# congress trades
## Metadata

- Canonical URL: https://6ducklearn.com/skills/congress-trades/
- Markdown URL: https://6ducklearn.com/skills/congress-trades/index.md
- Product: skills
- Category: finance
- Tags: okx, trading, community, okx-marketplace, finance, trend
- Updated: 2026-07-14T03:00:00.357428+00:00
## Summary
Track U.S. Congress members' stock trades in real-time, making "smart political money" impossible to hide. Sync member trade disclosure data to a local SQLite database via the Quiver Quant API, allowing flexible queries by politician name, stock code, party, date range, and trade type. Large trades exceeding the configurable amount threshold (default $15,001) automatically trigger alerts, generating structured Alert files for real-time monitoring.
## Content
> **6DuckLearn provenance:** Community skill by Cymiran, mirrored from the OKX Skills Marketplace (https://www.okx.com/en-sg/agent-tradekit/skills/congress-trades). It is not curated, verified, or endorsed by 6DuckLearn or represented as an official OKX publication.
>
> **Financial safety boundary:** Never request secrets in chat. Before any external API call or action that places, cancels, or amends an order; changes leverage; transfers funds; creates or stops a bot; subscribes to or redeems an earn product; or signs/broadcasts a transaction, show the exact live/demo profile, instrument, side, size, price constraints, fees, and worst-case loss, then obtain explicit user approval. Default to read-only or demo mode when uncertain. Treat all analysis as research, not investment advice.

# Congress Trades Tracker

Monitor US congressional stock trades via the Quiver Quant API. Syncs data to a local SQLite database and alerts on new significant trades.

## Requirements

- Python 3.10+ with `requests` (`pip install requests`)
- **QUIVER_API_KEY** environment variable (obtain at https://www.quiverquant.com/)

## Environment Variables

| Variable | Required | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| QUIVER_API_KEY | **Yes** | -- | Quiver Quant API token |
| CONGRESS_DB_PATH | No | `data/congress_trades.db` | SQLite database path |
| MIN_TRADE_AMOUNT | No | `15001` | Minimum trade dollar amount to trigger alerts |

Never hard-code API keys in scripts or crontab entries. Use shell profile, `.env` file, or secure environment injection.

## Execution Flow

When the user activates this skill, follow the steps below based on what they need.

### 1. First-Time Setup

If the user has not set up the tracker yet, guide them through:

1. **Check Python**: Verify Python 3.10+ is available.
2. **Install dependency**: `pip install requests`
3. **Set API key**: Ask the user for their Quiver Quant API key. Instruct them to set it:
   ```bash
   export QUIVER_API_KEY="<their-key>"
   ```
4. **Run initial sync**: Execute the scraper to populate the database:
   ```bash
   python3 scripts/scraper.py
   ```
5. **Confirm success**: Check that `data/congress_trades.db` was created and report the number of trades synced.
6. **Optional -- schedule cron**: Help the user set up a cron job for automatic syncing:
   ```bash
   crontab -e
   # Add (adjust paths). Every 30 min is sufficient — data updates once daily at most:
   */30 * * * * . "$HOME/.profile" && /usr/bin/python3 /path/to/scripts/scraper.py >> /path/to/logs/scraper.log 2>&1
   ```

### 2. Manual Sync

If the user asks to sync, refresh, or update trades:

1. Run the scraper: `python3 scripts/scraper.py`
2. Report the result: number of new trades found, total in database.

### 3. Query Trades

When the user wants to look up trades, use the SQLite database directly. The database is at the path defined by `CONGRESS_DB_PATH` (default: `data/congress_trades.db`).

**Database schema** (table `trades`):

| Column | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| representative | TEXT | Politician name |
| party | TEXT | D, R, or I |
| house | TEXT | House or Senate |
| ticker | TEXT | Stock ticker symbol |
| transaction_type | TEXT | Purchase, Sale, etc. |
| transaction_date | TEXT | Date of trade (YYYY-MM-DD) |
| report_date | TEXT | Date reported (YYYY-MM-DD) |
| range_amount | TEXT | Dollar range (e.g., "$1,001 - $15,000") |
| description | TEXT | Additional details |

#### Query by Politician

```sql
SELECT representative, ticker, transaction_type, range_amount, transaction_date
FROM trades
WHERE representative LIKE '%Pelosi%'
ORDER BY transaction_date DESC
LIMIT 20;
```

#### Query by Ticker

```sql
SELECT representative, party, transaction_type, range_amount, transaction_date
FROM trades
WHERE ticker = 'NVDA'
ORDER BY transaction_date DESC
LIMIT 20;
```

