The Rules — Congress vs. Everyone Else Accurate as of July 23, 2026

The written rules, side by side, with a citation on every row. The reader draws the conclusions.

Disclosure requirements

What each group must reveal about its own trading, and when.

	Members of Congress	Corporate insiders (officers, directors, 10% owners)	General public	Sources
Must trades be reported?	Yes — Periodic Transaction Report for any securities transaction over $1,000 (STOCK Act, 2012).	Yes — SEC Form 4 for transactions in the issuer's securities (Securities Exchange Act §16(a)).	No reporting obligation.	[1] [2]
Deadline to disclose	30 days from becoming aware of the transaction; never more than 45 days after it.	2 business days.	—	[1] [2]
What must be disclosed	Broad dollar ranges (e.g., "$15,001–$50,000"). Exact amounts, share counts, and prices are not required.	Exact number of shares, price per share, and resulting holdings — machine-readable on SEC EDGAR.	—	[1] [2]
Standard penalty for a late filing	$200 late-filing fee.	No fixed fee — late Form 4s are subject to SEC enforcement and must be flagged in the company's proxy statement.	—	[1] [2]
Mandatory trading blackouts or cooling-off periods	None required by law — members may trade while legislation affecting the security is pending before them.	Rule 10b5-1 trading plans require a cooling-off period (up to ~120 days for officers and directors); companies commonly impose earnings blackout windows.	None.	[1]
Required to divest or use a blind trust?	No. Qualified blind trusts exist but are optional and rare.	No divestiture requirement; holdings are simply public in exact detail.	—	[1]

Sources: STOCK Act (Pub. L. 112-105) · 15 U.S.C. §78p · STOCK Act §6 · SEC Forms 3, 4, 5 · House Ethics financial disclosure rules · SEC EDGAR · Senate Select Committee on Ethics · 17 C.F.R. §240.10b5-1 · Senate qualified blind trusts

Insider-trading law & enforcement

The law on paper is nearly identical for everyone. The rows below state the written law and the structural differences in how it can be enforced.

	Members of Congress	Corporate insiders	General public	Sources
Is trading on material non-public information illegal?	Yes — the STOCK Act affirms members owe a duty and are not exempt from securities-fraud law (Rule 10b-5).	Yes — Rule 10b-5; plus §16(b) lets the company claw back any profit on buy/sell pairs within 6 months, violation or not.	Yes — Rule 10b-5 under the misappropriation theory.	[1] [2] [3]
Maximum criminal exposure	Same statute on paper: up to 20 years and $5,000,000 for individuals (Exchange Act §32).	Up to 20 years and $5,000,000 for individuals.	Up to 20 years and $5,000,000 for individuals.	[1]
Profit clawback mechanism	None. No statute unwinds or recovers a member's trade — the $200 late fee is the only routine penalty in practice.	§16(b) short-swing profits are recoverable by the issuer; SEC disgorgement in enforcement actions.	Disgorgement in SEC enforcement actions.	[1] [2]
Structural barriers to prosecution	The Constitution's Speech or Debate Clause shields legislative acts and materials, complicating any case built on what a member learned through official duties.	None specific to the role.	None.	[1] [2]
Track record under the rules above	No member of Congress has been convicted under the STOCK Act's trading provisions since its 2012 passage. (Related convictions — e.g., United States v. Collins, S.D.N.Y. 2019 — rested on corporate-board information under general securities-fraud law, not congressional knowledge.)	The SEC brings dozens of insider-trading enforcement actions every year.	Regularly prosecuted, civilly and criminally.	[1] [2]

Sources: STOCK Act §4 · 17 C.F.R. §240.10b-5 · 15 U.S.C. §78p(b) · 15 U.S.C. §78ff · CRS report R42460 · U.S. Const. art. I, §6 (annotated) · SEC enforcement actions

These tables state the written rules with citations to the primary sources. They are a summary, not legal advice; the statute text governs. Spot an error? Use the Comment or Suggestion link — corrections are logged on the Methodology page.