The Securities and Exchange Commission’s requirement to file Form 13F on a fund’s holdings is becoming required reading by traders who want to get some idea of how hedge funds invest. According to The Wall Street Journal, even hedgies are turning to the SEC Web site to search what competitors are doing with their portfolios.

“If we see some savvier players [buying stocks we own],” Seth Tobias of hedge fund Circle T Partners told the Journal, “it is a positive indication we may be on the right track.” Studying the form could help traders detect industry trends. For example, a look at the forms revealed that many hedge funds were now stocking up on larger companies, suggesting that they’re bargains, the Journal reports. But the forms – which must be filed within 45 days of the end of a quarter – reflect just a glimpse of a firm’s strategies at one point in time – and that could change in the following quarter. The Journal suggests that firms are getting wise to this form of research, and some are now waiting until the beginning of the next quarter before pouring money into a new investment so that that they can “establish their full position before others get in.”