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form4api-mcp

list_congress_trades

Read-only

Query congressional STOCK Act trades (Free+, plan-clamped disclosure window). Returns a paginated JSON list of congressional periodic-transaction-report trades, most recently DISCLOSED first, with non-superseded rows only (amended-away…

Instructions

Query congressional STOCK Act trades (Free+, plan-clamped disclosure window). Returns a paginated JSON list of congressional periodic-transaction-report trades, most recently DISCLOSED first, with non-superseded rows only (amended-away rows never appear). COVERAGE — HOUSE ONLY TODAY: every trade in this dataset comes from the U.S. House Clerk's PTR index. Senate eFD (efdsearch.senate.gov) returns 403 to datacenter traffic, so no Senate filings are ingested yet. chamber=Senate remains a valid filter but matches nothing and returns the response header X-Coverage-Note: chamber-not-covered, so an empty result is never ambiguous. Scanning by chamber should treat that header as "not covered", not as "no trades". PLAN-CLAMPED WINDOW: this endpoint is open to every plan, but how far back you can see is clamped on disclosureDate — Free sees only trades disclosed in the last 30 days, Starter the last 366 days, Pro/Business/Enterprise unlimited history. Passing an older disclosure_date_from than your plan allows does not extend the window — the floor always wins. Filters: ticker, politician (bioguideId, exact), party (free-text, case-insensitive exact match — not a fixed enum), chamber (House|Senate — see the coverage note above), state (2-letter code), transaction_type (purchase|sale|partial_sale|exchange), min_amount (range-aware — matches AmountLow >= value, never a fabricated midpoint), transaction_date_from/to, disclosure_date_from/to. Every row always carries BOTH amountLow and amountHigh (STOCK Act discloses ranges, never exact figures) and disclosureLagDays = (disclosureDate - transactionDate) in whole days — the STOCK Act allows up to 45 days of lag, so "real-time" here means minutes-after-disclosure, not minutes-after-trade. DATE QUALITY: source dates are sometimes wrong. When a row's dates are impossible or implausible, disclosureLagDays is null and dateQuality names the reason: transaction_after_disclosure (transaction date later than disclosure date), future_transaction_date (transaction date in the future), or implausible_lag (lag above 1500 days, almost always a mistyped year). dateQuality is null on a normal row. Flagged rows are never dropped and their raw transactionDate and disclosureDate are returned unchanged. Genuine late filings with a long but plausible lag keep their disclosureLagDays. For per-politician or per-ticker rollups use GET /v1/congress/politicians, /v1/congress/politicians/{idOrSlug}, or /v1/congress/tickers/{ticker} (all Pro+). To check whether an insider cluster-buy lines up with a congressional purchase in the same ticker, use GET /v1/signals/convergence (Pro+); for the company's own profile use GET /v1/companies/{ticker} (Free). limit is accepted as an alias for per_page. Query runs live against the database — no caching.

Input Schema

TableJSON Schema
NameRequiredDescriptionDefault
pageNo1-based page number. Defaults to 1.
limitNoAlias for per_page.
partyNoParty as disclosed by the source, case-insensitive exact match (e.g. "D", "R", "Democratic"). Free-text — not a fixed enum, so this matches whatever string the source reported.
stateNoTwo-letter US state/territory code, case-insensitive exact match (e.g. "CA").
tickerNoTicker symbol, case-insensitive exact match (e.g. "AAPL").
chamberNo"House" or "Senate", case-insensitive. COVERAGE: this dataset currently holds House PTRs only — Senate eFD blocks datacenter traffic, so chamber=Senate is a valid filter over data we do not yet have and returns an empty array with the response header X-Coverage-Note: chamber-not-covered.
per_pageNoTrades per page. Defaults to 100, maximum 500. `limit` is accepted as an alias; if both are given, per_page wins.
min_amountNoMinimum disclosed amount, range-aware: matches trades whose AmountLow >= this value. Never matched against a fabricated midpoint — see the amountLow/amountHigh honesty rule.
politicianNoPolitician's bioguide ID, exact match (e.g. "P000197").
transaction_typeNo"purchase", "sale", "partial_sale", or "exchange", case-insensitive.
disclosure_date_toNoInclusive end of the disclosure-date window, format YYYY-MM-DD.
transaction_date_toNoInclusive end of the transaction-date window, format YYYY-MM-DD.
disclosure_date_fromNoInclusive start of the disclosure-date window, format YYYY-MM-DD. Subject to the plan-clamped floor below — a Free/Starter caller cannot page back further than their plan allows even by passing an older date here.
transaction_date_fromNoInclusive start of the transaction-date window, format YYYY-MM-DD.

