The basics
SEC filings, explained.
Everything public companies are legally required to tell you — the disclosures behind most big stock moves — and how InvestorsBot turns it into something you'll actually read. No finance degree needed.
What is the SEC?
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is the federal agency that regulates American stock markets. It was created after the 1929 crash with a simple idea: investors deserve the truth about the companies they own.
Its most powerful rule: any company whose shares trade publicly — Apple, Domino's, your favorite bank — must disclose important information to everyone at the same time. Not to Wall Street first. Not to insiders first. To everyone, in writing, in public documents.
Those documents are called filings, and they all land in a free public database called EDGAR. Every earnings release, every CEO departure, every merger, every insider stock trade — it's all there, often hours before it becomes news.
Why read filings instead of the news?
Because filings are where stock-moving news is born. Earnings surprises, takeovers, CEO exits, insider buying — when a stock jumps or drops on news, that news usually entered the world as an SEC filing.
It's the primary source
News articles summarize filings — sometimes hours later, sometimes with spin. The filing is the original document, straight from the company.
It's legally accurate
Companies face real penalties for lying in filings. Press releases can hype; filings have to hold up in court.
It's often first
Material events must be filed within days — sometimes the filing is the announcement, sitting on EDGAR before any headline.
The filings we cover
The "something just happened" report
When something material happens at a public company — a CEO resigns, an acquisition closes, earnings come out, a big contract is signed — the company must file an 8-K, usually within four business days. It's the closest thing EDGAR has to breaking news.
Each 8-K is organized into numbered "items" that tell you what kind of event it is. We track all 31 of them — from Item 1.01 (major agreements) and 2.02 (earnings) to 5.02 (leadership changes) — and summarize what actually happened, including the numbers buried in attached press releases.
The insider trading report
When executives, directors, or major shareholders buy or sell their own company's stock, they must report it within two business days. That's Form 4 — a public record of what the people who know the company best are doing with their own money.
Most Form 4s are routine (stock grants, tax withholding). We filter those out and flag only what's meaningful: real open-market purchases, and large sales — with the size, price, and the insider's remaining stake.
Annual & quarterly reports — coming soon
The deep-dive financial reports every company files yearly (10-K) and quarterly (10-Q). Hundreds of pages each — exactly the kind of thing you'll want summarized. On our roadmap.
So what does InvestorsBot do?
Filings are public, but they're written by lawyers, wrapped in boilerplate, and scattered across hundreds of companies. Nobody has time to read them all — so we do it for you.
Every day, we pull every 8-K and every significant insider trade from all 502 S&P 500 companies, extract what actually matters (including the real numbers in attached exhibits), and write a plain-English headline and summary for each one. You pick up to 20 companies, and the filings that match land in your inbox — free.
Quick glossary
EDGAR
The SEC's free public database where every filing is published. Anyone can read it — most people just don't.
Material event
Anything a reasonable investor would want to know before buying or selling — the legal trigger for an 8-K.
Item code
The numbered category inside an 8-K (e.g. 5.02 = leadership changes) that tells you what kind of event was reported.
Insider
A company's officers, directors, and 10%+ shareholders — the people required to report their trades on Form 4.
CIK
The SEC's ID number for each company — like a ticker symbol, but for filings.
Exhibit
A document attached to a filing — often the press release where the actual numbers live.