Thomas MacArthur’s disclosed stock trades — and what copying them returned

Thomas MacArthur (House) has disclosed 1891 stock trades under the STOCK Act, from Mar 5, 2015 to Jan 11, 2019917 buys and 933 sells, read straight from the official filings. The median gap between a trade and the public finding out was 25 days — which is why every number below starts at the disclosure date, the earliest day anyone could actually have copied a trade.

What copying every disclosed buy would have returned

Our engine bought at the first opening price after each of Thomas MacArthur’s disclosed purchases became public, held until the matching sale was disclosed, and marked the book against simply holding the S&P 500 over the same window (Mar 6, 2015Aug 11, 2026). Fees on, position sizes equal — a filing never discloses the real amount, only a band.

Copy-return, total+303.6%
S&P 500 over the same window+350.0%
Difference-46.4%
Annualized over 11.4 years+13.0% vs +14.1% -1.1% a year against the index
Deepest fall along the way-33.7%
Positions that closed ahead62%
Disclosed buys / actually copied917 / 747

Read the fill count before the return: a figure built on a handful of copied positions is an anecdote, whatever it says. And a copy-return is not Thomas MacArthur’s own return — the disclosure lag means a copier never got their entry price.

Most-traded tickers

INTC (41) · NEE (37) · VEA (33) · IWD (33) · MSFT (31) · IWF (29) · TXN (25) · SLB (24) · UNP (24) · NVS (24)

Recent filings

The latest 50 disclosed trades, newest filing first. Both dates are shown because the gap between them is the whole story.

TickerTypeTradedDisclosedLagAmount band
WESBuyDec 13, 2018Jan 11, 201929d$1,001 - $15,000
SITEBuyDec 3, 2018Jan 11, 201939d$1,001 - $15,000
EMBBuyDec 7, 2018Jan 11, 201935d$1,001 - $15,000
RSPPartial sellDec 27, 2018Jan 11, 201915d$1,001 - $15,000
IBKRBuyDec 19, 2018Jan 11, 201923d$1,001 - $15,000
WYNNSellDec 7, 2018Jan 11, 201935d$15,001 - $50,000
WBCPartial sellDec 7, 2018Jan 11, 201935d$15,001 - $50,000
VTVBuyDec 24, 2018Jan 11, 201918d$250,001 - $500,000
TRYIYPartial sellDec 10, 2018Jan 11, 201932d$15,001 - $50,000
TERPartial sellDec 7, 2018Jan 11, 201935d$15,001 - $50,000
SUPartial sellDec 26, 2018Jan 11, 201916d$100,001 - $250,000
SBNYSellDec 7, 2018Jan 11, 201935d$15,001 - $50,000
SLBSellDec 10, 2018Jan 11, 201932d$15,001 - $50,000
NXPIBuyDec 31, 2018Jan 11, 201911d$15,001 - $50,000
NXPIBuyDec 12, 2018Jan 11, 201930d$1,001 - $15,000
NEESellDec 10, 2018Jan 11, 201932d$1,001 - $15,000
NEEPartial sellDec 10, 2018Jan 11, 201932d$50,001 - $100,000
MSFTBuyDec 13, 2018Jan 11, 201929d$1,001 - $15,000
JPMSellDec 26, 2018Jan 11, 201916d$15,001 - $50,000
EFAPartial sellDec 18, 2018Jan 11, 201924d$15,001 - $50,000
INTCBuyDec 3, 2018Jan 11, 201939d$1,001 - $15,000
FLIRSellDec 7, 2018Jan 11, 201935d$15,001 - $50,000
CVXSellDec 26, 2018Jan 11, 201916d$1,001 - $15,000
CVXSellDec 26, 2018Jan 11, 201916d$100,001 - $250,000
ANSSSellDec 7, 2018Jan 11, 201935d$15,001 - $50,000
WMBBuyDec 13, 2018Jan 11, 201929d$50,001 - $100,000
WRBSellDec 7, 2018Jan 11, 201935d$15,001 - $50,000
VBBuyDec 28, 2018Jan 11, 201914d$1,001 - $15,000
VEABuyDec 28, 2018Jan 11, 201914d$1,001 - $15,000
EMLCSellDec 7, 2018Jan 11, 201935d$15,001 - $50,000
STISellDec 26, 2018Jan 11, 201916d$1,001 - $15,000
STIBuyDec 10, 2018Jan 11, 201932d$1,001 - $15,000
SUBuyDec 10, 2018Jan 11, 201932d$15,001 - $50,000
SUBuyDec 10, 2018Jan 11, 201932d$1,001 - $15,000
SUSellDec 26, 2018Jan 11, 201916d$1,001 - $15,000
XLFBuyDec 26, 2018Jan 11, 201916d$15,001 - $50,000
XLEBuyDec 26, 2018Jan 11, 201916d$15,001 - $50,000
MDYBuyDec 7, 2018Jan 11, 201935d$250,001 - $500,000
SITEPartial sellDec 7, 2018Jan 11, 201935d$1,001 - $15,000
SAPSellDec 10, 2018Jan 11, 201932d$50,001 - $100,000
REPYYSellDec 10, 2018Jan 11, 201932d$50,001 - $100,000
PMSellDec 31, 2018Jan 11, 201911d$1,001 - $15,000
NXPIBuyDec 13, 2018Jan 11, 201929d$1,001 - $15,000
NDSNSellDec 7, 2018Jan 11, 201935d$15,001 - $50,000
NEEPartial sellDec 10, 2018Jan 11, 201932d$1,001 - $15,000
NEEBuyDec 17, 2018Jan 11, 201925d$1,001 - $15,000
MSCISellDec 7, 2018Jan 11, 201935d$15,001 - $50,000
KUBTYSellDec 10, 2018Jan 11, 201932d$15,001 - $50,000
JPMSellDec 26, 2018Jan 11, 201916d$1,001 - $15,000
JNJBuyDec 11, 2018Jan 11, 201931d$1,001 - $15,000

Full history, sorting and the CSV export live in Pulse. Open Congress in Pulse.

Hear about the next filing the day it lands

A filing is only useful in the days after it appears — exactly when nobody is watching the disclosure sites. Follow Thomas MacArthur in Pulse and you get an email as soon as their next report is parsed: the trades in it, both dates, and how long they sat on it.

See plans All members and how the ranking works

Entries are at the first open AFTER the disclosure date — the earliest any copier could act. The member's own entry was up to 45 days earlier. Disclosed amounts are bands, not sizes; every position is sized at your chosen % of portfolio, which is not how the member sized it. Option purchases are copied as the underlying shares. A filing discloses no strike and no expiry, so an option cannot be mirrored — buying the stock is the closest a reader could get. It is 1.6% of all disclosed buys, but for some members it is a quarter to a half of everything they file, so their figure describes copying the filing rather than what the position itself did. Dividends are treated as reinvested (adjusted closes). Fees and taxes are not modeled. Positions are sized from equity at the time of each entry, so gains compound into later position sizes and most of the account sits in cash between filings. Read the drawdown next to the exposure figures: a portfolio that is mostly cash shows a small whole-portfolio drawdown even when its holdings fell hard. Absolute returns are model outputs, not achievable returns. Past disclosures are no promise of future filings — members stop trading, leave office, or file late in batches.