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Information transfers and learning in financial markets: Evidence from short selling around insider sales

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  • Chakrabarty, Bidisha
  • Shkilko, Andriy

Abstract

We document significant increases in short positions on days when company insiders sell their firms’ shares. Short selling increases before insider sales are publicly reported and often before insiders finish selling. Furthermore, the magnitude of short selling activity is consistent with short sellers’ knowledge of the insider’s rank (e.g., CEO, CFO, or a lower-ranked manager) and with knowledge of the unobservable size of the insider’s trading position. We show that short sellers’ superior timing is consistent with (i) monitoring of order flow and (ii) obtaining price-relevant information from brokerages that execute insider sales. Some of our results extend to insider purchases.

Suggested Citation

  • Chakrabarty, Bidisha & Shkilko, Andriy, 2013. "Information transfers and learning in financial markets: Evidence from short selling around insider sales," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(5), pages 1560-1572.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jbfina:v:37:y:2013:i:5:p:1560-1572
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jbankfin.2012.12.017
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    Cited by:

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    2. Comerton-Forde, Carole & Do, Binh Huu & Gray, Philip & Manton, Tom, 2016. "Assessing the information content of short-selling metrics using daily disclosures," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 188-204.
    3. Sun, Hanwen & Yin, Shuxing, 2017. "Information leakage in family firms: Evidence from short selling around insider sales," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 72-87.
    4. Xufeng Liu & Die Wan, 2022. "Does short‐selling affect mutual fund shareholdings? Evidence from China," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 62(S1), pages 1887-1923, April.
    5. Bae, Kwangil & Kang, Jangkoo & Lee, Soonhee, 2016. "Bullish/bearish/neutral strategies under short sale restrictions," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 227-239.
    6. Gider, Jasmin & Westheide, Christian, 2016. "Relative idiosyncratic volatility and the timing of corporate insider trading," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 312-334.
    7. Berkman, Henk & Eugster, Marco, 2017. "Short on drugs: Short selling during the drug development process," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 102-123.
    8. Meng, Qingbin & Li, Xinyu & Chan, Kam C. & Gao, Shenghao, 2020. "Does short selling affect a firm's financial constraints?," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).
    9. Chen, Jun & Kadapakkam, Palani-Rajan & Yang, Ting, 2016. "Short selling, margin trading, and the incorporation of new information into prices," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 1-17.
    10. Millicent Chang & John Gould & Yuyun Huang & Sirimon Treepongkaruna & Joey Wenling Yang, 2022. "Insider trading and the algorithmic trading environment," International Review of Finance, International Review of Finance Ltd., vol. 22(4), pages 725-750, December.
    11. Greppmair, Stefan & Jank, Stephan & Smajlbegovic, Esad, 2023. "On the importance of fiscal space: Evidence from short sellers during the COVID-19 pandemic," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 147(C).
    12. Chip Wade & Andre Liebenberg & Benjamin M. Blau, 2016. "Information and Insurer Financial Strength Ratings: Do Short Sellers Anticipate Ratings Changes?," Journal of Risk & Insurance, The American Risk and Insurance Association, vol. 83(2), pages 475-500, June.
    13. DunLu Peng & YinRui Wang & Cong Liu & Zhang Chen, 2020. "TL-NER: A Transfer Learning Model for Chinese Named Entity Recognition," Information Systems Frontiers, Springer, vol. 22(6), pages 1291-1304, December.
    14. DunLu Peng & YinRui Wang & Cong Liu & Zhang Chen, 0. "TL-NER: A Transfer Learning Model for Chinese Named Entity Recognition," Information Systems Frontiers, Springer, vol. 0, pages 1-14.
    15. Hae Mi Choi, 2020. "Short‐sale constraints and informational efficiency to private information: A natural experiment," The Financial Review, Eastern Finance Association, vol. 55(4), pages 625-643, November.
    16. Meng, Qingbin & Huang, Haozheng & Li, Xinyu & Wang, Song, 2023. "Short-selling and corporate default risk: Evidence from China," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 87(C), pages 398-417.
    17. Haiyan Jiang & Ahsan Habib & Mostafa Monzur Hasan, 2022. "Short Selling: A Review of the Literature and Implications for Future Research," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 31(1), pages 1-31, January.
    18. Duong, Truong X. & Huszár, Zsuzsa R. & Yamada, Takeshi, 2015. "The costs and benefits of short sale disclosure," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 124-139.
    19. Hu, May & Tuilautala, Mataiasi & Yang, Jingjing & Zhong, Qian, 2022. "Asymmetric information and inside management trading in the Chinese market," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    20. Gu, Dingwei & Liu, Xin & Sun, Hanwen & Zhao, Huainan, 2021. "Strategic insider trading: Disguising order flows to escape trading competition," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
    21. Hoang, Lai T. & Wee, Marvin & Yang, Joey Wenling, 2023. "Strategic trading by insiders in the presence of institutional investors," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Insider trading; Short selling; Information transfers; Brokerage effect;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G14 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Information and Market Efficiency; Event Studies; Insider Trading
    • G30 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - General

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