Guide
Form 4 alerts by email
Filing Ahoy emails you when an officer, director or owner of more than 10% of a company you follow files a Form 4. The email says who traded, what kind of transaction it was, the shares, the price and what they hold after, with a link to the filing on sec.gov.
Who files a Form 4
Section 16 of the Securities Exchange Act covers a reporting company's directors and officers, and shareholders who own more than 10% of a class of its equity securities registered under the Exchange Act. The SEC's rules require these insiders to report most of their transactions in the company's equity securities within two business days, on Forms 3, 4 or 5 (SEC, Officers, Directors and 10% Shareholders).
When it is due
General Instruction 1(a) of Form 4 says the form must be filed "before the end of the second business day following the day on which a transaction resulting in a change in beneficial ownership has been executed." A trade on a Monday is due by the end of Wednesday, when no holiday falls in between.
What the alert shows
Form 4 from Jane Example at Example Corp (EXMP)
Example Corp (EXMP): Jane Example, Chief Financial Officer, bought 12,000 shares on the open market or privately at $41.20 on Oct 21, 2026, about $494,400. Now holds 58,300 shares directly.
Purchases and sales coded P and S lead the alert, with the price and the total value. Grants, option exercises, shares withheld for tax and gifts follow in a sentence of their own, and options and other derivatives get a separate one. Share counts are never rounded.
Free or Plus
On Free you get one email at 7 AM Eastern with the filings from the day before. On Plus and Pro we check EDGAR every minute and email you each new filing as we find it, up to 10 an hour.
EDGAR takes filings from 6:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. Eastern on business days. The SEC says some Form 3, 4 and 5 submissions that begin after 10:00 p.m. are disseminated the next business day (Accessing EDGAR Data), so those reach everyone a day later.
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Not investment advice. Filing Ahoy reports what was filed; it does not tell you what to buy or sell. Filing Ahoy is not affiliated with the SEC.
Sources
Every rule on this page comes from these sec.gov pages, read on October 25, 2026.
- Form 4 and its General Instructions (PDF)
https://www.sec.gov/files/form4.pdf - Officers, Directors and 10% Shareholders
https://www.sec.gov/resources-small-businesses/going-public/officers-directors-10-shareholders - Accessing EDGAR Data
https://www.sec.gov/search-filings/edgar-search-assistance/accessing-edgar-data