what is sec form 13f 
the securities and exchange commission s sec form 13f is a quarterly report that is required to be filed by all institutional investment managers with at least 100 million in assets under management it discloses their equity holdings and can provide insights into what the smart money is doing in the market 1managers are required to file form 13f within 45 days after the last day of the calendar quarter most funds wait until the end of this period in order to conceal their investment strategy from competitors and the public 1understanding sec form 13fcongress created the 13f requirement in 1975 its intention was to provide the u s public with a view of the holdings of the nation s largest institutional investors lawmakers believed this would increase investor confidence in the integrity of the nation s financial markets 2firms that are considered institutional investment managers include mutual funds hedge funds trust companies pension funds insurance companies and registered investment advisors because 13f filings provide investors with a look at the holdings of wall street s top stock pickers many smaller investors have sought to use the filings as a guide for their own investment strategies their rationale is that the nation s largest institutional investors are not only presumably the smartest but their size also gives them the power to move markets so investing in the same stocks or selling the same stocks makes sense as a strategy key issues with sec form 13fsmaller investors who want to replicate the strategies of rock star money managers like daniel loeb david tepper or seth klarman scrutinize 13f filings the financial press often reports on what these fund managers have been buying and selling by comparing changes in quarterly filings but there are a number of problems with 13f filings that warrant caution 13f has drawn criticism from many groups who claim it provides a loophole for hedge fund managers in fact in a 2010 statement the sec itself acknowledged the form had many problems and recommended a number of changes should be made in order to ensure useful and reliable data is provided to the public and government regulators 3the sec s internal review also noted that although the sec would be expected to make extensive use of section 13 f information for regulatory and oversight purposes no sec division or office conducts any regular or systematic review of the data filed on form 13f 4perhaps this explains how infamous fraudster bernard madoff dutifully filed 13f forms every quarter and still ran a successful ponzi scheme another frequent criticism of the form is the fact that it only requires fund managers to file 13f reports 45 days after the end of each quarter most managers submit their 13fs as late as possible because they do not want to tip off rivals to what they are doing by the time other investors get their hands on those 13fs they are looking at stock purchases that may have been made more than four months prior to the filing 2in a march 31 2021 letter to allison herren lee the acting chair of the sec the progressive nonprofit americans for financial reform urged the sec to expand both the frequency of form 13f reporting and the range of financial products required to be disclosed on this form 5another group the national investor relations institute recommended the sec implement a monthly reporting of ownership positions along with a 15 day window 6one risk for both professional and retail investors is the tendency of money managers to borrow investment ideas from one another hedge fund managers are no more immune to behavioral biases than anyone else after all if you are a fund manager it is safer to be wrong with the majority than wrong alone this can lead to crowded trades and overvalued stocks and if small investors are late to the party getting into a trade they are likely to be late getting out another issue with 13f filings is that funds are only required to report long positions in addition to their put and call options american depositary receipts adrs and convertible notes this can give an incomplete and even misleading picture because some funds generate most of their returns from their short selling only using long positions as hedges there is no way to distinguish these hedges from genuine long positions on 13f forms 2who must file sec form 13f institutional managers with assets under management of 100 million or more must file sec form 13f disclosing their equity holdings 