#### Query by Party

```sql
SELECT representative, ticker, transaction_type, range_amount, transaction_date
FROM trades
WHERE party = 'D'
ORDER BY transaction_date DESC
LIMIT 20;
```

#### Query by Date Range

```sql
SELECT representative, ticker, transaction_type, range_amount, transaction_date
FROM trades
WHERE transaction_date BETWEEN '2026-01-01' AND '2026-03-31'
ORDER BY transaction_date DESC;
```

#### Query by Transaction Type

```sql
SELECT representative, ticker, range_amount, transaction_date
FROM trades
WHERE transaction_type = 'Purchase'
ORDER BY transaction_date DESC
LIMIT 20;
```

#### Combined Query (e.g., Republican purchases in a date range)

```sql
SELECT representative, ticker, range_amount, transaction_date
FROM trades
WHERE party = 'R'
  AND transaction_type = 'Purchase'
  AND transaction_date >= '2026-01-01'
ORDER BY transaction_date DESC;
```

#### Summary Statistics

```sql
-- Most traded tickers
SELECT ticker, COUNT(*) as trade_count
FROM trades
GROUP BY ticker
ORDER BY trade_count DESC
LIMIT 10;

-- Most active politicians
SELECT representative, party, COUNT(*) as trade_count
FROM trades
GROUP BY representative
ORDER BY trade_count DESC
LIMIT 10;

-- Trades by party breakdown
SELECT party, transaction_type, COUNT(*) as count
FROM trades
GROUP BY party, transaction_type
ORDER BY party, count DESC;
```

### 4. Check Alerts

If the user asks about recent alerts or significant trades:

1. Check `data/pending_congress_alert.txt` for the latest undelivered alert.
2. Check `data/new_trades.json` for the last 50 alert records.
3. Present the alert content to the user.
4. Ask the user if they want to clear the alert. If yes, delete `data/pending_congress_alert.txt` to prevent re-alerting.

### 5. Change Configuration

If the user wants to adjust settings:

- **Threshold**: `export MIN_TRADE_AMOUNT=50001` (or any dollar amount)
- **Database path**: `export CONGRESS_DB_PATH=/custom/path/trades.db`
- **Cron frequency**: Edit crontab to change interval (e.g., `*/15` for every 15 minutes)

## Output Templates

### Trade List Output

When displaying trade results, use this format:

```
Congress Trades: [query description]
Found [N] trades.

| Politician | Party | Ticker | Type | Amount Range | Trade Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nancy Pelosi | D | NVDA | Purchase | $1,000,001 - $5,000,000 | 2026-02-10 |
| Dan Crenshaw | R | MSFT | Sale | $15,001 - $50,000 | 2026-02-09 |
```

### Alert Output

```
New Congress Trade Alert -- [N] significant trade(s) detected:

[green] PURCHASE: Nancy Pelosi (D) [Rep]
   $NVDA -- $1,000,001 - $5,000,000
   Trade: 2026-02-10 | Reported: 2026-02-14

[red] SALE: Dan Crenshaw (R) [Rep]
   $MSFT -- $15,001 - $50,000
   Trade: 2026-02-09 | Reported: 2026-02-14
```

### Summary Statistics Output

```
Congress Trades Summary:
- Total trades in database: [N]
- Date range: [earliest] to [latest]
- Most traded ticker: [TICKER] ([count] trades)
- Most active politician: [Name] ([count] trades)
- Party breakdown: D: [n], R: [n], I: [n]
```

### Setup Confirmation Output

```
Congress Trades Tracker -- Setup Complete
- Database: [path] ([N] trades synced)
- API: Quiver Quant connected
- Threshold: $[amount] minimum for alerts
- Cron: [status]
```

## Error Handling

When issues occur, diagnose and guide the user:

| Error | Cause | Resolution |
|---|---|---|
| `QUIVER_API_KEY environment variable is required` | API key not set | Ask user to set `export QUIVER_API_KEY="..."` |
| `401 Unauthorized` | Invalid or expired API key | Ask user to verify key at quiverquant.com |
| `403 Forbidden` | API plan does not include congress data | Suggest upgrading Quiver Quant plan |
| `Connection error` / `timeout` | Network issue or API down | Retry in a few minutes; check internet |
| `No trades returned` | API returned empty response | May be temporary; data updates on reporting schedule |
| Database locked | Concurrent access to SQLite | Ensure only one scraper instance runs at a time |
| `ModuleNotFoundError: requests` | Missing dependency | Run `pip install requests` |

## Security Notes

- API key is read from environment variable only — never store it in scripts or crontab
- Restrict file permissions on data directory: `chmod 700 data/`
- Only outbound connection: `api.quiverquant.com` (HTTPS)

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