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Corporate insider purchases and the options market: Competition among informed investors

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  • Jeon, Byounghyun
  • Sulaeman, Johan

Abstract

Corporate insiders have superior access to information; their trades, particularly purchases, should be informative. However, the extent of their informational advantage may be limited by the presence of other informed market participants. We document less frequent insider purchases in stocks with relatively high options trading activity. These purchases are followed by negligible abnormal returns. In contrast, stocks with less active options trading experience more frequent insider purchases, which yield positive abnormal returns over the subsequent six months. Our novel approach highlights the options market's role in screening uninformed insider trades, which ultimately contributes to more efficient stock market price formation.

Suggested Citation

  • Jeon, Byounghyun & Sulaeman, Johan, 2024. "Corporate insider purchases and the options market: Competition among informed investors," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:corfin:v:87:y:2024:i:c:s0929119924000750
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jcorpfin.2024.102613
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Insider trading; Insider purchases; Options trading; Information competition; Return predictability;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G12 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Asset Pricing; Trading Volume; Bond Interest Rates
    • G14 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Information and Market Efficiency; Event Studies; Insider Trading

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