Browse Definitions :
Definition

insider trading

WhatIs.com
Contributor(s): Ivy Wigmore

Insider trading is the buying and selling of securities based on information that has not been made available to the general public. 

Because insider information gives an investor an advantage over others, it is illegal and punishable by law. In the United States, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) oversees securities transactions, activities of financial professionals and mutual fund trading to prevent fraud and intentional deception.

Mechanisms in place to prevent insider trading include quiet periods, during which corporate insiders are prohibited from selectively divulging information to some investors before it is made public, and blackout periods, which prohibit trading by insiders at similar times and for similar reasons. 

This was last updated in November 2013

Continue Reading About insider trading

Join the conversation

1 comment

Send me notifications when other members comment.

Register

Please create a username to comment.

"Information available to the public" is very broad. One guy did some trades on Gulf before it was bought by Chevron and it was suspected that he had insider information. When questioned, he mentioned he saw Gulf's private jet at the airport near Chevron. Since this was visible to anyone, it was not "insider" information.
Cancel

-ADS BY GOOGLE

File Extensions and File Formats

SearchCompliance

  • risk management

    Risk management is the process of identifying, assessing and controlling threats to an organization's capital and earnings.

  • compliance as a service (CaaS)

    Compliance as a Service (CaaS) is a cloud service service level agreement (SLA) that specified how a managed service provider (...

  • data protection impact assessment (DPIA)

    A data protection impact assessment (DPIA) is a process designed to help organizations determine how data processing systems, ...

SearchSecurity

  • Web application firewall (WAF)

    A web application firewall (WAF) is a firewall that monitors, filters and blocks data packets as they travel to and from a ...

  • spyware

    Spyware is a type of malicious software -- or malware -- that is installed on a computing device without the end user's knowledge.

  • application whitelisting

    Application whitelisting is the practice of specifying an index of approved software applications or executable files that are ...

SearchHealthIT

SearchDisasterRecovery

  • business continuity plan (BCP)

    A business continuity plan (BCP) is a document that consists of the critical information an organization needs to continue ...

  • disaster recovery team

    A disaster recovery team is a group of individuals focused on planning, implementing, maintaining, auditing and testing an ...

  • cloud insurance

    Cloud insurance is any type of financial or data protection obtained by a cloud service provider. 

SearchStorage

  • DRAM (dynamic random access memory)

    Dynamic random access memory (DRAM) is a type of semiconductor memory that is typically used for the data or program code needed ...

  • RAID 10 (RAID 1+0)

    RAID 10, also known as RAID 1+0, is a RAID configuration that combines disk mirroring and disk striping to protect data.

  • PCIe SSD (PCIe solid-state drive)

    A PCIe SSD (PCIe solid-state drive) is a high-speed expansion card that attaches a computer to its peripherals.

Close