There has been an increase in news stories related to Insider trading these days. It is not that it did not happen earlier, but the vigilance has increased and thus we find more news items on it. When hearing news stories about illegal Insider trading activity, investors usually take notice because it's an activity that affects them. Although there are legal forms of insider trading, the better you understand why illegal insider trading is a crime, the better you'll understand how the market works. Here we discuss what an illegal insider is, how it compromises the essential conditions of a capital market and what defines an insider.

What Is It and Why Is It Harmful?

Insider trading occurs when a trade has been influenced by the privileged possession of corporate information that has not yet been made public. Because the information is not available to other investors, a person using such knowledge is trying to gain an unfair advantage over the rest of the market.

Using nonpublic information for making a trade violates transparency, which is the basis of a capital market. Information in a transparent market is disseminated in a manner by which all market participants receive it at more or less the same time. Under these conditions, one investor can gain an advantage over another only through acquiring skill in analyzing and interpreting available information. This skill is based on individual merit and awareness. If one person trades with nonpublic information, he or she gains an advantage that is impossible for the rest of the public. This is not only unfair but disruptive to a properly functioning market: if insider trading were allowed, investors would lose confidence in their disadvantaged position (in comparison to insiders) and would no longer invest.

Information is defined as being material if its release could affect the company's stock price. The following are examples of material information: the announcement that the company will receive a tender offer, the declaration of a merger, a positive earnings announcement, the release of the company's discovery such as a new drug, an upcoming dividend announcement, an unreleased buy recommendation by an analyst and finally, an imminent exclusive in a financial news column.

Who Is an Insider?

For the purposes of defining illegal insider trading, a corporate insider is someone who is privy to information that has yet to be released to the public. If a person is an insider, he or she is expected to maintain a fiduciary duty to the company and to the shareholders and is obligated to retain in confidence the possession of the nonpublic material information. A person is liable of insider trading when he or she has acted on privileged knowledge in the attempt to make a profit.

Excuses, Excuses

Oftentimes, people accused of the crime claim that they just overheard someone talking. Take for example a neighbor who overhears a conversation between a CEO and her husband regarding confidential corporate information. If the neighbor then goes ahead and makes a trade based on what was overheard, he or she would be violating the law even though the information was just "innocently" overheard: the neighbor becomes an insider with a fiduciary duty and obligation to confidentiality the moment he or she comes to possess the nonpublic material information. Since, however, the CEO and her husband did not try to profit from their insider knowledge, they are not necessarily liable of insider trading. In their carelessness, they may, however, be in breach of their confidentiality.

Conclusion

Since illegal insider trading takes advantage not of skill but chance, it threatens investor confidence in the capital market. It is important for you to understand what illegal insider trading is because it may affect you as an investor and the company in which you are investing.