13F Filings: A Developer's Guide to the SEC's Best Free Dataset

#finance #data #python #investing

What Are 13F Filings?

Every institutional investor managing $100M+ in qualifying US equities must file Form 13F with the SEC quarterly. This includes hedge funds, mutual funds, pension funds, banks, and insurance companies.

For developers and quant researchers, this is one of the best structured, free datasets in finance.

The Data Structure

{
  "filer": "Berkshire Hathaway",
  "cik": "0001067983",
  "period": "2025-12-31",
  "holdings": [
    {
      "name": "APPLE INC",
      "cusip": "037833100",
      "value": 73500000000,
      "shares": 300000000,
      "put_call": null
    }
  ]
}

Filing Timeline

Q1 (Jan-Mar): Due by May 15
Q2 (Apr-Jun): Due by August 15
Q3 (Jul-Sep): Due by November 15
Q4 (Oct-Dec): Due by February 15

45-day lag is the key limitation.

What's Included

✅ Long equity positions
✅ Exchange-traded options (puts and calls)
✅ Convertible bonds and notes

What's NOT Included

❌ Short positions
❌ Non-US securities
❌ Private equity/debt
❌ Cash and bonds
❌ Real-time updates

Data Sources

SEC EDGAR — raw XML/CSV, free
13F Insight — parsed, searchable, with historical trends
WhaleWisdom, DataRoma — third-party aggregators

Full guide:

https://13finsight.com/learn/what-is-13f-filing-institutional-holdings-guide?utm_source=devto&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=article_ops_0318

Originally published at 13finsight.com

DEV Community