# SEC Insider Cluster Buys Scanner (`edgesignals/sec-insider-cluster-scanner`) Actor

Finds stocks where 2+ insiders bought their own company's shares on the open market recently (SEC Form 4 cluster buying).

- **URL**: https://apify.com/edgesignals/sec-insider-cluster-scanner.md
- **Developed by:** [Carter Siniavsky](https://apify.com/edgesignals) (community)
- **Categories:** AI, News, Developer tools
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $5.00 / 1,000 results

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/platform/actors/running/actors-in-store#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

Actors are web data automations that power AI and operations. They run on the Apify platform to scrape websites, process data, connect APIs, and automate workflows.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.
Actors are written with capital "A".

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.
The best way to integrate Actors is as follows.

- **AI agents and MCP clients** — the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/integrations/mcp.md) at `https://mcp.apify.com` (remote, streamable HTTP, OAuth on first use).
- **Agentic workflows and local Actor development** — [Agent Skills](https://apify.com/.well-known/agent-skills/index.json) with the [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): `npm install -g apify-cli`, then `apify login`.
- **JavaScript/TypeScript projects** — the official [JS/TS client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md): `npm install apify-client`.
- **Python projects** — the official [Python client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md): `pip install apify-client`.
- **Any other language** — the [REST API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md).

For usage examples, see the [API](#api) section below.

For more details, see Apify documentation as [Markdown index](https://docs.apify.com/llms.txt) and [Markdown full-text](https://docs.apify.com/llms-full.txt).

# README

## SEC Insider Cluster Buys Scanner

**Find stocks where multiple insiders are buying their own company — the
"smart money" signal hiding in plain sight in SEC filings.**

Corporate insiders sell stock for a hundred reasons: taxes, diversification,
buying a house. They only *buy* on the open market for one reason — they think
it's going up. When **two or more different insiders** buy within the same
window ("cluster buying"), academic research has repeatedly found it precedes
outperformance, especially in small and mid caps.

This actor scans SEC EDGAR Form 4 filings directly (the primary source, not a
delayed aggregator) and flags every ticker in your watchlist with recent
cluster buying: who bought, how much, and across how many filings.

### What you get

One dataset row per cluster-buy signal:

```json
{
  "ticker": "SOFI",
  "num_insider_buyers": 3,
  "total_open_market_purchases_usd": 1250000.00,
  "buyers": [
    {"name": "NOTO ANTHONY", "purchases_usd": 1000000.00},
    {"name": "LAPOINTE CHRIS", "purchases_usd": 150000.00},
    {"name": "DOE JANE", "purchases_usd": 100000.00}
  ],
  "form4_filings_checked": 14,
  "lookback_days": 45,
  "signal": "CLUSTER_BUY",
  "scanned_at": "2026-08-15T04:30:00Z"
}
```

Only genuine open-market purchases count (Form 4 transaction code "P") —
option exercises, grants, and awards are excluded, so you see conviction,
not compensation.

### Use cases

- **Watchlist screening**: run weekly on your portfolio + watchlist; a
  cluster is a research trigger
- **Idea generation**: scan a broad universe monthly and see where insiders
  are quietly accumulating
- **Newsletters and Discords**: pipe fresh cluster signals into your
  community content
- **Quant research**: build a historical panel of cluster events for
  backtesting

### How to use

1. Enter tickers (or use the default watchlist)
2. Set the lookback window (45 days default) and minimum buyers (2 default;
   set 3 for only the strongest clusters)
3. Add your email (SEC requires a contact in the request header — it goes
   nowhere else)
4. Run. Schedule it weekly to turn this into a standing screen.

Data comes straight from SEC EDGAR with polite rate limiting. Not investment
advice — signals are research candidates, not recommendations.

# Actor input Schema

## `tickers` (type: `array`):

US stock tickers to scan for insider cluster buying. Leave empty to scan a default watchlist of popular names.

## `lookbackDays` (type: `integer`):

How many days of Form 4 filings to scan.

## `minBuyers` (type: `integer`):

Minimum number of DIFFERENT insiders buying to count as a cluster (2 = cluster, 3+ = strong cluster).

## `contactEmail` (type: `string`):

SEC EDGAR requires a contact email in the request User-Agent. Yours, not shared anywhere else.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "tickers": [
    "AAPL",
    "PLTR",
    "SOFI",
    "HOOD",
    "COIN",
    "RIVN",
    "DKNG"
  ],
  "lookbackDays": 45,
  "minBuyers": 2,
  "contactEmail": "actor-user@example.com"
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `signals` (type: `string`):

No description

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {
    "tickers": [
        "AAPL",
        "PLTR",
        "SOFI",
        "HOOD",
        "COIN",
        "RIVN",
        "DKNG"
    ]
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("edgesignals/sec-insider-cluster-scanner").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = { "tickers": [
        "AAPL",
        "PLTR",
        "SOFI",
        "HOOD",
        "COIN",
        "RIVN",
        "DKNG",
    ] }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("edgesignals/sec-insider-cluster-scanner").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print(f"💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/{run.default_dataset_id}")
for item in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "tickers": [
    "AAPL",
    "PLTR",
    "SOFI",
    "HOOD",
    "COIN",
    "RIVN",
    "DKNG"
  ]
}' |
apify call edgesignals/sec-insider-cluster-scanner --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,edgesignals/sec-insider-cluster-scanner"
        }
    }
}

```

The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations).

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/5vZdPjL2MU73WV0bA/builds/47uONE5VfrQQmS5D4/openapi.json