Companies 0 See All
Hedge Funds 0 See All
Insiders 0 See All
Institutional Investors 0 See All
Click here to see all results for
Home > Education Center

Insider Trading Education Center

Why Track Insider Trading

by Meena Krishnamsetty

Insider trading is one of the least known successful stock market anomalies. It’s managed to beat the market by an average of 7 percentage points annually over the past 50 years. Several peer-reviewed academic studies covering different time periods document the profitability of insider trading. It’s profitable in the United States and in several other developed countries. Perhaps most importantly, it was possible over the past half century to beat the market by imitating insiders’ purchases.

Top officers, members of the board of directors, and 5+% shareholders are classified as insiders. Consultants, lawyers, and underwriters become insiders for short periods of time when they possess market moving information about the companies with which they are affiliated. What makes a person an insider is their possessions of market moving information and fiduciary duty to the shareholders of the company. Possession of market moving information gives insiders an edge over other investors and helps them beat the market.

Insiders also have an edge over retail investors because they usually know their businesses and their industries inside and out. They know what products they’ll be launching, strategies they’ll be pursuing, and which businesses they’ll be acquiring or divesting. Such information is generally not disclosed to the public in detail. It is illegal for insiders to trade based on material non-public information but perhaps more importantly, it is nearly impossible for prosecutors to detect and prosecute such transactions.

It’s possible for insiders to profit legally from market moving information. When they’re in possession of imminent negative non-public information they can postpone their purchases until after the disclosure and avoid losses. The absence of insider buying may be a signal for negative news in some cases. Similarly, when insiders are in possession of imminent positive news they can postpone selling their holdings and indirectly profit from inside information. Drops in insider sales may be a signal for positive news in some cases.

Who are we?

Insider Monkey is one of the fastest growing financial research websites on the web, read by 1.5 million people every month.

Our research is headed by Ian Dogan who is a former fund manager, holding a Ph.D. in the field. We partnered with Marketwatch and created the Marketwatch/Insider Monkey Billionaire Hedge Fund Index.

Our content has appeared on:

The Wall Street Journal Marketwatch The Motley Fool Seeking Alpha The Street NASDAQ
Testimonials
  • I've been an Insider Monkey subscriber for a couple years now and the flagship strategy is one of the best strategies in my portfolio. Because the strategy is small cap you will see some major short term swings, but if you can follow the strategy and rebalance only once every quarter you will see some really strong results once you hit the 12 month time frame and beyond.
    David L.
  • I initially became aware of Insider Monkey when Meena was interviewed on Business News Network (BNN) in Canada. The idea of mimicking the best ideas from the best fund managers was appealing (as I have met many smart managers on Bay Street in Toronto). While I have only had the newsletter for one year, the Insider Monkey allocation has been the best performer in my equity portfolio. I look forward to continued outperformance in the future.
    G. Chin
    Toronto, Canada
  • I first came across Insider Monkey (IM) nine quarters ago (1/2013) and since then have enjoyed exceptional returns. Last year (3/2014) I traveled to NYC to meet the founder because I was thinking about doubling down on their strategy. I left favourably impressed and proceeded. It was a smart move. At the beginning of this year I decided to double down again. There are no guarantees but preliminary results are promising.

    Why do I recommend IM?
    1. It's easy: 15 picks every 90 days. Most picks are repeated at least once, some more than eight times.
    2. It's flexible: if a pick goes bad you only hold it for 90 days.
    3. Time saving: the IM team vets hundreds of HF SEC reports every 90 days and produces a list of 15 SC picks from the best stock pickers in the world. A world-class research department for less than a dollar a day.
    4. It works. Need I say more?

    One admonishment: have faith in the model, hold all 15 picks for ninety days.
    Tommy
  • I want to thank you and the team for the great results this past year. Many of my friends and colleagues use profesional financial advisors and annually pay 1% to 1.5% of their portfolio value for mediocre results. Insider Monkey's performance is outstanding for a mere fraction of the cost. I am an analyst for a utility and have always wanted to invest in high growth small cap stocks, but I have never had the time, expertise or access to the information needed to effectively research them, and was never comfortable with casual stock recommendations from magazines, blogs, and television. I had never subscribed to a premium publication but was immediately impressed with the Insider Monkey team’s analysis and the proven results of the 15 Stock Small Cap Strategy.

    Keep up the great work. Thus far, the Insider Monkey team’s approach has enhanced my investment portfolio and I look forward to future issues and following the team’s investment strategy throughout the foreseeable future.
    Jim T.
    New York