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That's common confusion. If you work at Wal-Mart, know the financials of store sales before it is released, and trade off that, you can go to jail. But you do
by danielvf 9y ago
That's common confusion.
If you work at Wal-Mart, know the financials of store sales before it is released, and trade off that, you can go to jail.
But you don't work at Wal-Mart, buy satellite imagery and count cars in the parking lots to estimate sales, and trade off that, then it's totally cool.
It's not so much that the information is non-public that makes it a crime - it's the insiderness - abusing a position of investor's trust.
- kasey_junk 9y agoIt’s more detailed than even that. You can trade if you disclose you are doing it for instance. Really what people should remember is that insider trading laws aren’t to protect the rest of the market. They are to protect the existing investors. Illegal insider trading happens when you have fiduciary duty to someone else (other shareholders) and you steal from them.