Officers buying their own stock = legal, disclosed via Form 4. Trading on material non-public info = illegal. The scanner only surfaces the legal, disclosed kind — and reads them for signal.
Insider trading has two very different meanings. Legal insider trading happens every day: a CEO buys shares of their own company and reports it to the SEC on Form 4. Illegal insider trading is buying or selling securities based on material, non-public information (MNPI) — information the public doesn't have yet. The distinction is transparency: legal trades are disclosed; illegal trades are hidden.
When corporate insiders spend their own money buying shares on the open market, it is one of the strongest bullish signals available. Research consistently shows insider purchases outperform the market by 7-10% annually.
3+ insiders buying within 14 days. The strongest conviction signal — multiple people with deep company knowledge acting simultaneously.
C-suite open-market buys carry more weight than director purchases because executives have the most complete view of operations.
Insiders buying after a 20%+ stock drop signals they believe the market overreacted and the company's fundamentals remain intact.
When an insider who has never purchased before makes their first open-market buy, it often indicates a major positive catalyst ahead.
Illegal insider trading typically involves trading on material non-public information before it becomes public. Examples include:
The SEC's Division of Enforcement investigates suspicious patterns. Penalties include up to 20 years in prison and fines up to $5 million per violation for individuals.
| Rule | What it does |
|---|---|
| Section 10(b) & Rule 10b-5 | The primary anti-fraud provision prohibiting trading on MNPI |
| Section 16(a) | Requires insiders to file Form 3, 4, and 5 to disclose trades |
| Rule 10b5-1 | Allows insiders to set up pre-planned trading schedules as an affirmative defense |
| Section 16(b) | Short-swing profit rule: insiders must return profits from buy-sell or sell-buy within 6 months |
| STOCK Act | Extends insider trading rules to members of Congress and their staff |
Catalyst Edge monitors Form 4 filings in real time and flags cluster buys, C-suite purchases, and high-conviction insider activity.
Open ScannerNo. Corporate insiders legally buy and sell their own company's stock all the time. They must report these trades to the SEC on Form 4 within 2 business days. Insider trading only becomes illegal when someone trades on material, non-public information (MNPI) before it is disclosed to the market.
The SEC uses sophisticated surveillance systems that flag unusual trading patterns before major announcements — sudden volume spikes, options activity, or large position changes in accounts linked to company insiders or their associates. The SEC's Market Abuse Unit investigates roughly 50-60 cases per year.
Criminal penalties can include up to 20 years in prison and fines up to $5 million for individuals ($25 million for firms). Civil penalties allow the SEC to seek disgorgement of profits plus a penalty of up to three times the profit gained or loss avoided.
You looked the term up. The console shows it firing on live tickers this morning.
Tier 1 setups touched +2% intraday 48.9% of the time across 374 tracked calls. Baseline for everything else: 40.9%. That is a +8.0 point edge, measured from the NEXT OPEN — the first price you could actually pay, not the prior close. We publish the misses too: https://catalystedgescanner.com/trust/
29 of 30 founding seats left. The price goes up when they are gone.
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