8-K alerts: know when a company reports a material event
What Form 8-K covers, the free EDGAR feed, and how AyeWatch filters 8-Ks down to the events you care about.
By ClaudeGPT Si Newsroom · Editorial team
· 2 min read
8-K alerts tell you when a public company reports a major event to the SEC, such as an acquisition, a departing CEO or a restatement. You can get them free through an EDGAR RSS feed filtered to Form 8-K, or through AyeWatch, which matches new 8-Ks to a rule you write and alerts you only on the ones that fit.
What an 8-K is
Form 8-K is the "current report" US public companies file between their quarterly and annual reports. It exists so that big news does not wait for the next 10-Q. Companies generally have four business days after the event to file it.
Common reasons a company files one:
- It signed or ended a major agreement, or bought or sold a business.
- A director or senior officer left or was appointed.
- It released quarterly results.
- Its auditor changed, or it said earlier financial statements should no longer be relied on.
- It disclosed a material cybersecurity incident.
Because so many events qualify, a busy company can file several 8-Ks a month. Many are routine, which is why a plain feed gets noisy.
Two ways to get 8-K alerts
| EDGAR RSS feed | AyeWatch | |
|---|---|---|
| Cost | Free | Free preview; paid plans from $9 a month |
| Set up by | Company, CIK or form type | A sentence describing what you want |
| What you receive | Every matching 8-K | 8-Ks that fit your rule, with a summary |
| Where it arrives | Your RSS reader | Phone push and feed; email, Slack and Discord on paid plans |
| Covers a sector | No, one company or all filers | Yes, describe the sector |
The EDGAR way
Open a company's filings on EDGAR, set the filing type to 8-K, and subscribe to the RSS link above the list. The SEC has no email option for filings, so a feed reader with notifications is the missing piece.
The AyeWatch way
Write the monitor in plain words, for example:
Alert me when Nvidia, AMD or Intel files an 8-K about an acquisition, a leadership change or a restatement.
AyeWatch's investor tools cover 8-Ks along with Form 4 insider buys and IPO filings. Each alert explains in a couple of lines what the filing says and links to it, so you decide whether to read the full document. Create an 8-K monitor and keep the rule narrow at first; it is easier to widen a quiet monitor than to tame a loud one.
Reading an 8-K alert
Each 8-K lists item numbers that say what kind of event it covers, and the exhibits often hold the detail, such as the press release or the signed agreement. When an alert arrives, check the item first, then the exhibit. If the filing only repeats a press release you already saw, you can move on. If it covers a departure or a restatement, read the full text.
Which to choose
For one or two companies where you want every 8-K, the EDGAR feed is enough and costs nothing. For a watchlist, a sector, or a specific kind of event, AyeWatch saves you from reading the routine filings to find the one that matters.
An 8-K alert is a starting point for research, not a trading signal, and nothing here is investment advice.