In a victory for common sense, the trading behavior of company executives, directors, and large shareholders in the stocks of firms they're registered "insiders" at have been proven profitable to monitor by both academic studies and (more importantly) the experience of your fellow professional investors.

Below are lists of the top 10 mainly open-market insider purchases and sales filed at the Securities and Exchange Commission Wednesday, January 30, 2013 as ranked by dollar value.

Please note, however, that these are factual lists, not buy and sell recommendations. Dollar value is only one metric to assess the importance of an insider transaction, and, frankly, often not even the most important metric that determines if an insider transaction is significant.

In insider purchases, the technology-centric venture capital firm Battery Ventures, a beneficial owner of Champions Oncology (PINK:CSBR), bought $3,500,000 worth of the the company, which engages in technology solutions for personalizing the development and use of oncology drugs in the US. Also at Champions, CEO Joel Ackerman and President Ronnie Morris each bought $250,000 worth of stock. At LipoScience (NASDAQ:LPDX), an in vitro diagnostic company that develops and markets diagnostic tests, Chairman and Director Buzz Benson bought $450,000 worth of company stock. Timothy Flynn, a Director of JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM), bought $316,778 worth of company stock.

In sales, Chairman of Google (NASDAQ:GOOG), Eric Schmidt, sold $49,607,249 worth of company stock, while Director Kavitark Shriram sold $1,517,767 worth of company stock of the Internet giant. At Raymond James Financial (NYSE:RJF), Chairman Thomas James sold $13,368,531 worth of company stock. Michael Schroepfer, Vice President of Engineering at Facebook (NASDAQ:FB), sold $2,254,362 worth of company stock, while Vice President and General Counsel Theodore Ullyot sold $2,187,356 worth of company stock. At IBM (NYSE:IBM), Senior Vice President Michael Daniels sold $2,160,325 worth of company stock.

At InsiderInsights.com, we find new investment ideas just about every day using these and more intricate insider screens to determine where we should focus our subsequent fundamental and technical analysis. And while stocks don't (or shouldn't) move up or down based on insider activity alone, insiders tend to be good indicators of when real stock-moving events like earnings surprises, corporate actions, and new products may be in the offing.

Insider Purchases

#:	Filer Name	Insider Titles	Company Name	Ticker	Trans Type	Dollar Value
1	Battery Ventures	BO	Champions Oncology	CSBR	JB*	$3,500,000
2	Seidner Marc P	O	Pimco Dyn Cr Inc Fd	PCI	JB*	$1,000,000
3	Benson Buzz	DIR	Liposcience	LPDX	JB*	$450,000
4	Flynn Timothy P	DIR	JPMorgan Chase	JPM	B	$316,778
5	Ackerman Joel	CEO,DIR	Champions Oncology	CSBR	JB*	$250,000
6	Morris Ronnie	PR,DIR	Champions Oncology	CSBR	JB*	$250,000
7	Simmons Harold C	CB,DIR,BO	Valhi	VHI	B	$164,914
8	Breya Margaret A	VP,SO	Informatica	INFA	B	$144,840
9	Boyle David P	VP,CFO	Orrstown Financial	ORRF	B	$105,888
10	Farris John R	DIR	Farmers Capital Bank	FFKT	B	$98,594

Source: InsiderInsights.com | Key to Insider Title and Trans Type Codes

 

Insider Sales

#:	Filer Name	Insider Titles	Company Name	Ticker	Trans Type	Dollar Value
1	Schmidt Eric E	CB,DIR	Google	GOOG	AS	$49,607,249
2	Mastercard Fdn	BO	Mastercard	MA	S	$18,410,622
3	James Thomas A	CB,DIR,BO	Raymond James	RJF	S	$13,368,531
4	Schroepfer Michael	VP	Facebook	FB	AS	$2,254,362
5	Ullyot Theodore W	VP,GC,SEC	Facebook	FB	AS	$2,187,356
6	Daniels Michael E	VP	IBM	IBM	S	$2,160,325
7	Guyaux Joseph C	VCB	Pnc Financial	PNC	S	$1,859,130
8	Addington Hills	BO	Ixia	XXIA	S	$1,535,672
9	Shriram Kavitark R	DIR	Google	GOOG	AS	$1,517,767
10	GMT Capital	BO	Kraton Polymers	KRA	S	$1,498,416

Source: InsiderInsights.com | Key to Insider Title and Trans Type Codes

Editor's note: Jonathan Moreland is the founder of Insider Insights and author of "Profit From Legal Insider Trading."