What a Form 144 is

What it is

A Form 144 is a notice sent to the SEC, the government agency that oversees the stock market. It says that a company insider plans to sell some of their shares. Insiders here means people with close ties to the company, like its bosses, board members and big owners. It is also filed for certain shares that came with special limits on selling them.

A Form 144 is needed when the insider plans to sell more than 5,000 shares, or more than $50,000 worth, within three months. It has to be filed by the time the order to sell is placed. Since April 2023 these notices are filed online on SEC EDGAR, the government's public filing website.

How it is different from a Form 4

A Form 144 is a heads-up about a sale someone plans to make. The sale might never happen.

A Form 4 is the report filed after a trade really happens. It is due within two business days of the trade. It shows how many shares were sold and at what price.

On Paydirt

Paydirt does not list Form 144 notices. It waits for the Form 4 that reports the finished sale. That way every row on Paydirt is a trade that really happened, at the price that was filed. You can see every insider trade on the insider feed, and the biggest recent sales on the insider selling page.