Who counts as a corporate insider?

"Insider" has a precise legal meaning. Section 16 of the Securities Exchange Act applies to three groups, and only these three must report their trades on Form 4:

• Officers — the CEO, CFO, COO, presidents, and any other policy-making executives the company designates.
• Directors — every member of the board, employed by the company or not.
• 10% owners — any person or entity beneficially owning more than 10% of a registered class of the company's stock: founders, families, activist funds, strategic holders.

Not all insiders are equal

The three groups see very different slices of the business. A CFO sees cash, bookings, and the forecast every week. An outside director sees board materials a few times a quarter. A passive 10% owner may see nothing beyond public filings — some are index funds that crossed the threshold mechanically. That's why role weighting matters: our High conviction tag marks clusters that include at least one C-suite or executive-officer buyer, the people closest to the numbers.

The interesting edge: 10% owners who act like operators

Founder-owners and activist funds file as 10% owners but often know the business as deeply as management. When they buy alongside officers or directors — three different vantage points agreeing at once — that's the strongest form of the cluster-buy pattern. You can see who's currently buying the most on the insider leaderboard, with every buyer linked to their full cross-company history.