Coincidence Tracker: Congress Stock Trades Next to Federal Contracts
How the Coincidence Tracker lines up a member of Congress trading a stock, the same company winning a federal contract, the member’s committee seats and the price move after the award.
Members of Congress disclose stock trades. Federal agencies publish contract awards. Committees publish who sits on them. Each record is public, but nobody puts them on one timeline. The Coincidence Tracker does.
Key takeaways
- For every Congress trade in a listed company, Bourse looks for federal contracts for the same company from 30 days before to 90 days after the trade.
- Each match shows the member's committees and flags when a committee oversees or funds the awarding agency (for example Armed Services and the Department of Defense).
- It adds the company's lobbying spend in the same quarter and the stock move 3, 10 and 21 trading days after the award.
- A coincidence is a timing overlap between public records. It does not show wrongdoing and it does not show that a trade was informed by the contract.
What a timeline looks like
- Senator X, a member of the Armed Services Committee, reports buying LMT.
- Sixteen days later the Department of Defense awards Lockheed Martin a $500M contract.
- The stock moves after the award; the tracker shows by how much.
Every step links to its source: the periodic transaction report and the USAspending award.
Why the caveats matter
Congress members can report trades up to 45 days late, many contracts are the result of long, open procurement, and large defense companies win awards almost every week. That is why the tracker ranks matches by contract size, committee oversight and proximity, and shows the disclaimer on every view.
Where to see it
- Coincidence Tracker page with recent timelines.
- In the app: More, Coincidence Tracker.
- API:
GET /v1/coincidences?committee_match=true.
See these filings as they land
Bourse collects Congress trades, SEC Form 4 insider filings and 13F fund holdings in one live feed, and flags insider buying clusters automatically. Free to start.
Bourse provides financial data and editorial information, parts of which are generated by AI. This page is for general education only. It is not personalised investment advice or a recommendation to buy or sell any financial instrument. Make your own decisions.