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why is insider trading illegal?
user
@sdg - if you can be flippant, i can be pedantic. insider trading is not illegal. any employee of a company can be an insider, yet most of their trades are perfectly legal. what is illegal is trading on inside information. such information may be available to those within a company, or those who have some contact with an employee. in fact, if i am seated at a restaurant table and hear bill and warren talking about a purchase they plan to make, i am in possession of inside information and risk prosecution should i purchase shares and profit.  often, a company will have a "quiet period" before earnings reports or potential stock-price-moving-news. during this time, employees are forbidden from buying or selling shares, excluding those that would be automatically bought in their retirement accounts or espp.
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