What is an SEC Form 4?

A Form 4 is the filing a company insider makes with the SEC when they buy, sell or otherwise change their holdings of their own company's stock. Insiders are the company's officers, its directors, and anyone who owns more than 10% of a class of its shares. The form is generally due within two business days of the trade, which makes it one of the most timely public records of what the people closest to a company are doing with their own money.

What a Form 4 shows

• Who filed: their role (for example, Director, Chief Financial Officer or 10% owner)
• The trade: date, number of shares, price per share, and whether shares were acquired or disposed of
• What they hold afterwards, and whether they hold it directly or through a trust, fund or family member
• A transaction code for what kind of trade it was (see Form 4 transaction codes)
• Footnotes, which often matter most: they say whether a purchase was made on the open market, in an offering or through an option or warrant exercise

Why traders watch them

Most Form 4s are routine: stock awards, tax withholding, scheduled sales. A small share are open-market purchases, where an insider spends their own cash on shares at the market price. Those are the filings many traders look for, especially when several insiders buy within a short window. Insiders sell for many reasons, including taxes, diversification and buying a house, so the SEC itself cautions that a sale doesn't necessarily signal a negative view.

How AlphaFilings uses Form 4s

We read every Form 4 the SEC publishes and keep only open-market buying; awards, tax sales and other paperwork are filtered out. The filtering is automated, and can occasionally miss an edge case, so each purchase links to the filing on SEC EDGAR for you to check.

See today's insider buys →

Questions

How soon after a trade is a Form 4 filed?

Generally within two business days of the transaction.

Who has to file a Form 4?

A company's officers, its directors, and beneficial owners of more than 10% of a class of its equity securities.

Is every "P" code an open-market buy?

No. Code P covers purchases on an exchange or from another person, which can include private placements. The footnotes say which, and AlphaFilings reads them.

Updated 2026-11-02. Rules and deadlines are summarised from the SEC's own guidance; check the SEC's pages for the full requirements. This page is general education, not investment advice.