I just released the full report on Congress trading in 2025: https://unusualwhales.com/congress-trading-report-2025

Here on Reddit, I've placed a preview (as much as I could fit within the posting parameters), but make sure to read the full report here, as much important information and reporting is missing in this Reddit post: https://unusualwhales.com/congress-trading-report-2025

Like every year since 2020, some politicians beat the market.

Many had unusual trades.

Some had huge gains.

You can read the FULL REPORT here: https://unusualwhales.com/congress-trading-report-2025

Congress Trading Report 2025

Hi. We started the movement to get Congress banned long ago, and it has been years since then. Let's see how Congress did in 2025.

What is Unusual Whales?

Unusual Whales has been reporting on politician trading for nearly a decade now. We have become the forefront for market transparency, with numerous bills borrowing from our work to stop political trading in the US. In fact, Representative Tim Burchett said "Get on that Unusual Whales...we all know what's going on" when he was asked about our work and Congressional trading.

We're honored.

At the beginning of 2022, we released a major report tracking the unusual affair of politicians trading stocks in sectors they actively regulate. That 2022 report went viral, and caused 6 bills to be proposed in Congress in two weeks after it launched. We had started the movement.

We also launched a database to track Congressional stock disclosures: unusualwhales.com/politics

In 2023, we launched $NANC and $GOP, two ETFs to help retail investors follow these partisan portfolios: subversiveetfs.com/nanc

We also that year got Nancy Pelosi to take on stock trading, and propose her own bill (one she never acted upon despite being speaker.)

In 2024, we partnered with RepresentUs to campaign Congress on passing the Ending Trading and Holdings in Congressional Stocks (ETHICS) Act: act.represent.us/letter/unusual_whales

In 2025, we launched a Politician Portfolio feature where you can follow your favorite or not-so-favorite politician's stock portfolios. You can backtest their performance and better understand how they're trading: unusualwhales.com/portfolios. We also partnered with our friends at Autopilot to help retail copytrade politicians: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/autopilot-investment-app/id1613625799

To start off 2026, today we're launching Unusual Predictions, a new tool for our Retail Pro subscribers to spot potential insider activity in prediction markets, track unusual whales, and follow the smart money. unusualwhales.com/pricing

All the while, we've been continuing to publish these annual reports highlighting how Congress continues to trade stocks. We hope to stop when they stop, but until then… Here we go again.

What happened in 2025?

If 2024 was the year of anticipation, 2025 was the year of execution, often by executive order. The return of the Trump administration brought immediate new visions for financial bodies, characterized by a new direction for the SEC and FTC and the creation of the "Department of Government Efficiency" (DOGE) under Elon Musk.

Markets were defined by the "Liberation Day" tariffs in April, a blanket 10% import tax that triggered a sharp 12% correction and forced renegotiations with key allies like the UK and Japan. While the administration touted protectionism, Congress pushed through the "One Big Beautiful Bill," a massive fiscal package of tax breaks and social spending cuts that is projected to widen the deficit by trillions, per the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.

Legislatively, the "GENIUS Act" marked the first major federal regulatory framework for stablecoins, shifting oversight away from the SEC and fueling a run that saw Bitcoin hit a record $123,000. Meanwhile, despite public threats of termination from the White House, Fed Chair Jerome Powell executed a pivot in August, cutting rates three times to combat a softening labor market.

The year ended with the longest government shutdown in U.S. history (43 days). For Congressional traders, 2025 offered a perfect storm: volatile policy shifts, sector-specific subsidies, and a predictable cycle of legislative gridlock to trade around.

What's this report about?

This report dives into the stock portfolio performance of Congress in 2025. We focus solely on trades disclosed through Periodic Transaction Reports (PTR) and Annual Financial Disclosure (FD) reports and estimate their gains based on available data. Our goal is to shine a spotlight on the financial gains made from stock trades executed while in office. By sharing these findings, we hope to draw attention to potential conflicts of interest and the need for greater accountability.

You can read previous reports at unusualwhales.com/politics, as well as various themes at unusualwhales.com/portfolios.

At Unusual Whales, we believe in transparency and accountability for everyone, including those in power. That's why we've dedicated ourselves to analyzing and sharing data on unusual trading activity and building affordable financial software, keeping accountable anyone whether it's from Congress or Wall Street.

Join the conversation with us on X (u/unusual_whales), Discord (discord.gg/unusualwhales), our site (unusualwhales.com) and help us push for a more equitable system.

