It's absolutely insider trading, even taking your far fetched example. You just have to see it in a slightly different angle. You are talking about not hurting

It's absolutely insider trading, even taking your far fetched example. You just have to see it in a slightly different angle. You are talking about not hurting the 'end customer' who bought the pumpkins at the same price, just a bit earlier. But what about the loss incurred by the 'share holders' of that pumpkin merchant who now might have incurred huge losses due to lost sales because some one used 'inside' info to beat him and rip him off his sales that would have happened if someone had not used the 'inside' info and 'acted' on it.