Stock Performance of US Senators
Finance and crypto
stock trading tracker
SHOW HN2020
How HN took it
9 positive, 31 neutral or asking, 1 mixed, 15 critical, out of 56 comments about the project. Thread score -0.10.
Performance: 1 for, 8 againstIdea: 1 for, 3 againstDesign: 2 for, 1 againstExecution: 0 for, 2 againstPrivacy: 0 for, 1 against
The thread, comment by comment
Each row is a top-level comment and its replies, in HN's order. Select a cell to open that comment on HN.
positive neutral or mixed critical about another commenter or something else the maker
What HN said
What people liked
Useful and important data project
From 3 comments
This is frigin' awesome.
ztratar on HNThis is great!
ghthor on HNThis is great. If I had the patience I would write some script that alerts you when there are major sell offs. The last crash was preceded by heavy sales by a few senators that…
joelbluminator on HN
Objections
Site crashes or uses too much memory on phones and browsers
From 3 comments
warning: page is memory hungry AF! gave my laptop a wedgie... it's awesome and important, but close some tabs first :p
elipsey on HNYeah, unfortunately it crashes Firefox on Android every time.
bobsoap on HNI don't know what this website is doing, but it locks my phone up and eventually crashes the ui (Samsung Note 8). Never before have I experienced any behavior like this, not even…
blunte on HN
Returns exclude dividends and risk is not adjusted for bond-heavy portfolios
From 2 comments
Does this include dividends in returns? Most senators are older (closer to retirement), I am assuming they invest more in dividend stocks and bonds than growth stocks.
asdfadsfgfdda on HNTrue although it's not quite that simple. Most senators have less risky portfolios than the S&P 500 with lots of bond ETFs and the like, so that's not a perfect comparison. We're…
bingdig on HN
Reporting lag makes trades less useful
From 2 comments
There is a significant reporting lag, between the actual stock sales and the notification on the tracker. For example, the sales of Sen Loeffler that were widely reported in the…
albntomat0 on HNwould need to consider the lag in time between them making the trade for themselves and the them disclosing it. I expect that would probably wipe out most of the alpha.
Stanleyc23 on HN
Requests
Add S&P 500 to histogram and risk-adjusted returns
From 2 comments
It's good that you have the S&P as a benchmark. It shows that the median performance of a senator (4%-6%) is lower than expected (10%). Can you add the S&P to the histogram so…
sxp on HNThey should actually regress senator returns against Ken French's research factors [1] and measure the statistical/economic significance of the intercept and the volatility of…
rmrfstar on HN
Add House members and executive branch data
From 1 comment
Yes, that's in the works along with Executive branch data!
bingdig on HN
Add party and state to table
From 1 comment
Sure, we've gotten a couple requests for this and think it'd be really helpful. State and party affiliation will be up in 1-2 days
bingdig on HN
Questions
Is the data accurate given holdings by spouses?
From 2 comments
This is awesome, but is this accurate? The largest holding listed is Susan Collins with a $37mm investment in 3M... Everything I can find from a google search suggests she is not…
alex_g on HNHey Alex, it's as accurate as the data the senator's report, but we've noticed a lot of inaccuracies that are later corrected - maybe some haven't yet been corrected? Two points…
bingdig on HN
How was it built and hosted?
From 2 comments
How can I learn to build something like this? Does it use a scraper system?
TurkishPoptart on HNWould you be willing to share some of the technologies/frameworks you use to host the site? Great idea!
easterncalculus on HN
Alternatives named
Quiver Quant House trading tracker
From 1 comment
Here is a similar site which I built for members of the House of Representatives: https://www.quiverquant.com/sources/housetrading
greatwave1 on HN
OpenSecrets personal finances
From 1 comment
I notice at least one of the most invested senators is not in the list. Is that intentional? This might be interesting to see what other people are doing with the Senate…
mkhpalm on HN