Basics
What is a 13F filing?
A 13F is a quarterly report every institutional investment manager with over $100M in US equities must file with the SEC within 45 days of quarter-end.
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Everything you need to
read the market like a pro.
Short, plain-English guides on 13F filings, insider trading, cluster signals, and how to turn SEC data into actionable ideas.
Basics
Form 4: how insider trades are reported
Corporate officers, directors, and 10%+ shareholders must report every transaction in their company's stock within 2 business days.
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Strategy
How to read a 13F like a pro
Look for deltas, not totals. New positions, big adds, and full exits tell you what a manager is thinking today — not last quarter.
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Strategy
Cluster buys: when multiple funds agree
When 3+ unrelated 'smart money' funds initiate positions in the same quarter, it historically correlates with above-market returns over 4 quarters.
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Pitfalls
Why 13Fs are 45 days late
By the time a 13F is filed, the positions are already 6 weeks stale. That's why we also track Form 4 and clustering signals in real-time.
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Pitfalls
What 13Fs don't show you
Short positions, cash, bonds, foreign stocks, and derivatives are all excluded. A 100% long-equity report can still represent 20% of a fund's real exposure.
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Glossary
Key terms, explained simply.
- 13F
- SEC quarterly filing for institutional managers >$100M.
- AUM
- Assets under management — total value of portfolios a firm manages.
- Turnover
- How much of the portfolio changed this quarter — high turnover = more trading.
- SPX
- S&P 500 index — common benchmark for US equity performance.
- Form 4
- SEC filing for insider transactions — officers, directors, 10%+ holders.
- Delta / QoQ
- The change in a position from one quarter to the next.
- Cluster buy
- When 3+ funds initiate or add to the same position in a single quarter.
Case Study
How cluster buying signaled the 2023 energy rally.
In Q4 2022, five independent 'super-investors' — Berkshire, Appaloosa, Duquesne, Pershing Square, and Citadel — initiated or added to energy positions totaling $8.2B.
Anyone following the cluster signal would have seen the setup 3 months before the sector returned +37% in H1 2023.
Read the full case study →Chart: energy cluster vs. SPX 2022–2023