What is the best way to track mergers and acquisitions from SEC filings?

Information as of 9 November 2026. The rules come from the SEC pages linked below, opened on the date given under sources. The counts about OQRO's own data are from our reading of filings up to 14 October 2026. If anything here is wrong, tell us at contact@oqro.io and we will correct it.

Where does a listed company report a deal?

On Form 8-K. It is the report a company files when something material happens between its regular reports. According to the form's instructions, a report is due within four business days after the event, unless an item says otherwise. Four items matter most for a deal:

• Item 1.01, entry into a material definitive agreement: the signed merger or acquisition agreement. See our guide to what Item 1.01 tells you about a merger.
• Item 1.02, termination of a material definitive agreement: the deal is called off.
• Item 2.01, completion of an acquisition or disposition of assets: the deal closed.
• Item 5.01, changes in control of the registrant: the company has a new controlling holder.

A company may also describe a deal under Item 8.01 (other events) or Item 7.01 (Regulation FD disclosure) and attach a press release. Because the choice of item is the company's, a search on one item alone misses deals.

How do you search EDGAR yourself?

The SEC's Search Filings page lists the free ways in: the latest filings, the EDGAR APIs, EDGAR RSS feeds and full text search. The full text search looks for words inside filings, according to its page for filings since 2001, so you can search for a company name together with words such as merger agreement or tender offer. Filtering to Form 8-K narrows the results to current reports.

The method has a cost in time. You read each filing yourself, you decide whether it is a transaction or an ordinary contract, and you follow the deal through later filings to see whether it closed. Most Item 1.01 filings are not mergers at all: many report credit agreements and supply contracts.

What should a good M&A tracker show?

Whether you build a list yourself or use a service, these are the checks that separate a record from a rumour:

1. A link to the filing for each event, so you can read the sentence the figure came from.
2. The terms as the company stated them: price per share, cash or stock, the exchange ratio. A figure the company did not state should read as not disclosed, not as an estimate.
3. A status that follows the filings: announced, pending, completed or terminated, changed only by a later filing.
4. The time the filing became public, not only the date, because the time decides which closing price the market reacted to.
5. A clear coverage statement: which companies are read, and what is left out.

Where does a tracker fall short?

It reads only what companies file. A deal that a company does not consider material, or that involves a private company on both sides, may never appear on a Form 8-K. A deal reported only in the press is a rumour until a filing confirms it. And a tender offer has its own clock and filings, covered in our article on how long a tender offer must stay open.

How does OQRO's M&A page work?

OQRO's M&A page reads Form 8-Ks of the companies it covers, with the press release attached to a filing when there is one, and lays each deal out on one line: buyer, target, the terms stated, the status and the change in the share price around the filing. Every event links to the filing on SEC EDGAR, and an amount the filing does not state is shown as not disclosed. Between 31 July and 14 October 2026, OQRO read 5,359 such filings of covered companies. Most were not transactions. The remainder produced 599 events attached to 406 deals.

Those numbers are a reading of what covered companies filed, not a count of every deal in the market. A transaction appears only when the filing of a covered company describes it.

What this does not tell you

Tracking a deal does not tell you whether it will close, whether the price is fair, or what the stock will do. A share move around a filing is a change in closing prices and does not show that the filing caused it. For how to read the terms once you have found the filing, see how to read a merger announcement. Nothing here is investment advice.