a sharp market fall usually bring a wave of buying, as insiders see their own stock as cheap.

bought sold (dollar value, same scale)

By sector

Sectors ranked by dollars bought per dollar sold. Insiders were most willing to buy in Technology and least in Energy.

Largest purchases

Largest sales

Companies with the most insider buying and selling

Most bought: SVRE ($27.9B), RSG ($1.58B), RIVN ($1.00B), JEF ($628.7M), LEN ($595.3M), PBLS ($441.4M), CRBG ($339.5M), KLRA ($326.8M), PSUS ($321.5M), COE ($262.6M).

Most sold: FANG ($8.20B), NRG ($5.30B), CRWV ($4.88B), DELL ($3.57B), BTSG ($3.36B), INIO ($2.69B), WMT ($2.35B), LTH ($2.34B), CAR ($1.76B), LGN ($1.66B).

Did the purchases work?

Of the 4,780 purchases from 2026 that are at least three months old, the median stock finished −2.3% against the S&P 500 and 44% beat the index. The full analysis, by role, size and setup, is in Did insider buying beat the S&P 500 in 2026?

Examples

A single month can change the picture. In March 2020, as stocks crashed at the start of the pandemic, insider purchases jumped to their highest level in years while selling dried up; many of those purchases turned out to be well timed as the market recovered later that year. Watching how many insiders buy, not just how much, is how this report tries to spot moments like that.

Explain it like I'm 13

This is the school yearbook for insider trading: who bought, who sold, which months were busy, and which "classes" (sectors) liked their own stock most. Selling is like spending pocket money, everyone does it; buying with your own money is the part worth paying attention to.

Built from SEC Form 4 and 13F filings and STOCK Act reports as read by WallStPal, rebuilt every day. Prices are weekly closing prices derived from SEC data and can lag by a few weeks. Results describe what stocks did, not anyone's profit, and are not investment advice. See our method.