Approximately one year after retail investors sparked a trading frenzy fueled by Reddit, which is widely known for creating the “meme stock” phenomenon, another online following has developed.
However, instead of pursuing market underdogs such as Gamestop, retail investors are targeting the varied investments of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who is well-known for amassing immense wealth in the stock markets during her time in Congress.
The phrase “Pelosi stock trades” apparently hit a record high in Google searches earlier this month as social media users across TikTok, Youtube, Reddit, and Twitter analyze Pelosi’s varied investments. Many believe that the House Speaker has an inside track on Wall Street, despite laws that technically prohibit insider trading.
In addition, commentary regarding the House Speaker’s trades tend to surface frequently in the “wallstreetbets” Reddit forum, where numerous retail investors banded together and collectively coordinated a massive purchase of equities in Gamestop, AMC, Express, and other ailing companies. These companies became known as “meme stock” companies due to their popular following online.
Pelosi’s investments have attracted notice due to her multimillion dollar fortune, and each trade disclosure she releases is now widely shared across social media platforms as soon as they surface on the official website for the House. Similar to other representatives, Pelosi is required to legally disclose her trades to the public within 45 days of executing a trade.
In the past year, Pelosi has disclosed trades in Microsoft, Tesla, Amazon, and Apple.
The House Speaker’s varied trades have gained increasing attention in the face of a massive rise in retail trading, along with recent pushes to bar legislators from trading at all during their time in public office.
On Monday, nearly 30 representatives signed a letter that demanded a floor vote on recent proposals designed to limit Congressional representatives’ trading behavior “in light of recent misconduct.”
Previously, Pelosi opposed such a move, though she has recently indicated greater willingness to consider legislation that could significantly limit or altogether ban representatives from trading stocks.
Recent analysis by Unusual Whales, an entity that sells financial data, reveals that Congressional representatives collectively traded nearly $300M in various assets, including stocks, derivatives, and cryptocurrency.
On average, and perhaps unsurprisingly, Congress outperformed the market.
