insider trading

noun

1. the illegal buying and selling of securities by persons acting on privileged information.

insider trading

1. The unlawful practice of using information that comes from a source “inside” the business but is not available to the general public to trade on the stock market. This activity is prohibited by law and is policed by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

In the mid-1980s, several revelations of insider trading rocked Wall Street.

Other Word Forms

• insider trader noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of insider trading¹

First recorded in 1965–70

Example Sentences

Lewis, 88, pleaded guilty to insider trading as part of an agreement with prosecutors in 2024 that saw him avoid prison.

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That’s because bets were made using nonpublic information, such as a player’s injury status, before it was made public — similar to insider trading.

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In 2010, he and his company at the time were fined four million euros for insider trading.

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As an offshore, unregulated marketplace that is officially off-limits to Americans, it isn’t subject to the laws that ban insider trading in the U.S. stock market.

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Such Finra letters often mark the start of deeper inquiries into insider trading, according to lawyers.

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