Here's a funny thing about the stock market: sometimes the people who profit most from a questionable practice are the ones who want to see it end the most. Take Chris Josephs. He co-founded a company called Autopilot, which has millions of dollars under management that does one simple thing: it copies the stock trades of Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). It's a business built on the premise that if you can't beat 'em, join 'em. But Josephs told MarketDash he's now in favor of banning members of Congress from trading stocks altogether—and he thinks it could happen soon.
Josephs launched the "Pelosi Stock Trader" years ago as a social media project to highlight what he saw as the questionable timing of the Speaker's trades. The feeling, he says, was one of resignation. "If Congress members can trade right in front of us, we're going to join them," Josephs explained. But that same disgust, coupled with growing public awareness, might finally be the thing that kills the practice.
"I think one, the people are sick of it. I think it's essentially getting to that point," Josephs said. "Two, is the midterms and it's a great thing to run on." He predicts that candidates challenging incumbents in the 2026 elections will weaponize trading records. "They're going to come out and say, ‘I support a ban on congressional stock trading.'" That kind of political pressure, he argues, could reignite the push for a ban.
Another reason the time might be ripe is that the existing law, the STOCK Act of 2011, just hasn't done the job. Josephs points out it still allows for a delay in disclosing trades and doesn't stop lawmakers from trading individual stocks in companies they directly oversee. "It just seems like the right time in history with all the distrust going on in society and especially with our governments and our politicians, that in passing this is a massive step towards better trust and transparency from elected officials," he said.
To be clear, Josephs isn't arguing lawmakers should be barred from the markets entirely. The idea is to restrict them to broad, conflict-free instruments. "You just can't buy Raytheon while you're sitting on an armed services committee and watching Iran get bombed," he said, highlighting a real example involving Senator Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) owning RTX Corp (RTX) stock. Telling members of Congress they can only buy things like treasuries and ETFs, he argues, is not an unreasonable ask.













