IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jfinec/v164y2025ics0304405x24001971.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Strategic insider trading and its consequences for outsiders: Evidence from the eighteenth century

Author

Listed:
  • Cosemans, Mathijs
  • Frehen, Rik

Abstract

This paper uses hand-collected historical data to provide empirical evidence on the strategic trading behavior of insiders and its consequences for outsiders. Specifically, we collect all equity trades of all insiders and outsiders in an era without legal restrictions on insider trading and a market where trading is non-anonymous. We find that access to private information creates a significant gap between the post-trade returns of insiders and outsiders. Consistent with theory, insiders capitalize on their information advantage by hiding their identity and timing their trades. Both experienced and inexperienced outsiders face expected losses due to this strategic insider trading.

Suggested Citation

  • Cosemans, Mathijs & Frehen, Rik, 2025. "Strategic insider trading and its consequences for outsiders: Evidence from the eighteenth century," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 164(C).
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:jfinec:v:164:y:2025:i:c:s0304405x24001971
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jfineco.2024.103974
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0304405X24001971
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jfineco.2024.103974?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Pierre Collin‐Dufresne & Vyacheslav Fos, 2016. "Insider Trading, Stochastic Liquidity, and Equilibrium Prices," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 84(4), pages 1441-1475, July.
    2. Meulbroek, Lisa K, 1992. "An Empirical Analysis of Illegal Insider Trading," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 47(5), pages 1661-1699, December.
    3. Alan D. Jagolinzer & David F. Larcker & Gaizka Ormazabal & Daniel J. Taylor, 2020. "Political Connections and the Informativeness of Insider Trades," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 75(4), pages 1833-1876, August.
    4. John C. Driscoll & Aart C. Kraay, 1998. "Consistent Covariance Matrix Estimation With Spatially Dependent Panel Data," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 80(4), pages 549-560, November.
    5. Ali, Usman & Hirshleifer, David, 2017. "Opportunism as a firm and managerial trait: Predicting insider trading profits and misconduct," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 126(3), pages 490-515.
    6. Markus K. Brunnermeier & Lasse Heje Pedersen, 2009. "Market Liquidity and Funding Liquidity," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 22(6), pages 2201-2238, June.
    7. Lakonishok, Josef & Lee, Inmoo, 2001. "Are Insider Trades Informative?," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 14(1), pages 79-111.
    8. Lauren Cohen & Christopher Malloy & Lukasz Pomorski, 2012. "Decoding Inside Information," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 67(3), pages 1009-1043, June.
    9. Leslie A. Jeng & Andrew Metrick & Richard Zeckhauser, 2003. "Estimating the Returns to Insider Trading: A Performance-Evaluation Perspective," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 85(2), pages 453-471, May.
    10. Pierre Collin-Dufresne & Vyacheslav Fos, 2015. "Do Prices Reveal the Presence of Informed Trading?," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 70(4), pages 1555-1582, August.
    11. Peter Cziraki & Jasmin Gider, 2021. "The Dollar Profits to Insider Trading [Information networks: evidence from illegal insider trading tips]," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 25(5), pages 1547-1580.
    12. Pierre Collin‐Dufresne & Vyacheslav Fos, 2016. "Insider Trading, Stochastic Liquidity, and Equilibrium Prices," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 84, pages 1441-1475, July.
    13. Ann M. Carlos & Larry Neal, 2006. "The micro‐foundations of the early London capital market: Bank of England shareholders during and after the South Sea Bubble, 1720–251," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 59(3), pages 498-538, August.
    14. Peter Koudijs, 2016. "The Boats That Did Not Sail: Asset Price Volatility in a Natural Experiment," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 71(3), pages 1185-1226, June.
    15. Kyle, Albert S, 1985. "Continuous Auctions and Insider Trading," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 53(6), pages 1315-1335, November.
    16. Peter Koudijs, 2015. "Those Who Know Most: Insider Trading in Eighteenth-Century Amsterdam," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 123(6), pages 1356-1409.
    17. Barbara Rindi, 2008. "Informed Traders as Liquidity Providers: Anonymity, Liquidity and Price Formation," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 12(3), pages 497-532.
    18. Garfinkel, Jon A. & Nimalendran, M., 2003. "Market Structure and Trader Anonymity: An Analysis of Insider Trading," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 38(3), pages 591-610, September.
    19. Peter Temin & Hans-Joachim Voth, 2004. "Riding the South Sea Bubble," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 94(5), pages 1654-1668, December.
    20. Carlos, Ann M. & Moyen, Nathalie & Hill, Jonathan, 2002. "Royal African Company Share Prices during the South Sea Bubble," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 39(1), pages 61-87, January.
    21. Seyhun, H. Nejat, 1986. "Insiders' profits, costs of trading, and market efficiency," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 16(2), pages 189-212, June.
    22. Juhani T. Linnainmaa & Gideon Saar, 2012. "Lack of Anonymity and the Inference from Order Flow," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 25(5), pages 1414-1456.
    23. Fishman, Michael J & Longstaff, Francis A, 1992. "Dual Trading in Futures Markets," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 47(2), pages 643-671, June.
