14 August, 2024 – Trading and investing platform eToro has today launched three new Smart Portfolios, including one that copies Congress members’ stock buys. The portfolios, launched in partnership with investment research platform Quiver Quantitative, will all tap into publicly disclosed government data, helping retail investors to harness this information.
Public disclosures have revealed US politicians making stock trades around key events in recent years, such as right before the COVID-19 lockdown, Russian invasion of Ukraine, Silicon Valley Bank’s collapse, and Nvidia’s stock surge. To mimic their strategies, the Congress-Buys portfolio will include the top 10 stocks recently bought by Congress members based on the size of the purchase.
The Lobby-Spending portfolio will include companies with rising lobbying expenditures, while the DC-Insider portfolio will consist of firms that are frequently traded by Congress members, spend a large amount on lobbying, and hold a significant number of government contracts. As investors become increasingly interested in understanding the inner workings of the US legislature, public data about which companies are hiring lobbyists to influence lawmakers to pass favourable policies, and which companies are landing lucrative government contracts can be valuable when forming investment strategies.
“Federal law requires Congress members’ stock trades, companies’ lobbying expenditures and government contracts to be disclosed, but it can be difficult for retail investors to scrape and analyse this information in a simple way to support their investment decisions,” said Gil Shapira, Chief Investment Officer at eToro. “We are excited to partner with Quiver Quantitative to make information from Capitol Hill accessible to retail investors with these new portfolios. By leveraging Quiver’s bank of aggregated data and analysis, we can harness insights from US government activity and make them accessible to eToro users through innovative strategies.”
“One of our goals is to help retail investors better understand the relationships between Wall Street and Capitol Hill, and give them the tools to act off that information. We are excited to bring some of our data and strategies to eToro’s platform, and hope it will be a valuable resource for their traders,” said James Kardatzke, CEO and Co-Founder of Quiver Quantitative.
Details of the three portfolios are as follows:
- Congress-Buys: copies the top 10 stocks bought by Congress members in the past 100 days based on the reported size of the purchase. Initial allocation includes stocks such as Nvidia and Simon Property Group.
- Lobby-Spending: comprises 10 companies with the most quarter-on-quarter growth in US federal lobbying expenditures. Initial allocation includes stocks such as eBay and Roblox.
- DC-Insider: includes companies who spend a large amount on corporate lobbying, have a significant number of government contracts and are frequently traded by Congress members. Initial allocation includes stocks such as AT&T and Ford Motor.
eToro and Quiver Quantitative scrape public disclosures to create these strategies and each portfolio will be rebalanced monthly to reflect the latest data.
The STOCK (Stock Trading on Congressional Knowledge) Act 2012 requires U.S. Senators and Representatives to publicly file and disclose any financial transaction, including stock trades, within 45 days of its occurrence.
Meanwhile, the Lobbying Disclosure Act 1995 requires lobbyists in the US to disclose information about their activities, such as their clients, which issues they are lobbying on, and how much they are being paid. Official federal spending information, such as government contracts with public companies, can be found on USASpending.gov.
eToro’s range of Smart Portfolios offer exposure to various market themes. Bundling together several assets under a defined methodology, and employing a passive investment approach, they provide long-term investment solutions that offer diversified exposure. Initial investment starts from USD$500 and any investors can access tools and charts to track the portfolio’s performance, while eToro’s social feed will keep them up-to-date on developments in the sector. Not available to US users.
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Notes to Editors
Contacts:
About eToro:
eToro is the trading and investing platform that empowers you to invest, share and learn. We were founded in 2007 with the vision of a world where everyone can trade and invest in a simple and transparent way. Today we have over 35 million registered users from more than 100 countries. We believe there is power in shared knowledge and that we can become more successful by investing together. So we’ve created a collaborative investment community designed to provide you with the tools you need to grow your knowledge and wealth. On eToro, you can hold a range of traditional and innovative assets and choose how you invest: trade directly, invest in a portfolio, or copy other investors. You can visit our media centre here for our latest news.
About Quiver Quantitative:
Quiver Quantitative scrapes alternative stock data from across the internet and aggregates it in an easy-to-use platform designed for non-professional investors. Quiver allows these retail investors to tap into the power of big data, and have access to the same resources that are increasingly being used to drive investment decisions on Wall Street. With over a half million registered users since being founded in 2020, Quiver Quantitative is one of the fastest-growing data providers for retail investors. Quiver currently scrapes over 30 datasets, covering everything from government contracts to social media sentiment. The Quiver API allows algorithmic traders and enterprises to build directly on top of Quiver’s underlying data feeds, and is currently used by several leading financial institutions and enterprises. For more information, visit http://www.quiverquant.com.
Disclaimers:
eToro is a multi-asset investment platform. Copy Trading does not amount to investment advice.The value of your investments may go up or down. Your capital is at risk. Past performance is not an indication of future results.
This communication is for information and education purposes only and should not be taken as investment advice, a personal recommendation, or an offer of, or solicitation to buy or sell, any financial instruments. This material has been prepared without taking into account any particular recipient’s investment objectives or financial situation, and has not been prepared in accordance with the legal and regulatory requirements to promote independent research. Any references to past or future performance of a financial instrument, index or a packaged investment product are not, and should not be taken as, a reliable indicator of future results. eToro makes no representation and assumes no liability as to the accuracy or completeness of the content of this publication.
Australia
Smart Portfolios are not exchange-traded funds or hedge funds and are not tailored to your specific objectives, financial situation and needs. Capital at risk. See PDS and TMD.
Europe
Copy Trading does not amount to investment advice. The value of your investments may go up or down. Your capital is at risk.
UK
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