SEC Form 4 Insider Trades — parsed to clean JSON

Turns raw SEC Form 4 (insider transaction) XML into plain JSON, and rolls a batch of filings up into per-ticker buy/sell totals. Zero dependencies, Node built-ins only (Node 18+).

Usage

const { parseForm4Xml, summarizeByTicker } = require('./src/core');
const { fetchRecentForm4 } = require('./src/fetch');

const xmls = await fetchRecentForm4('AAPL', { userAgent: 'Your Name you@example.com', limit: 10 });
const filings = xmls.map(parseForm4Xml);
console.log(summarizeByTicker(filings));

Run the offline tests with npm test.

Input / output

parseForm4Xml(xmlString) returns:

{
  "issuer": { "cik": "0000320193", "name": "Example Corp", "ticker": "EXMP" },
  "owners": [
    { "name": "Doe Jane", "cik": "0001234567", "isDirector": false, "isOfficer": true,
      "isTenPercentOwner": false, "officerTitle": "Chief Financial Officer" }
  ],
  "transactions": [
    { "securityTitle": "Common Stock", "date": "2026-09-10", "code": "P", "shares": 1000,
      "pricePerShare": 25.5, "valueUsd": 25500, "acquiredDisposed": "A", "sharesOwnedAfter": 15000 }
  ]
}

• Covers nonDerivativeTransaction entries only.
• Numbers are JS numbers; valueUsd is shares * pricePerShare rounded to 2 decimals.
• A missing or footnote-only price gives pricePerShare: 0 and valueUsd: 0.
• Missing optional tags never throw: strings become "", flags false, and sharesOwnedAfter null.

summarizeByTicker(filings) takes an array of parseForm4Xml results and returns one entry per issuer ticker: { ticker, buyValueUsd, sellValueUsd, netValueUsd, distinctBuyers, transactionCount }, sorted by netValueUsd descending. Only code P (open-market purchase) counts as a buy and S (open-market sale) as a sell; other codes are ignored in the totals but still counted in transactionCount. distinctBuyers is the number of distinct owner names on filings that contain at least one P transaction.

fetchRecentForm4(ticker, { userAgent, limit }) downloads raw Form 4 XML from sec.gov hosts only, sends your descriptive userAgent (required by the SEC) and stays under 5 requests per second.

Limitations

• Derivative transactions (options, RSUs, warrants) and holdings tables are not parsed.
• Amendments (Form 4/A) are not deduplicated against the original filing, so amended trades can be counted twice.
• On a joint filing with several reporting owners, every owner is counted as a buyer if any transaction is a P.
• Trades made under Rule 10b5-1 plans, gifts, and tax withholding are not flagged separately; only the code is reported.
• Parsing is regex-based and targets the standard EDGAR Form 4 layout; unusual or malformed filings may parse incompletely.
• fetchRecentForm4 only looks at the most recent filings listed in the issuer's EDGAR submissions feed and is not covered by the offline tests.
• Values use the reported price per share; transactions without a price show a value of 0.

Disclaimer

This tool reports public SEC filings as-is. It is not investment advice, makes no prediction about any security, and may contain errors or omissions. Use at your own risk; verify against the original filing on sec.gov.

License

MIT