Congress Stock Tracker: Here's What the Most Active Traders Bought to Start 2025

With the first weeks of 2025 in the books and the major indices showing strong performances, one cohort of investors has again become the target of widespread disapproval: Congress.

Despite elevated volatility in January, the Nasdaq Composite gained 1.8%, the S&P 500 gained 2.93% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 5.08%. It was a welcome reprieve from December's muddled showing.

But not all investors' success is created equally, and members of Congress moving millions of dollars in and out of stocks are again under scrutiny from the general public and a bipartisan coalition in the House.

Last month, Reps. Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Ill.; Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa.; Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y.; and Cory Mills, R-Fla.; reintroduced the Bipartisan Restoring Faith in Government Act, which aims to ban individual stock ownership and trading by members of Congress. The bills' sponsors cited how "in 2022, members of Congress outperformed the S&P 500 by 17.5%, reinforcing the belief that members have unique access that allows them to benefit from insider information and undermining trust in American democracy and its institutions."

Other critics have pointed out that there may be conflicts of interest when elected officials approve spending that ultimately benefits the companies in which they are invested. Joining the push for oversight, Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., wrote in an op-ed Jan. 29 that "members of Congress who own stock in war manufacturers benefit financially when they vote to pass funding for war."

According to a 2023 survey conducted by the University of Maryland's School of Public Policy, Americans spanning the political spectrum support the cause. Over 80% of Republicans, Democrats and independents saying they're in favor of a full ban on trading for members of the House and Senate, as well as the president, vice president and Supreme Court justices.

Meanwhile, before leaving office, President Joe Biden expressed concern about congressional stock trading, stating that "nobody in the Congress should be able to make money in the stock market while they're in the Congress."

Who are Congress' most active traders?

Stock ownership in Congress is extremely common. Last year, just 5% of senators and representatives didn't own any stock or popular funds, according to the Campaign Legal Center, a nonpartisan watchdog that supports strong enforcement of U.S. campaign finance laws.

Despite ongoing attempts to curb the issue, current opposition is not impeding certain members of Congress from investing. Quiver Quantitative, a fintech startup founded in 2020, aggregates data into dashboards that track government contracts, corporate lobbying and stock trading, among other topics.

Data from the platform shows that last year, the five most active traders in Congress were:

• Rep. Josh Gottheimer, D-N.J., with 526 trades and $91,050,000 in volume
• Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., with 17 trades and $37,750,000 in volume
• Rep. Scott Franklin, R-Fla., with 69 trades and $5,993,000 in volume
• Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., with 202 trades and $5,531,500 in volume
• Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., with 71 trades and $4,407,000 in volume

The other end of the spectrum offers a stark contrast. Of the 535 members of Congress, only handful are mostly or entirely inactive in the market. Rep. Brian Mast, R-Fla., for example, only had three transactions totaling $745.78 in 2024, while Tlaib registered zero.

The stocks they bought to begin 2025

The Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge (STOCK) Act requires members of Congress to file disclosures within 45 days for transactions exceeding $1,000. While the STOCK Act stops short of precluding federal legislators from participating in the market, it provides retail investors with insights about potential opportunities in individual stocks.

For instance, Gottheimer's January filings showing purchases of Goldman Sachs and financial services company Block Inc. aligns with investment professionals' predictions that the financials sector could outperform this year amid President Donald Trump's focus on deregulation. Gottheimer is also apparently bullish on tech, with filings showing the purchase of Apple shares and Microsoft call options. Finally, he seems to be leaning into consumer staples, which tend to perform well alongside rising inflation, with several January filings showing the purchase of Walmart shares.

Gottheimer sits on the Ways and Means Committee, the chief tax-writing body of the House of Representatives. His estimated net worth is $50.42 million, according to Quiver Quantitative.

Pelosi, whose tech-focused portfolio has received considerable media attention, disclosed five transactions in January, including the purchase of call options for Amazon, Google-parent company Alphabet, Nvidia, health and diagnostics data company Tempus AI and electric utility provider Vistra. Her position in Tempus AI is already up 92.05%. The congresswoman's net worth is estimated at $272.5 million, the second-highest of all members of Congress behind Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., at $548.8 million.

Franklin, conversely, appears to be taking a wait-and-see approach having not disclosed any trades in the first month of 2025. As the third-most active trader in Congress last year, his 2024 sell volume of $5.1 million significantly outweighed his buy volume of $1.27 million. Franklin's estimated net worth is $25.58 million, and he is the speaker of the Artificial Intelligence Task Force, among other leadership roles and committee assignments.

Former football coach Tuberville, who was Congress' most active trader in 2023 and its second-most active last year by number of trades, also has not disclosed any transactions thus far in 2025. Since assuming office in January 2021, the senator has logged 1,334 trades. Tuberville has an estimated net worth of $12.83 million, and his filings show numerous holdings with double-digit gains.

Mullin has been, by far, the most active trader in Congress through the first month of the year. The senator has already disclosed $1.16 million in trade volume since the beginning of January, which include a handful of funds and 10 individual stocks: robotics and automation firm Applied Industrial Technologies, semiconductor manufacturer Coherent, data infrastructure company Credo Technology Group, Dell Technologies, Goldman Sachs, information lifecycle solutions provider Iron Mountain, engineering and construction company MasTec, beverage maker Primo brands, electronic braking and positive train control manufacturer Wabtec and education management organization Stride — shares of which are up 27.99% since his purchase.

Mullin sits on a number of committees, most notably the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works and the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. His net worth is estimated to be $65.78 million.

Whether the Bipartisan Restoring Faith in Government Act is put to a vote remains to be seen. But given the net worths and track records of the most active traders in Congress, any stock market activity is bound to raise suspicions.

"When members have access to sensitive information, they should not be trading in the stock market on it," Ocasio-Cortez said in the news release.

More from Money:

Is 2025 the Year of Sector Investing?

An ETF for Every Age: Why Investors 18 to 35 Should Lean Into Risk

An ETF for Every Age: Investors 36 to 49 Should Embrace Growth (With a Side of Safety)