Insider Trading
Also known as: illegal insider trading
DEFINITION
Illegal insider trading involves trading securities while in possession of material non-public information (MNPI) in breach of a duty of trust or confidence. The duty can run to the company (corporate insiders), the source of the information (misappropriation theory), or others. Routine reportable transactions by Section 16 officers (Form 4) are not 'insider trading' in the illegal sense — they are legal-but-disclosed activity.
WHY IT MATTERS FOR RETAIL INVESTORS
The terminology is confusing. 'Insider buying' in financial press refers to legal Form 4 transactions and is generally a useful signal. 'Insider trading' in legal parlance means the crime. Don't conflate the two when reading commentary. SEC enforcement cases — especially major ones — are worth tracking because they often reveal information about specific companies that does not surface elsewhere.
OFFICIAL SEC SOURCE
https://www.sec.gov/about/answers/insider.htm ↗RELATED TERMS
See Insider Trading in a real filing
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