Treasury International Capital, Form SLT tables 1 and 4 · Purchases and sales of US corporate stocks by foreign residents, each month
Are foreigners buying or selling US stocks?
The month ended : of the 4 lines, the change over a year was largest for Net foreign purchases of US stocks, up 76.4%, and smallest for Foreign holdings of US stocks, up 22.9%.
Foreign purchases and sales of US stocks, monthly trading, each month
- Foreign purchases of US stocks5337.11400.3 to 6815.1
- Foreign sales of US stocks5183.11441.7 to 6632.5
Each row is one line of the page over the last ten years, one month to a point, on a scale shared by the rows of the tab, with its newest value and its range printed beside it and a dashed line at zero. A gap is a month with no value. Pointing at the chart shows the month and the value.
Observed .
Right now
Over a year to August 2026, of the 4 lines on this page the change was largest for Net foreign purchases of US stocks, up 76.4%, and smallest for Foreign holdings of US stocks, up 22.9%.
Of these lines, 4 rose, 0 fell and 0 did not change over the year (ours, from the published values).
By lineOver a year, ours
Foreign purchases and sales of US stocks, change over a year, by line
- Monthly trading
- Net buying
- Holdings
Each bar is the change in one line over a year, the largest first, with its rank at the left and its newest value under the figure. A line with its own page links it from its name. A change below zero runs to the left of the zero line. The colour says which section of the page a line is in.
Observed .
Foreign purchases and sales of US stocks, change over a year in each month
| Line | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Foreign purchases of US stocks | +30.1 | +46.7 | +24.4 | +46.8 | +52.2 | +61.4 | +60.2 | +43.8 | +66.1 | +99.3 | +78.8 | +68.2 |
| Foreign sales of US stocks | +31.4 | +42.6 | +27.1 | +45.9 | +51.6 | +61.7 | +60.2 | +39.6 | +68.0 | +103.7 | +77.6 | +68.0 |
| Net foreign purchases of US stocks | +2.6 | – | −33.5 | +96.1 | – | +10.4 | +83.4 | – | +16.3 | +11.7 | – | +76.4 |
| Foreign holdings of US stocks | +20.3 | +23.5 | +17.1 | +20.5 | +18.6 | +19.7 | +20.0 | +32.1 | +31.2 | +24.6 | +21.5 | +22.9 |
Each chip is one month's change from the same month a year earlier. The mark in its middle is zero: a fill to the right of it is a rise and a fill to the left a fall. A longer, brighter fill is a larger change, in five steps up to 78.8 and over. Every chip prints its figure and sign. A dash is a month with no figure.
Observed .
Understanding foreign trading of us stocks
Where it stands today
The largest change over a year was Net foreign purchases of US stocks, up 76.4%, in August 2026.
What do the lines of this page measure?
The Treasury's Treasury International Capital (TIC) system collects from US banks, brokers, custodians and funds what they buy from and sell to people and institutions abroad. This page shows the purchases and the sales of US corporate stocks by foreign residents in each month, all countries together. The net purchases and the stocks they hold at the end of the month have a page each.
Read more
A foreign purchase is a sale of US stocks by a US resident to a foreign resident, and a foreign sale is a purchase by a US resident from a foreign resident. Both are gross: they count every trade, so each is far larger than the difference between them, which is the net purchases. A negative net means foreign residents sold more US stocks than they bought.
What 500metrics adds: the change over a year of every line, ranked across the page; the last ten years of every line as rows of small charts; and a table of the change over a year in each of the last twelve months.
The numbers behind the chart
What is the latest value of each line?4 lines, in the sections of the page
| Line | Section | Month | Value | Change over a year | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Foreign purchases of US stocks | Monthly trading | $5,337.1 billion | +68.2% | 2 | |
| Foreign sales of US stocks | Monthly trading | $5,183.1 billion | +68.0% | 3 | |
| Net foreign purchases of US stocks | Net buying | $153.9 billion | +76.4% | 1 | |
| Foreign holdings of US stocks | Holdings | $25,181.6 billion | +22.9% | 4 |
The table scrolls sideways; the first column stays in place.
What do these figures leave out, and how are they cited?Limits, dates and how to cite
What this number cannot tell you
- The Treasury publishes the monthly trades from February 2023, when it began to publish them on the basis of Form SLT; earlier trades came from a different report that is not joined here. The holdings begin in January 2020.
- The gross purchases and sales count every trade, including trades of one foreign holder with another through US firms. They are a measure of activity, not of how many foreign investors buy.
- The net purchases are the Treasury's own figure and equal the purchases less the sales. A change over a year is not shown for a month when the net a year earlier was zero or negative, as a percent of such a number is not defined.
- The Treasury revises past months; this page always shows the newest release.
- The changes and the ranks are ours, worked out from the values the Treasury publishes; a change is in percent.
Observed . Checked .
How to cite this
U.S. Treasury, Treasury International Capital (TIC) System, Purchases and sales of US corporate stocks by foreign residents, each month, through August 2026. Compiled by 500metrics, "Are foreigners buying or selling US stocks?", https://500metrics.com/foreign-trading-of-us-stocks.
Can the data be downloaded?foreign-trading-of-us-stocks.csv
Download the last ten years of every line as CSV: 209 rows, to , 13,373 bytes.
Our text and compilation: CC BY 4.0.
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