Trailing year insider quantum stock sales
While executives may sell shares for reasons unrelated to company outlook, the scale and uniformity of these sales, combined with minimal buying, suggest that insiders believe the upside is priced in.
Over the past year, insiders at four publicly traded quantum computing companies (IonQ, D-Wave Quantum, Rigetti Computing, and Quantum Computing Inc.) have sold approximately $749 million worth of stock, ending about November 7, 2025 [1][2]. They may be currently selling, but we won’t know that until later. IonQ accounted for the largest portion at $446.5 million, followed by D-Wave at $224 million, Rigetti at $45.6 million, and Quantum Computing Inc. at $33.2 million [2]. Across all four firms, insiders executed almost no purchases, with IonQ recording just one insider buy of $2.03 million in March. The absence of meaningful insider accumulation, particularly amid surging valuations, has raised concerns among analysts that those closest to the technology may view current price levels as unsustainably high. The pattern reflects an underlying tension between technological progress and capital discipline, revealing how the industrialization of quantum computing is now intersecting with public-market speculation.
While executives may sell shares for reasons unrelated to company outlook, the scale and uniformity of these sales, combined with minimal buying, suggest that insiders believe much of the near-term optimism is already priced in. The divergence between insider behavior and market sentiment mirrors earlier moments in emerging technology cycles when hype temporarily outpaced engineering reality. Quantum remains an extraordinary long-term opportunity, but the capital inflows of 2025 may represent a speculative peak in the market’s willingness to price the future before it arrives.
Footnotes:
[1] Motley Fool. (2025, October 17). IonQ, Rigetti Computing, D-Wave Quantum, and Quantum Computing Inc. insiders have sold $875 million worth of stock this year. The Motley Fool. https://www.fool.com/investing/2025/10/17/ionq-rgti-qbts-qubt-875-million-warning-to-wall-st/
[2] Motley Fool. (2025, November 12). Quantum computing pure-play stocks IonQ, Rigetti Computing, D-Wave Quantum, and Quantum Computing Inc. just issued a $749 million warning to Wall Street. Nasdaq. https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/quantum-computing-pure-play-stocks-ionq-rigetti-computing-d-wave-quantum-and-quantum
Background:
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. (n.d.). IonQ, Inc. insider trading reports. SEC Form 4. https://www.secform4.com/insider-trading/1824920.htm
Simply Wall St. (2025). D-Wave Quantum insider transactions and ownership data. Simply Wall St. https://simplywall.st/stocks/us/software/nyse-qbts/d-wave-quantum/ownership
Rigetti Computing, Inc. (2025, September 15). Form 4: statement of changes in beneficial ownership of securities (Acc. No. 0001123292-25-000434). U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/0001838359/0001123292-25-000434/0001123292-25-000434-index.htm