Financial insiders are buying their own stock at the slowest pace in nearly 23 years—a ‘negative data point’ just as bank earnings kick off

As Wall Street’s biggest banks prepare for Q3 earnings starting next week, in one sense things have never looked better.

Trading desks have been setting records.

Blockbuster public offerings like SpaceX in June have also given bankers plenty of reason to celebrate.

But are the people who know the business best starting to have doubts about how long the run can last? A new report from VerityData showed that the number of financial executives buying shares of their own companies fell to a nearly 23-year low during the July-to-September quarter.

According to Ben Silverman, head of research at VerityData, there were just 298 “unique financial-sector buyers,” or employees who made at least one purchase of their company’s stock, in Q3.

That was the lowest in the financial research firm’s records, which go all the way back to 2004, and also just under the prior record low of 302 buyers in the third quarter of 2024.

The number of sellers was somewhat higher, but not by an unusual amount.

The report factors in insider trading activity across more than 3,000 financial services companies.

That ranges from big banks to asset managers to insurers.

This mirrored the pattern across the broader stock market.

Insider buying fell 18% to 1,290 buyers, down from 1,580 in the second quarter.

But why does this matter? At a glance, securities filings show that executives at JPMorgan routinely unload shares worth upwards of $800,000 in a quarter.

A little over a month ago, a Goldman insider also sold more than $600,000 worth of company stock.

Sometimes investors watch insider trading for clues about how those closest to a company view its business.