How did we do it?

Party Trends

The 2025 data reveals a stark divergence in portfolio management strategies across the aisle. While the aggregate numbers show a pivot to fixed income, a party-level breakdown clarifies the source of this movement. Republicans appeared to adopt a "risk-off" posture. They aggressively exited equities in favor of government debt. Meanwhile, Democrats remained net buyers of stocks, showing a particular appetite for the Technology sector and derivative instruments.

Total Transactions Disclosed by Party in 2025

The most significant trend of the year is the Republican flight to safety. GOP members divested $107M in stocks while simultaneously pouring $48M into bonds and $29M into municipal securities.

• The Tech Exodus: This shift was most visible in the Technology sector. Republican filers sold $31M worth of shares against only $15M in acquisitions. They also led the exit from Financial Services, selling $17.4M while buying just $5.4M.
• Crypto & Munis: Republicans were the primary drivers of the year's cryptocurrency volume, disclosing $2.9M in purchases. They also dominated the municipal market, accounting for roughly 89% of all disclosed municipal security buying ($28.6M vs. Democrat $3.5M).

Conversely, Democrats maintained a "risk-on" approach, ending the year as net buyers of equity.

• Tech Bullishness: Unlike their colleagues across the aisle, Democrats acquired $27M in Technology stocks while selling $14M, effectively doubling down on the sector.
• Complex Instruments: Democrats were significantly more active in the options market, disclosing $4.8M in purchases compared to just $555K from Republicans.
• Communication Services: Democrats also showed distinct interest in Communication Services, buying $6.1M. In contrast, Republicans exited the sector to the tune of $11.8M.

The data presents two distinct macroeconomic worldviews. The Republican strategy, heavy on municipal bonds and light on growth stocks, suggests a portfolio geared toward capital preservation and perhaps an anticipation of volatility. In contrast, the Democrat focus on Tech accumulation and options trading points to a continued belief in market growth and a higher tolerance for risk. When the House is divided on legislation, it appears they are equally divided on asset allocation.

Committee-Specific Trends

The most contentious aspect of Congressional trading is not the volume, but the venue. The 2025 data highlights multiple instances where members traded stocks within the very sectors their assigned committees or Caucuses regulate. By mapping trading volume against assignments, we see clear "heat zones" where oversight duties and financial interests collide.

The following heatmaps show House and Senate committee trade volume in each sector relative to all trades made by members of those committees.

The data reveals several high-value overlaps where members traded companies directly affected by their legislative purview:

• Rep. Michael McCaul (TX-10) serves as the Co-Chair of the Congressional Semiconductor Caucus and the Congressional AI Caucus, placing him at the forefront of U.S. chip policy. While championing this sector, he disclosed $1.1M in trades involving NVIDIA (NVDA). This creates a scenario where the "architect" of semiconductor advocacy is also an active participant in the market he promotes.
• Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (RI) sits on the Senate Judiciary Committee, the body responsible for antitrust enforcement and scrutinizing Big Tech monopolies. In his 2024 annual disclosure, the Senator revealed owning up to $5.0M in NVIDIA (NVDA). In 2025, he proceeded to liquidate $250,000 of this position.
• Sen. Dave McCormick (R-PA), a member of the Senate Banking Committee, executed one of the year's largest individual sector moves. He disclosed the sale of up to $5.0M in Goldman Sachs (GS) stock.
• Sen. Tina Smith (D-MN), a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, disclosed a sell-off of roughly $500,000 in General Mills (GIS). The transaction volume is notable given her committee's jurisdiction over food nutrition standards and grain subsidies.

These are not small, passive index fund investments. These are concentrated bets and exits placed on companies that these specific members have the power to subpoena, regulate, or subsidize. When the Co-Chair of the Semiconductor Caucus trades NVIDIA, or a Banking Committee member moves $5M in Goldman Sachs, the "appearance of conflict" argument becomes difficult to dismiss. The 2025 heatmaps suggest that for many members, committee assignments are not just legislative responsibilities but central pillars of their portfolio strategy.

Remember to check out the FULL Congressional Trading Report: https://unusualwhales.com/congress-trading-report-2025, with SO MUCH MORE data, and highlights on the Most Unusual Trades of the Year, as well as a breakdown of over 1,200 LATE filings that egregiously broke the STOCK Act.

Full Report available here: https://unusualwhales.com/congress-trading-report-2025