What is a 13F Filing?
Every institutional investor managing more than $100 million in US equities must file a 13F report with the SEC every quarter. This public filing reveals every stock they hold, how many shares, and the dollar value.
The catch: 13Fs are filed 45 days after the quarter ends. So you're looking at data that's up to 45 days old. That's still useful — institutions don't flip positions overnight.
Key fact: Over 7,000 institutions are required to file 13Fs. Combined, they manage over $30 trillion in US equities — more than 70% of the entire market.
Who Should You Track?
Not all institutions are equal. Here's who moves markets:
- BlackRock$10T+
Largest asset manager — index and active funds
- Vanguard$8.6T
Passive index giant — their flows are huge but slow
- State Street$4.1T
Creator of SPY — major index fund operator
- Fidelity$4.5T
Active and passive — worth watching for sector bets
- Berkshire Hathaway$300B+
Warren Buffett's picks move individual stocks significantly
What Signals Should You Watch?
Raw holdings data is noise. What matters is change:
New Position
An institution buys a stock they didn't hold last quarter. Strong signal — they did deep due diligence.
Increased Position
Existing holding gets bigger. Conviction is growing.
Reduced Position
They're selling down. Could mean target price reached or thesis changed.
Closed Position
Full exit. Often worth investigating why.
The Smart Money Consensus Strategy
The most powerful signal isn't one institution buying — it's multiple institutions buying the same stock in the same quarter. When three or more major funds all increase their position in a single stock, the probability of a price move rises significantly.
This is the logic behind Quantara's Smart Money Consensus feature: scan every tracked institution and find which stocks are being accumulated by the most funds simultaneously.
How to Use This Data Practically
- 1Identify which stocks are being accumulated by 3+ major funds this quarter
- 2Cross-reference with technical analysis — is the stock at support? Is RSI oversold?
- 3Check insider buying for additional confirmation — are executives buying too?
- 4Look at the position size — a 0.1% allocation from BlackRock is still $10 billion
- 5Set a price alert and wait for a pullback to enter rather than chasing
Track Smart Money on Quantara
Quantara's Institutional Tracker shows holdings and changes for BlackRock, Vanguard, Fidelity and 7,000+ other institutions — updated every quarter from SEC 13F filings.
Open Institutional Tracker →