# How to read insider filings without losing the context

_By Nakul Kelkar, September 28, 2026_

An executive's name next to a share count is not enough to explain a transaction. A Form 4 can contain a grant, option exercise, sale, gift or tax-related transfer. The footnotes can change what a headline appears to say.

Use this tutorial to build a small, filing-linked record for one company and date range. The result is a research table you can inspect alongside the original forms. It is not a trading signal or a judgment about someone's conduct.

## 1. Fix the company and the date range

Connect your agent through the [Vaaya setup guide](https://vaaya.ai/install). Supply the legal company name, known ticker and dates. Distinguish the period in which a transaction happened from the period in which a filing appeared.

```text
Find public Form 4 disclosures for [company] filed from [date] to [date].
Resolve the issuer identity and CIK first.
Use Vaaya and show the proposed retrieval cost before paid work.
Stay within [total budget]. Retrieve at most [number] filings initially.
For each transaction preserve the form link, reporting owner,
transaction date, filing date, code, shares, price and footnotes.
Separate amendments, derivatives, grants, exercises and market trades.
Do not infer motive or recommend a trade from the filings.
```

An initial filing cap makes review manageable. If more records exist, return the coverage gap before extending the run.

## 2. Find the filing identifiers

Vaaya's [live catalog](https://vaaya.ai/api/catalog) includes `edgar/entities` with a `q` parameter, `edgar/filings` with `cik`, and `edgar/document` with `cik`, `accession` and `filename`. Ask the agent to inspect the current request schema and use the identifiers returned by the previous step.

Filter the returned filing metadata for the requested forms and dates in your application. Do not add invented filtering parameters to an endpoint that only accepts a CIK. If the returned history cannot cover the full period, use an appropriate additional EDGAR search and state the remaining limits.

Before reading every document, save the candidate list. A list of accession identifiers gives you a stable unit for deduplication and makes an interrupted run easier to resume.

The document action requires a bare filename. EDGAR may return a presentation path such as `xslF345X06/form4.xml`; inspect the SEC filing index for the raw XML document name before calling. Do not pass that slash-containing path as `filename`.

## 3. Read the rows with their footnotes

Open each selected filing. Preserve the relationship between a transaction row and its footnote references. Keep derivative transactions separate from non-derivative holdings, and retain direct or indirect ownership information when it is reported.

The [SEC's investor bulletin](https://www.investor.gov/introduction-investing/general-resources/news-alerts/alerts-bulletins/investor-bulletins-69) explains common codes. For example, `P` denotes a purchase, `S` a sale, `A` a grant, award or other acquisition from the company, `M` an exercise or conversion, and `F` certain exercise-price or tax payments using securities. These categories should not be collapsed into a single “insider bought” total.

Where a filing gives a range or a footnoted weighted-average price, preserve that explanation. Do not turn it into a precise fill price for every share. Read any disclosed trading-plan information as written, without inventing intent from it.

## 4. Build the comparison table

Use this as an output schema. It contains no actual insider transaction data.

| Column | Review requirement |
| --- | --- |
| Filing and accession | Link to the exact source document |
| Owner and relationship | Preserve the reported identity and role |
| Transaction and filed dates | Keep both dates in separate fields |
| Code and security type | Classify before calculating totals |
| Shares and price | Retain units and relevant qualifications |
| Footnotes and amendment | Include references and what they change |

A summary sentence should point back to the rows it describes. If a form reports several kinds of transaction, summarize each kind separately. Avoid netting unlike transactions into a confident statement about conviction.

## 5. Reconcile amendments and incomplete records

When a matching amendment appears, keep the original link and explain which fields changed. Do not count the original and corrected row as two independent transactions. If you cannot establish the relationship, flag it for review rather than discarding either form silently.

Check one complete record manually before processing the rest. Compare dates, codes and footnotes against the original document, then inspect the generated total. Save the source list with the table so the next review can add later filings without rebuilding the entire history.

## Questions

**Is a Form 4 filing evidence of illegal insider trading?**

No. Form 4 is a public disclosure of specified insider transactions. The filing alone does not establish unlawful conduct or the motivation behind a trade.

**Can I add all shares on the form into one buying total?**

Not safely without classifying the rows. Grants, exercises, gifts, sales and tax-related transactions have different meanings; derivative and non-derivative tables also need separate treatment.

**What if the filing history contains no matching Form 4?**

Check the entity, date range and coverage of the returned history. Use an appropriate additional search or record the gap. An empty page is not proof that no transactions occurred.