diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index c2b636ab54..b45f123b01 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -257,6 +257,11 @@ def setup_requirements(requirements_path, module_names,
     'setup_requires' if not conda_build else 'build_requires': setup_requires,
 }
 
+if 'sdist' in sys.argv:
+    with open('README.rst') as f:
+        conditional_arguments['long_description'] = f.read()
+
+
 setup(
     name='zipline',
     url="http://zipline.io",