Purpose – Using data for actual insider trading cases prosecuted by the Securities and Exchange Commission, the paper aims to investigate whether insiders trade strategically to avoid detection. Design/methodology/approach – The paper analyzes actual insider trades prior to price sensitive...

This study empirically examines the impact of changes in substantial shareholdings ahead of 450 Australian takeover offers between the years 2000-2009. Previous studies have attributed a significant proportion of the price run-up effect in takeover targets to insider-trading behavior. This paper...

It is found that insiders are more likely to trade on high volume days, which indicates an effort to hide their trades. Further, insider trading raises the number of days with abnormally high trading volume only slightly, again indicating that insiders are avoiding attracting attention. No...

We develop a model of the choice of trade size by an illegal insider. The model recognises that insiders respond to both the expected gains and costs associated with their crime, and choose a trade size which maximises the expected utility of wealth associated with the trade. The model predicts...