    24. Terrence Blackburne & John D. Kepler & Phillip J. Quinn & Daniel Taylor, 2021. "Undisclosed SEC Investigations," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 67(6), pages 3403-3418, June.
    25. Marcin Kacperczyk & Emiliano S Pagnotta, 2019. "Chasing Private Information," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 32(12), pages 4997-5047.
    26. Forster, Margaret M. & George, Thomas J., 1992. "Anonymity in securities markets," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 2(2), pages 168-206, June.
    27. Admati, Anat R & Pfleiderer, Paul, 1991. "Sunshine Trading and Financial Market Equilibrium," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 4(3), pages 443-481.
    28. Patrick Augustin & Menachem Brenner & Marti G. Subrahmanyam, 2019. "Informed Options Trading Prior to Takeover Announcements: Insider Trading?," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 65(12), pages 5697-5720, December.
    29. Pierre Collin-Dufresne & Vyacheslav Fos, 2013. "Do Prices Reveal the Presence of Informed Trading?," Swiss Finance Institute Research Paper Series 13-69, Swiss Finance Institute, revised Sep 2015.
    30. Ahern, Kenneth R., 2017. "Information networks: Evidence from illegal insider trading tips," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 125(1), pages 26-47.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Akey, Pat & Grégoire, Vincent & Martineau, Charles, 2022. "Price revelation from insider trading: Evidence from hacked earnings news," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 143(3), pages 1162-1184.
    2. Pierce, Andrew T., 2024. "Capital-market effects of tipper-tippee insider trading law: Evidence from the Newman ruling," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 77(2).
    3. Vincent Bogousslavsky & Vyacheslav Fos & Dmitriy Muravyev, 2024. "Informed Trading Intensity," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 79(2), pages 903-948, April.
    4. Ryu, Doojin & Yang, Heejin & Yu, Jinyoung, 2022. "Insider trading and information asymmetry: Evidence from the Korea Exchange," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 51(PA).
    5. Contreras, Harold & Marcet, Francisco, 2021. "Sell-side analyst heterogeneity and insider trading," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    6. Luke M. Bennett & Wei Hu, 2023. "Filtration enlargement‐based time series forecast in view of insider trading," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(1), pages 112-140, February.
    7. repec:osf:socarx:qe6tu_v1 is not listed on IDEAS
    8. Akey, Pat & Grégoire, Vincent & Martineau, Charles, 2021. "Price Revelation from Insider Trading: Evidence from Hacked Earnings News," SocArXiv qe6tu, Center for Open Science.
    9. Corey Garriot & Ryan Riordan, 2020. "Trading on Long-term Information," Staff Working Papers 20-20, Bank of Canada.
    10. Sadok El Ghoul & Omrane Guedhami & Robert Nash & He (Helen) Wang, 2022. "Economic policy uncertainty and insider trading," Journal of Financial Research, Southern Finance Association;Southwestern Finance Association, vol. 45(4), pages 817-854, December.
    11. Biggerstaff, Lee & Cicero, David & Wintoki, M. Babajide, 2020. "Insider trading patterns," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    12. Marcin Kacperczyk & Emiliano S. Pagnotta, 2024. "Legal Risk and Insider Trading," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 79(1), pages 305-355, February.
    13. Neupane, Biwesh & Thapa, Chandra & Marshall, Andrew & Neupane, Suman, 2021. "Mimicking insider trades," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    14. Contreras, Harold & Korczak, Adriana & Korczak, Piotr, 2023. "Religion and insider trading profits," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 149(C).
    15. Rahman, Dewan & Kabir, Muhammad & Oliver, Barry, 2021. "Does exposure to product market competition influence insider trading profitability?," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    16. Jan Hanousek & Hoje Jo & Christos Pantzalis & Jung Chul Park, 2023. "A Dilemma of Self-interest vs. Ethical Responsibilities in Political Insider Trading," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 187(1), pages 137-167, September.
    17. Goergen, Marc & Renneboog, Luc & Zhao, Yang, 2019. "Insider trading and networked directors," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 152-175.
    18. Tom Grimstvedt Meling, 2021. "Anonymous Trading in Equities," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 76(2), pages 707-754, April.
    19. Palan, Stefan & Stöckl, Thomas, 2017. "When chasing the offender hurts the victim: The case of insider legislation," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 104-129.
    20. Acheson, Graeme G. & Coyle, Christopher & Turner, John D., 2018. "Prices and informed trading: Evidence from an early stock market," QUCEH Working Paper Series 2018-05, Queen's University Belfast, Queen's University Centre for Economic History.
    21. Kallunki, Jenni & Kallunki, Juha-Pekka & Nilsson, Henrik & Puhakka, Mikko, 2018. "Do an insider's wealth and income matter in the decision to engage in insider trading?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 130(1), pages 135-165.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Insider trading; Financial history; Asymmetric information;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G11 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Portfolio Choice; Investment Decisions
    • G12 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Asset Pricing; Trading Volume; Bond Interest Rates
    • G14 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Information and Market Efficiency; Event Studies; Insider Trading

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:jfinec:v:164:y:2025:i:c:s0304405x24001971. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/505576 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.