# How to Get Alerts When Congress Trades a Stock (Email and In-App)

> A step-by-step guide to setting up congressional trade alerts: which filings trigger them, how to filter by ticker, member, transaction type and size, how fast they arrive, and five alert recipes worth copying.

- Source: https://tradercongress.com/blog/congress-stock-trade-alerts
- Published: Sep 30, 2026
- Author: TraderCongress Analytics
- Tags: Alerts, How-To, Congressional Trading, Watchlist
- Reading time: 8 min read

## The short answer

You cannot be alerted the moment a member of Congress places a trade, because the trade is private until it is filed. What you can do is get notified the moment the filing becomes public. TraderCongress checks the official House and Senate disclosure sources every hour and sends Pro subscribers an email or in-app alert when a new filing matches rules you define: a ticker on your watchlist, a specific member, a transaction type, or a minimum trade size. The free plan shows data on a 60-day delay and does not include alerts.

This guide explains what an alert can and cannot tell you, walks through the setup, and shares five alert configurations that experienced users rely on.

## What a congressional trade alert can and cannot tell you

An alert fires on a **Periodic Transaction Report (PTR)**, the filing the [STOCK Act](https://tradercongress.com/blog/stock-act-guide) requires for every trade over $1,000. A PTR discloses the ticker, the transaction date, the filing date, whether it was a purchase, sale or exchange, whose account traded (member, spouse, dependent child or joint) and the amount as a range such as $15,001 to $50,000.

It does not disclose the price paid, the exact dollar amount or the reason for the trade. And because members have up to 45 days to file, the trade you are alerted to may be two to six weeks old. The value of an alert is speed relative to everyone else reading the same public record, not speed relative to the trade itself.

## How to set up a congressional trade alert on TraderCongress

1. **Create a free account** at [tradercongress.com/signup](https://tradercongress.com/signup). No credit card is needed for the free plan.
2. **Upgrade to Pro** from the Billing page. Alerts, hourly data and the full set of six data sources are Pro features; current prices are on the [pricing page](https://tradercongress.com/pricing) and you keep your rate for as long as you stay subscribed.
3. **Open Alerts in the dashboard sidebar** and choose New Alert. Give it a name you will recognize in your inbox, such as "NVDA congressional buys."
4. **Choose what to track.** Pick the data source: congressional trades, SEC insider filings, lobbying activity, government contracts or dark pool activity. Most users start with congressional trades.
5. **Narrow the rule.** Add one or more tickers, one or more members of Congress, a transaction type (purchase or sale) and a minimum trade value. Leave a field blank to match everything.
6. **Choose delivery and frequency.** Email, in-app notification, or both. Instant alerts go out within the hour of a matching filing appearing; daily and weekly alerts batch matches into one message.
7. **Save the alert** and check the Alerts page later to see which filings triggered it. Edit or pause any rule at any time.

## Five alert recipes worth copying

| Goal | Source | Filters | Frequency |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Know when any member trades a stock you own | Congressional trades | Tickers: your holdings · Type: any | Instant |
| Catch conviction buys across all of Congress | Congressional trades | Tickers: all · Type: purchase · Minimum trade value: $50,000 | Instant |
| Follow one member's entire activity | Congressional trades | Member: the member you follow · Tickers: all | Daily |
| See insider buying on your watchlist | SEC insider filings | Tickers: your holdings · Transaction: acquired · Minimum amount: $100,000 | Daily |
| Track lobbying on an issue you invest around | Lobbying activity | Issue area: for example Energy or Health · Minimum amount: $100,000 | Weekly |

The second recipe is the one most users keep. Purchases over $50,000 are rare, so the alert is quiet, and a large purchase of a single stock is one of the few signals of conviction a disclosure can carry. Pair it with the first recipe so you never miss activity in names you already hold.

## How fast do alerts arrive?

TraderCongress checks the official congressional disclosure sources and SEC insider filings every hour. When a new filing matches an instant rule, the email is sent in the same hourly run, so the typical delay between a filing becoming public and the alert landing in your inbox is under an hour. Government contracts, lobbying reports, dark pool data and federal spending refresh once a day, every morning in the U.S. Eastern time zone, so alerts on those sources arrive daily. Alerts are never sent for records older than two weeks or for historical data loaded in bulk, so a backfill never floods your inbox.

## Avoiding alert fatigue

- **Use a minimum trade value.** Roughly three quarters of congressional trades fall in the $1,001 to $15,000 band. Setting a $15,000 or $50,000 floor removes most of the noise.
- **Limit tickers on instant rules.** Reserve instant delivery for your holdings and for conviction buys; put broad rules on a daily schedule.
- **Watch members, not just tickers.** A daily rule on a handful of active members is a compact way to follow the market's most-watched filers.

## How this compares with other ways to follow Congress

The official House and Senate databases do not offer notifications; you have to search them. Some free trackers publish an RSS feed of new filings, which delivers everything with no filtering. Congressional trading ETFs such as NANC and KRUZ give you exposure without any notification at all. TraderCongress alerts sit in between: you decide the ticker, member, type, size and cadence, and the same rules work across congressional trades, insider filings, lobbying, contracts and dark pool data.

Ready to try it? [Start free](https://tradercongress.com/signup), add the stocks you own to a watchlist, and upgrade to Pro when you want the alerts to start.

## Frequently asked questions

### How fast are congressional trade alerts?

TraderCongress checks the official House and Senate disclosure sources every hour. When a new filing matches an instant alert rule, the email or in-app notification goes out in the same hourly run, so the typical delay between a filing becoming public and the alert arriving is under an hour. The filing itself can be up to 45 days after the trade under the STOCK Act.

### Are congressional trade alerts free?

No. Alerts are part of the Pro plan on TraderCongress. The free plan shows congressional trades and government contracts on a 60-day delay with a three-ticker watchlist and no alerts. Current Pro prices are on the pricing page, and you keep the rate you sign up at for as long as your subscription stays active.

### Can I get alerts for a specific member of Congress?

Yes. An alert rule can be limited to one or more members of Congress, one or more tickers, a transaction type (purchase or sale) and a minimum trade value, delivered instantly or batched into a daily or weekly message. Leave the ticker field blank to be notified of everything a member files.

### Why are congressional trade alerts delayed compared with the trade itself?

Because trades are private until they are filed. The STOCK Act allows members up to 45 days to report a transaction, so no service can alert you at the moment a member trades. Alerts notify you when the disclosure becomes public, which is the earliest point at which the information exists outside the member's household.

### Does TraderCongress send SMS or text-message alerts?

No. Alerts are delivered by email and as in-app notifications. You can choose either or both for each rule.

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Markdown version of https://tradercongress.com/blog/congress-stock-trade-alerts. TraderCongress tracks U.S. congressional stock trades, SEC insider filings, federal contracts, lobbying and dark pool data for investors in the United States and Canada; official disclosures are checked every hour. It is informational only, not financial advice.

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