More than 100 members of Congress have made around 10,000 stock trades each year since at least 2021 -- and they tend to beat the market. Enough attention has been drawn to timely trades by lawmakers – and the market-beating returns of some – for legislation to ban members from trading stocks to advance out of a Senate committee, although it still has a long road to being signed into law.
How do some members of Congress manage to beat the market? The stocks that representatives and senators trade the most are household names: Microsoft (MSFT +0.00%), Apple (AAPL +0.44%), Alphabet (GOOG +0.46%), and Nvidia (NVDA +1.04%).
Others made savvy trades involving companies and sectors related to legislation they work on and sit on committees that oversee those companies and sectors, raising questions about conflicts of interest and insider trading.
For example, in 2023, Nvidia was traded or held by members, including former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), while the CHIPS and Science Act was being negotiated and voted on. Other members made trades in 2024 involving social media companies while the TikTok ban/divestment bill was being negotiated and voted on. Members sitting on committees that deal with national security traded shares of defense companies, while others that sit on committees that oversee health traded medical device stocks.
Dive deeper into stock trading by members of Congress below, including who’s trading the most and netting the biggest returns.
A note on the data used in this article: Data on stock trading by members of Congress varies widely between sources due to differences in data collection, difficulties with data collection, and different methodology in parsing that data. Figures from multiple sources are included when possible.
How Much are Members of Congress Trading Stocks?
More than 100 members of Congress make around 10,000 trades per year.
Capitol Trades reports that 113 members of Congress made 9,261 trades in 2024 involving 706 million shares or other assets. 2025 is on pace to be a record year, with 7,810 trades involving 362 million shares just through July.
Unusual Whales, a financial data platform, also reported trades from 113 members in 2024.
Year | Trades | Volume (millions) | Members |
|---|---|---|---|
2021 | 10,413 | 583.98 | 138 |
2022 | 14,752 | 610.77 | 154 |
2023 | 11,491 | 751.17 | 118 |
2024 | 9,261 | 706.37 | 113 |
2025 | 7,810 | 362.47 | 108 |
The Members of Congress Making the Most Trades
These are the members who have made the most trades through July 2025 and their trade volume, according to Capitol Trades.
Member | Trades | Volume |
|---|---|---|
Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) | 2,938 | $41.09M |
Rep. Rob Bresnahan (R-PA) | 626 | $7.29M |
Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX) | 410 | $37.68M |
Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) | 348 | $19.74M |
Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) | 192 | $34.17M |
Rep. Julie Johnson (D-TX) | 270 | $2.33M |
Rep. Gil Cisneros (D-CA) | 249 | $6.93M |
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) | 228 | $3.70M |
Rep. Bruce Westerman (R-AR) | 213 | $1.90M |
Rep. Tim Moore (R-NC) | 119 | $9.79M |
What Stocks Are Members of Congress Buying and Selling?
Microsoft, Nvidia, Alphabet, Amazon (AMZN +1.41%), and Apple saw the most volume traded by members through July 2025, according to Capitol Trades.
Here’s how members approached each of those companies:
Microsoft was just barely a net buy for members in 2025 through July, when measured by volume. Democrats bought Microsoft in 19 instances and sold in 24, while Republicans bought in 16 instances and sold in 39, per Capitol Trades. Members loaded up on shares in January.
Nvidia share purchases by members of congress skyrocketed in May after being sold for most of the year. The stock often moves on news of related government policy, particularly export controls on chips sought by China, which have been tightened and loosened in the past year.
Alphabet has been sold heavily by members of Congress through July 2025, with the largest dump of shares occurring in May.
Amazon was a net buy for members of Congress through July 2025. Purchase volume roughly doubled the volume of sales.
Apple was a net buy by volume traded among members of Congress. Through July 2025, most shares were sold in April and purchased in May, according to Capitol Trades.
What Sectors Are Most Popular Among Members of Congress?
Technology, financial services, consumer cyclical, energy, and industrials were the most bought sectors by members of Congress in 2024 by value, according to Unusual Whales.
Democrats tilted their portfolios strongly toward technology stocks, while Republicans spread out their investments more evenly. That influenced the overall returns of each party, which is detailed in the section below.
Forty-nine percent of Democrats’ holdings in 2024 were in the technology sector compared to just 16% of Republican holdings. On the other hand, 14% of Republicans portfolios were in energy stocks compared to just 1% of Democrats. Republicans also favored consumer cyclical stocks, industrials, and ETFs and funds more than Democrats, while Democrats devoted more of their holdings to financial services and communication services.
Republicans Holding | Democrats Holding | Both Parties | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Sector | Value | Percent | Value | Percent | Total Value | Total Percent |
Technology | $44,137,120 | 16% | $102,903,894 | 49% | $147,041,014 | 31% |
Energy | $39,752,130 | 14% | $2,108,323 | 1% | $41,860,453 | 9% |
Consumer cyclical | $37,683,477 | 14% | $15,655,932 | 8% | $53,339,409 | 11% |
Financial services | $31,219,362 | 11% | $27,945,054 | 13% | $59,164,416 | 12% |
Industrials | $30,620,735 | 11% | $12,781,018 | 6% | $43,401,753 | 9% |
Other | $22,653,692 | 8% | $6,909,793 | 3% | $29,563,485 | 6% |
ETF/Fund | $21,028,637 | 7% | -- | -- | $21,028,637 | 4% |
Healthcare | $18,286,283 | 7% | $1,168,481 | 6% | $19,454,764 | 4% |
Communication services | $12,216,058 | 4% | $12,387,237 | 6% | $24,603,295 | 5% |
Consumer defensive | $10,459,465 | 4% | $6,902,738 | 3% | $17,362,203 | 4% |
Basic materials | $6,838,008 | 3% | $3,752,633 | 2% | $10,590,641 | 2% |
Real estate | $3,806,525 | 1% | $3,029,220 | 2% | $6,835,745 | 1% |
Utilities | -- | -- | $2,281,724 | 1% | $2,281,724 | <1% |
Did Congress Beat the Market in 2024?
Congress as a whole beat the market in 2024. Democrats managed an average return of 31.1%, and Republicans saw an average return of 26.1%, according to estimates from Unusual Whales. The S&P 500 returned 23.3%.
Forty-eight of the 113 members of Congress that traded stocks in 2024 beat the S&P 500, up from 33 in 2023, per return data from Unusual Whales.
Democrats held portfolios heavily weighted toward technology stocks, while Republicans had more diversified holdings. That resulted in Democrats’ stronger performance in 2024.
Unusual Whales calculates performance based on the value of stocks held at the start of the year and end of the year, not the performance of individual positions since they were originally opened. As a result, their estimates are likely conservative.
About the Author
Charles Schwab is an advertising partner of Motley Fool Money. Jack Caporal has positions in Apple, Microsoft, and Pfizer. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Edwards Lifesciences, Interactive Brokers Group, Mastercard, Microsoft, Nvidia, Pfizer, Tesla, United Parcel Service, and Visa. The Motley Fool recommends Broadcom and Charles Schwab and recommends the following options: long January 2026 $395 calls on Microsoft, long January 2027 $43.75 calls on Interactive Brokers Group, short January 2026 $405 calls on Microsoft, short January 2027 $46.25 calls on Interactive Brokers Group, and short September 2025 $92.50 calls on Charles Schwab. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.