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With Nancy Pelosi retiring, stock traders who copy her investments need to find a new hero

By CNN

Published November 6, 2025 2:14 pm

CNN

By Marshall Cohen, CNN

Washington (CNN) — There’s a cottage industry of investors who monitor former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s disclosed stock trades, match her every move, and usually make a profit along the way.

That trend will now end in 2027. Pelosi announced Thursday that she is retiring after a storied four-decade career in Congress, and she won’t run for re-election in next year’s midterms. Once she leaves Congress, she won’t be required to publicly reveal anything about her family’s stock holdings.

The California Democrat is one of the wealthiest members of Congress and one of the best-known investors on Capitol Hill. In the last three years, her disclosed trades had a volume of about $59 million, according to data from Capitol Trades, which tracks lawmakers from both parties.

There is no prohibition against members of Congress owning or buying stocks. But federal law requires lawmakers to disclose – within 45 days – their transactions, and any transactions by their spouse or children, or any stock activity done on their behalf. They report their transactions in value ranges, not exact amounts.

Most of the Pelosi-linked trades are done by her husband, Paul Pelosi, as made clear in federal disclosures. A spokesperson from Pelosi’s office said in 2022 that she isn’t involved in her husband’s investment decisions.

A collection of financial experts, day traders, political junkies and others have closely watched the Pelosis’ trades and matched their investments. A “Nancy Pelosi Stock Tracker” account on X, formerly Twitter, has amassed 1.2 million followers.

Among those Pelosi-watchers is Dan Weiskopf, a senior portfolio manager at Tidal Financial Group, who oversees an ETF fund whose ticker symbol is aptly called “NANC.” That fund invests in stocks that are bought or sold by not just Pelosi, but all Democratic members of Congress. (He also manages an ETF fund called “GOP,” which does the same for Republican lawmakers.)

“It’s amazing – when Nancy Pelosi makes a trade, the community immediately hops on it, and it’ll move that market,” Weiskopf said of the Pelosis’ transactions. “So many people are following her decision-making. Other members of Congress have less of an impact.”

The NANC fund has about $263 million in net assets, while the GOP fund has about $60 million, according to their website. Both were launched in 2023. Weiskopf said both of his congressional-based portfolios have largely outperformed the S&P 500.

“What’s wonderful about her trades is that she’s got such conviction in the way she trades, because she’s using long-dated options” that are still active even after the delayed disclosures, Weiskopf said. “She has done really well, so why wouldn’t you want to follow her?”

Pelosi has always denied any wrongdoing, and has rejected assertions that lawmakers may be using non-public information to gain a financial advantage. Defending her own family’s trades, she said in 2021, when pressed on her seemingly well-timed trades: “We are a free market economy, (lawmakers) should be able to participate in that.”

Government ethics groups have been lobbying for years to ban lawmaker stock trading, which is legal as long as trades are disclosed, and it isn’t isolated to just Pelosi or one political party. Amid public pressure, Pelosi announced her support in 2022 for bipartisan efforts to ban congressional stock trading, which have been slowly gaining steam throughout the year.

There are a handful of proposals being floated in Congress by progressive lawmakers like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Elizabeth Warren. But conservatives like Rep. Chip Roy and Sen. Josh Hawley have also signed on to some of these bills.

These developments – and new support this year from President Donald Trump and the congressional leadership from both parties – has given advocates optimism for potential passage through the Republican-led Congress.

Pelosi reaffirmed her support for a congressional stock-trading ban earlier this year, even after Senate Republicans renamed one of the bills the “PELOSI Act.” That hasn’t stopped her family from trading, including a recently disclosed transfer of at least $100,000 in Apple stock by her husband on Oct. 22. The shares were donated to a Catholic university in Washington, DC.

“She does impact the markets when her trading is disclosed,” Weiskopf said. “Her retirement is notable, but there are plenty of other members of Congress who will continue the trend.”

CNN’s Annie Grayer contributed reporting