Opportunistic Insider Trading During the COVID‐19 Pandemic

Das, Bijoy Chandra (2025) Opportunistic Insider Trading During the COVID‐19 Pandemic. Financial Markets, Institutions & Instruments. ISSN 0963-8008

Preview

Text Financial_Market_-_2025_-_Das_-_Opportunistic_Insider_Trading_During_the_COVID_19_Pandemic.pdf - Published Version Available under License Creative Commons Attribution. Download (361kB)

Abstract

This paper examines whether opportunistic or routine insiders in US markets engage in informed trading and earn higher short‐term returns during the COVID‐19 pandemic. Our findings indicate that trades by opportunistic insiders are indeed informative, yielding higher returns compared to those of routine insiders during the pandemic. Interestingly, we also observe that opportunistic directors earn higher returns than CEOs. Additionally, opportunistic insiders trading in the Nasdaq market achieve higher returns compared to those in the NYSE, and opportunistic insiders in the financial sector outperform those in the non‐financial sector. Our results remain robust across various model specifications, alternative measures and considerations for endogeneity. Overall, our findings suggest that opportunistic insiders possess a significant informational advantage, enabling them to engage in informed trading during the pandemic.

Item Type:	Article
Identification Number:	10.1111/fmii.12213
Dates:	Date Event 25 March 2025 Accepted 6 April 2025 Published Online
Uncontrolled Keywords:	COVID-19, future returns, opportunistic insiders, opportunistic trades routine insiders, routine trades
Subjects:	CAH17 - business and management > CAH17-01 - business and management > CAH17-01-02 - business studies CAH17 - business and management > CAH17-01 - business and management > CAH17-01-07 - finance
Divisions:	Faculty of Business, Law and Social Sciences > College of Accountancy, Finance and Economics Faculty of Business, Law and Social Sciences > College of Accountancy, Finance and Economics > Centre for Accountancy Finance and Economics
Depositing User:	Gemma Tonks
Date Deposited:	08 Apr 2025 09:25
Last Modified:	08 Apr 2025 09:25
URI:	https://www.open-access.bcu.ac.uk/id/eprint/16296

Actions (login required)

View Item