Insider trading plans after the new rules
Insider trading appears on 40 recent papers in the finance and accounting journals, and 17 of 45 carry a regulation or enforcement keyword, but "trading plan" appears on one. Since 2023, US executives' pre-scheduled trading plans must have cooling-off periods and be disclosed. Did the plans stop being a cover for informed trades?
What prompted this
Since October 2025, 45 papers carry an insider-trading keyword (32 in finance journals, 7 in accounting); "insider trading" appears on 40 and "insider trading regulation" on 5. Of the 45, 17 carry a plan, enforcement, regulation, detection or machine-learning keyword, but the keyword "trading plan" appears on a single paper.
Questions
- Before the 2023 rule, did trades under pre-scheduled plans earn abnormal returns, especially plans adopted shortly before trades?
- After the cooling-off period and disclosure requirements, did the returns to plan trades fall, and did executives trade less under plans?
- Did firms with the most profitable plan trades before the rule change their behaviour most?
Data that could help
Insider trading filings (Form 4) with plan indicators, plan adoption and modification disclosures from 10-Q and 10-K filings, and stock returns.
Next step
Compare abnormal returns of plan and non-plan insider sales in the two years before and after the 2023 rule.