Law Commons^™

"Front-Running" - Insider Trading Under The Commodity Exchange Act, Jerry W. Markham

Faculty Publications

On ‘Black Monday,’ October 19, 1987, ‘perhaps the worst day in the history of U.S. equity markets,’ the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell by 508 points, representing a loss of approximately $1 trillion in the value of all outstanding United States stocks. In the wake of the crash, numerous studies were conducted and reports published in which a host of regulatory issues were considered, including a disturbing phenomenon called ‘front-running.’ Simply stated, the practice of front-running involves a transaction in a commodity futures contract or a stock option contract by a trader with ‘material’ nonpublic information concerning a ‘block’ transaction …