How to track CEO stock purchases

By Andrew Gomes Updated Oct 15, 2026

A CEO who buys their own company's stock must report it to the SEC on Form 4 within two business days, so every purchase is public. You can read the filings on the SEC's EDGAR site, or see the biggest ones already sorted, free, on Breakaway's Insiders page.

As of Nov 2, 2026: the biggest CEO purchases of the last 30 days were GME ($21M, Ryan Cohen), ACN ($2.5M, Julie Spellman Sweet), and TFC ($1.2M, Michael P. Lyons), on Form 4.

Where CEO purchases are reported

A company's CEO, its other officers, its directors, and anyone who owns more than 10 percent of its shares are insiders under the securities laws. When one of them buys or sells the company's stock, they must report it to the SEC on Form 4 by the end of the second business day after the trade. The filing names the person, their title, the day, the number of shares, and the price.

Form 4 marks each trade with a letter. P is a purchase on the market or in a private deal, paid for by the insider. S is a sale. Most other letters are not purchases at all: A is a grant or award from the company, M is an option exercise, and F is shares handed back to pay taxes. A sale can also be made under a 10b5-1 plan, a schedule the insider set up in advance.

How to follow them on Breakaway

Breakaway reads every Form 4 within hours of its filing, so you do not have to read the SEC's site yourself. The Insiders page lists the biggest recent buys by officers and directors, counting only shares they bought themselves. Each insider has a page with every company they file at and their newest trades. Each stock's page names its newest insider trade and adds up the rest.

Pro members can open the Insiders list on its CEO view, with every Form 4 on every stock, and set an optional alert when a CEO or CFO buys $1M or more of their company's stock.

How the Quality Score reads them

Insider trades are one part of a stock's Quality Score, worth up to three points either way. A purchase near the stock's 52-week low counts for more than one near its high, and a sale near the low counts against the stock harder than routine selling near a high. Breakaway shows each trade as filed and does not say whether to follow it.

Insider trades, in the score
On a stock's Score tab, each trade's line says who and what it adds.
Why a stock ranks
Its Quality Score, its rank, and the reasons behind it, on one card.
CEOs buying their own stock
Every CEO buy, biggest names first. Sort, filter, save the list, and set optional alerts.
Congress trades
A member's trades, newest first, each with its amount. Sort and filter the whole list.
The chart
Candles or lines, the averages you pick, extra panes, and a day to the full history.
The score, added up
Price action, the company, and signals, each with its points, summed into one number on every stock's page.
14 chart checks, read for you
The ones firing on the stock, each in plain words, its rule a tap away.
Earnings, week by week
Who reports each day, and how each stock took its last four reports.
FDA dates, counted down
Each date in the company's words, its cash against the date, and an optional alert before it.
The market map
Every stock a box, colored by its Quality Score.
Themes, ranked live
Each theme's stocks ranked by Quality Score, live. Here, AI chips.
The top 10, every day
The ten highest Quality Scores at each close, kept day by day, week by week.
Optional alerts, your way
Pick a stock, a score, a price, a filing, or a whole scan. It tells you by push or email.
Your watchlist, scored
Your stocks by Quality Score, today's move, or name.
On your phone and your laptop
The same account and watchlist on both, each laid out for its screen.

The biggest CEO purchases of the last 30 days

Shares they bought themselves, as filed on Form 4

Stock	Insider	Quality Score	Trade	Traded
GMEGameStop:	Ryan Cohen, CEO;	Quality Score14, Above Average;	Buy$21M;	traded Oct 13
ACNAccenture:	Julie Sweet, CEO;	Quality Score18, Excellent;	Buy$2.5M;	traded Oct 26, filed Oct 28
TFCTruist Financial:	Michael Lyons, CEO;	Quality Score7, Average;	Buy$1.2M;	traded Oct 28, filed Oct 29

Every insider buy, by person Stocks with insider buying this week

Questions

How soon is a CEO's stock purchase made public?

Within two business days. When a CEO buys or sells their own company's stock, they must tell the SEC on a form called Form 4 by the end of the second business day after the trade. The company's other officers and its directors must do the same.

Does a stock award or an option exercise count as a purchase?

No. A CEO also files Form 4 when the company gives them shares, when they turn stock options into shares, and when shares are held back to pay their taxes. None of those is a purchase. Only shares the CEO paid for with their own money are, and those are the only buys Breakaway counts.

Does Breakaway say whether to follow a CEO's purchase?

No. Breakaway shows each purchase as it was filed. Insider trades are one part of a stock's Quality Score, beside its chart, its sales, its profits, and more. Nothing on Breakaway is investment advice.

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