insider trading

American

noun

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

insider trading Cultural

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.

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

Other Word Forms

insider trader

noun

Etymology

Origin of insider trading

First recorded in 1965–70

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Last week, the firm announced it would ask traders who their employer is if they try to trade on markets that may be more subject to insider trading risk.

From Barron's • Jun. 17, 2026

Around the same time, several anonymous users reportedly earned $2.4 million combined by making remarkably prescient bets on the Iran war, prompting concern in Congress about insider trading.

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 16, 2026

Prediction-market companies are identifying hundreds of cases of suspected insider trading.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 12, 2026

He was involved in a US federal investigation into insider trading that led to the imprisonment of one of his friends, Billy Walters.

From BBC • Jun. 12, 2026

Paolo’s father was a real estate mogul who had been indicted for insider trading some months ago.

From "Genuine Fraud" by E. Lockhart

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023