What does Form 4 code P mean? An open-market purchase, worked from a real filing

What code P reports

Transaction code P, paired with an acquired direction, reports that the filer bought securities, either on the open market or in a private transaction. It is the code most often meant when someone says an insider bought stock with their own money, but the code alone does not disclose financing, timing strategy, or whether the purchase used a related trust or entity.

Compare code P against code A (an award or grant, no cash paid by the filer) and code M (exercise of a company-granted derivative). Only P and, less commonly, certain J or K codes represent the filer paying an arm's-length price for shares already outstanding.

A worked example: Ellen F Siminoff at Commerce.com

On 2026-02-17, Ellen F Siminoff, Executive Chair and a director of Commerce.com, Inc. (ticker CMRC, CIK 0001626450), reported a code P acquisition of 100,000 shares at $2.9408 per share, held indirectly through The D & E Living Trust. The filing was submitted 2026-02-19, accession number 0001386430-26-000002.

Multiplying the reported shares by the reported price gives a purchase value of 100,000 x $2.9408 = $294,080.00, as of the 2026-02-17 transaction date. That is the calculation InsiderFilingDesk's screens use for every P line; it does not restate the filer's total position, unrealized gain, or subsequent price action.

Read the original filing before citing this figure: footnotes can qualify the ownership form, and CMRC's own page on InsiderFilingDesk carries the same source link so the number can be checked against the primary document.

How to check a P line yourself

Open the accession number on EDGAR, confirm the transaction code shown in table I or II, confirm the acquired/disposed indicator, and confirm the reported price is a single price rather than a weighted average across multiple executions (the footnotes disclose a range when it is). Then, and only then, treat the purchase value as a research input rather than a headline.

Frequently asked

What does Form 4 code P mean?

Code P, with an acquired direction, reports an open-market or private purchase: the filer paid a price for shares. It is the code usually meant by a headline that says an insider bought stock.

Is a code P purchase always an open-market trade?

Not always. Code P also covers certain private purchases. Check the filing's footnotes and ownership form before assuming an exchange trade at the quoted price.