Scoop: Senator Ross Cadell discloses trading activity to reduce risks of insider trading

NSW Nationals senator Ross Cadell has begun declaring the dates and values of his shareholdings and other investments to address public perceptions that politicians could be using non-public information to commit insider trading, Open Politics can reveal.

Federal politicians only need to declare their shareholdings and investments, not when they buy and sell or the value of their trades as US Congresspeople are required to do under the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act (STOCK).

This afternoon Cadell declared to the Register of Senators’ Interests that he bought under $10,000 of Bitcoin on Friday 19 June when the price was $88,662 per coin. This follows his initial investment in early June, again of less than $10,000 Bitcoin, with Cadell telling Open Politics his portfolio quickly lost 7% in value.

Not discouraged by the fall, Cadell declared to the register on 22 June: "Under the crypto doctrine of “HODL” [Hold On for Dear Life] after initial losses in the Bitcoin account I thought the best action was to invest more to ride out the decline. Therefore I purchased another small amount of Bitcoin on Coinstash. Date 19 June 2026 Amount <$10,000 at price of $88662.”

HODL sounds an awful lot like the sunk cost fallacy to us, but amongst crypto enthusiasts we’re told there’s such strong belief in the coin’s long term value that they tend to disregard its price volatility and hold their positions or double down (as Cadell has done here).

At the time of writing Bitcoin’s value had increased to over $91,000, and the senator happily reported to us that he’s recovered his losses from earlier this month and was now up 1.6%. But given the coin’s price gyrations, Cadell’s investment could be in the toilet again by the end of the day.

The senator’s move follows his speech in the Senate in 2024 calling for all parliamentarians to be required to declare “their buying or selling of any financial instruments - futures, options, stocks” and value ranges.

While Opposition politicians don’t have access to the government’s impeding decisions that could be used for insider trading, they sometimes have opportunities to profit from their parliamentary roles.

Cadell highlighted in his speech how on the eve of his participation in the Senate’s supermarket inquiry hearing on 16 April 2024, he could’ve shorted Woolworths and Coles stock as both supermarkets’ share prices fell two percent after their CEOs were grilled by Cadell and other committee members. At the very least he could’ve taken a short position on Coles shares after seeing Woolworths price fall following then CEO Brad Banducci’s hammering in the morning session of the hearing. (Coles appeared in the afternoon.)

Cadell, with the help of friend who works in finance, recreated the shorts and calculated that if he had invested $10,000 in options in the morning his portfolio would’ve been worth between $40,000 to $90,000 by the end of the hearing.

With potential profits like that, it’s about time all parliamentarians – and their spouses and children – were required to disclose their share trades and investment activity.