Glossary
Plain-language definitions of the disclosure and investing terms used across the site.
- 13F Filing
- A quarterly report that institutional investment managers with over $100M in U.S. equities must file with the SEC, disclosing their long U.S. stock positions as of quarter-end. It is the main public window into hedge-fund and 'guru' holdings.
- Why 13F Is Delayed
- 13F is a quarter-end snapshot, and the law allows up to 45 days after the quarter ends before it is published. By the time you see it, a manager may already have changed the position — so 13F reflects historical holdings, not current ones, and no site can offer real-time 13F data.
- Form 4 (Insider Trading)
- When a company's directors, officers, or 10%-plus shareholders buy or sell that company's stock, they must file Form 4 with the SEC within two business days. Unlike quarterly 13F, Form 4 is near real-time, making it a timely signal of insider buying and selling.
- 13D / 13G (5% Stake Disclosure)
- When an investor acquires more than 5% of a public company, they must file with the SEC: Schedule 13D if they intend to actively influence the company (e.g. activism), or 13G for a passive financial stake. It is how large or activist stakes become public.
- STOCK Act Disclosure
- Under the STOCK Act, members of the U.S. Congress (and certain officials) must disclose their own and their spouse's securities trades, generally within 30–45 days. Amounts are reported in ranges (e.g. $15k–$50k), not exact figures.
- CUSIP
- A nine-character code that uniquely identifies a U.S. or Canadian security. 13F filings tag holdings by CUSIP rather than ticker, so reading them requires mapping CUSIP back to a ticker — a mapping that can be ambiguous due to historical reuse or corporate changes.
- Crowded Trade
- When many funds simultaneously hold large positions in the same stock or theme. Crowding can be self-reinforcing on the way up, but when sentiment reverses, a rush for the exits amplifies the drop and liquidity risk — so 'how many gurus hold it' is both a popularity and a risk signal.
- Copy Trading
- Building your own positions by mirroring a guru's or politician's disclosed trades. The risk is that disclosures are inherently delayed (13F up to 45 days, STOCK Act 30–45 days), and you can't see their cost basis, hedges, or exit timing — so copying is usually a step behind.
- Option Legs (Put / Call)
- 13F lists option positions separately. A call option bets on a rise; a put option bets on a decline or is used as a hedge. A put on a stock may be a protective hedge rather than an outright bearish view, so option direction matters when interpreting a holding.
- 13F Excludes Short Positions
- 13F reports only long U.S. equities and certain options — it excludes short positions, most bonds, foreign-listed holdings, and cash. As a result, a 13F is not a complete portfolio, and a manager's true net exposure can differ materially from the filing.
- AUM (Assets Under Management)
- The total value of assets a fund or institution manages on behalf of clients, often used to gauge its size and influence. Note that 13F covers only the long U.S.-equity slice, so disclosed holdings value is typically smaller than the institution's true total AUM.
These definitions are general educational explanations, not investment advice. For full data sources and methodology see About & Data Sources.
Data from public SEC 13F & STOCK Act filings, delayed up to ~45 days, partial holdings only — for research, not investment advice.