Schema Changelog

Changes observed during successful MCP inspections.

  1. Changed2 schema fields changedv1.9.7
    • addedInput schema / properties / limit
      Added value: +{
      +  "description": "Alias for per_page.",
      +  "type": "integer"
      +}
    • changedInput schema / properties / per_page / description
      Previous value: -"Trades per page. Defaults to 100, maximum 500."New value: +"Trades per page. Defaults to 100, maximum 500. `limit` is accepted as an alias; if both are given, per_page wins."
  2. Addedv1.9.6

TDQS

A4.6/5.0
Behavior5/5

Does the description disclose side effects, auth requirements, rate limits, or destructive behavior?

Annotations only declare readOnlyHint and openWorldHint, but the description adds substantial behavioral context: House-only coverage with the Senate 403 reason, plan-clamped disclosure window floors per plan, non-superseded row semantics, live non-cached queries, and date-quality flagging rules. This is far beyond what the annotations convey.

Agents need to know what a tool does to the world before calling it. Descriptions should go beyond structured annotations to explain consequences.

Conciseness4/5

Is the description appropriately sized, front-loaded, and free of redundancy?

Front-loaded with purpose and scope before diving into coverage, plan-clamping, and date quality, with clear ALL-CAPS section headers aiding scanning. It is longer than strictly necessary and lightly repetitive in restating filter behavior, but every section carries information an agent needs.

Shorter descriptions cost fewer tokens and are easier for agents to parse. Every sentence should earn its place.

Completeness5/5

Given the tool's complexity, does the description cover enough for an agent to succeed on first attempt?

For a 14-parameter listing tool with no output schema and no required fields, the description covers the return shape (paginated JSON, most-recently-disclosed-first, non-superseded rows), coverage limitations, plan gating, and data-quality semantics. Nothing critical for correct invocation is missing.

Complex tools with many parameters or behaviors need more documentation. Simple tools need less. This dimension scales expectations accordingly.

Parameters3/5

Does the description clarify parameter syntax, constraints, interactions, or defaults beyond what the schema provides?

Schema description coverage is 100%, so the schema already documents every parameter, including the chamber coverage caveat and the plan-clamped floor for disclosure_date_from. The description largely restates those same filter semantics rather than adding new meaning, so it sits at the baseline for fully documented schemas.

Input schemas describe structure but not intent. Descriptions should explain non-obvious parameter relationships and valid value ranges.

Purpose5/5

Does the description clearly state what the tool does and how it differs from similar tools?

Opening sentence states a specific verb (Query) and resource (congressional STOCK Act trades), with scope qualifiers (Free+, plan-clamped window). It is clearly distinguishable from sibling tools like list_congress_politicians and get_congress_ticker_rollup, which are named and routed away from.

Agents choose between tools based on descriptions. A clear purpose with a specific verb and resource helps agents select the right tool.

Usage Guidelines5/5

Does the description explain when to use this tool, when not to, or what alternatives exist?

Explicitly names alternatives and their conditions: per-politician/per-ticker rollups go to the /v1/congress/* endpoints (Pro+), cluster alignment to /v1/signals/convergence, company profile to /v1/companies/{ticker}. It also tells the agent when chamber=Senate is a dead filter and to read X-Coverage-Note rather than treat empty as 'no trades'.

Agents often have multiple tools that could apply. Explicit usage guidance like "use X instead of Y when Z" prevents misuse.