Every public company must file a proxy statement (Form DEF 14A) before its annual meeting. It’s where CEO pay, board elections, and shareholder votes are disclosed — the source behind CEO$.

Since 2018, U.S. companies have had to disclose the ratio of their CEO’s pay to the median employee’s — a Dodd-Frank rule. Some ratios run into the thousands to one.

When a corporate insider buys or sells their own company’s stock, they must report it to the SEC on Form 4 within two business days — which is why insider trades show up so quickly.

Big investors disclose their holdings on Form 13F only 45 days after each quarter ends — so the "whale" positions everyone watches are always at least six weeks stale.