The Form 144 head start, measured
An insider who plans to sell has to file a notice first. How far ahead of the reported sale does that notice land? Every matched pair over the last 90 days, live.
The InsiderBeacon team · updates every ten minutes · Live status
In short: over the last 90 days the notice arrived before the sale was reported in most cases, typically over a day ahead, measured on every notice whose sale was reported. Notices filed after their sale was already reported count against us.
The numbers
How far ahead
Each pair's head start, from the SEC accepting the notice to the SEC accepting the Form 4 that reported the sale.
The spread above is from the last full run; the live one replaces it when the page loads.
The newest pairs, so you can check
Both filings are linked. Nine of twelve usually match to the dollar; the exceptions are a Form 4 that bundled several sales, or a first partial sale of a bigger plan.
| Insider | Stock | The notice said | The Form 4 sold | Head start |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Loading the newest pairs from the app… | ||||
Tap an insider to follow them in the app: you'll get their next notice the minute it's accepted.
Method
For every Form 144 filed in the last 90 days, the app looks for the Form 4 by the same seller at the same company filed within the notice's three-month window (or up to three days before it, which happens), and keeps the gap between the two SEC acceptance timestamps. No fuzzy matching: same person, same issuer only. Notices too new for their sale to have been reported aren't counted as unmatched.
Timestamps are the SEC's acceptance times for both filings, so this measures when the information became public, not when the trade happened. A notice says an insider means to sell, not that they did, so the study measures the head start on sales that actually happened.
Why it matters
Most insider trackers, newsletters and alert services start from the Form 4, after the sale. Screeners show it when you go and look; daily newsletters send it the next morning; alert services send it when the Form 4 lands. A few screeners also list the notices (Finviz shows them as "Proposed Sale" rows), but you only see one when you go and look. The notice has often been on EDGAR for a day or more by the time the sale is reported. InsiderBeacon reads it the minute the SEC accepts it and alerts anyone who holds, copied or follows that stock. See how the trackers compare.
Questions
What is a Form 144?
The notice an insider must file with the SEC before selling restricted or control shares, when the sale is above a small threshold (5,000 shares or $50,000 in three months). It says what they intend to sell, through which broker, and from roughly when. The sale itself is reported later on a Form 4.
Does a Form 144 mean the sale happened?
No. It says the insider means to sell within the next three months. Some never do. This study only counts notices that were followed by a reported sale, so it measures the head start on sales that actually happened, not how often a notice leads to a sale.
How are a notice and a sale matched?
Same seller, same company, the Form 4 filed within the notice's three-month life (or up to three days before it, which happens). No fuzzy matching. Each pair's two filings are linked below so anyone can check.
Is the sale a signal?
Usually not on its own. Most of these are scheduled 10b5-1 plan sales, and scheduled selling by an executive says far less than open-market buying does. The point is different: if you hold the stock, the information that an insider is unloading exists on EDGAR a day or two before anyone reports it.
Where do the numbers come from?
From the app's own records: the SEC's acceptance time of each Form 144 and of the Form 4 that reported the sale, over the last 90 days. They update every ten minutes and are the same numbers the app's status page shows. The raw data is public at https://app.insiderbeacon.com/api/stats/head-start.
For information only, from public SEC filings. Not investment advice. Disclaimer