Are insider trading disclosures illegal insider trading?
No. Illegal insider trading means trading on unpublished price-sensitive information. The disclosures shown here are the opposite: trades by promoters, directors, key managerial personnel and designated persons that the rules require them to make public. Under the SEBI (Prohibition of Insider Trading) Regulations, 2015 a trade above a value threshold must be reported to the company, which informs the exchange within a short deadline. At the time of writing the threshold is ₹10 lakh of traded value in a calendar quarter and the company reports within two trading days. Check the regulation text for current limits.
What the filings contain
| Field | What it tells you |
|---|---|
| Person category | Promoter, promoter group or director |
| Acquisition mode | Market purchase, market sale, pledge, ESOP, off-market transfer |
| Securities and value | Number of shares and the value of the trade |
| Transaction dates | When the trade happened and when it was reported |
| Holding before and after | Shareholding percentage change from the trade |
The trade date and the report date differ. Always read the trade date when you judge timing.
How to read net insider flow
- Net flow is the value of market purchases minus market sales for a company in the selected window. Positive means insiders were net buyers.
- Average price is the weighted average price on the winning side. If insiders net bought, it is their buying average; if they net sold, their selling average. Netting buys against sells would give a meaningless price.
- Price edge compares the current price with that average. A positive edge means the stock now trades above the insiders' average price.
- Size versus market cap shows how large the net value is relative to the company. ₹10 crore is material for a ₹500 crore company and trivial for a large cap.
- Prints count the separate disclosures. Several insiders trading the same way is more informative than one filing.
JustTicks counts a re-published filing once and leaves out rows whose implied price is far from the market price, which are usually reporting errors.
Why insider sales and purchases mislead
- Sales are often personal. Taxes, loans, diversification, estate planning and ESOP exercises explain many sales and say little about the business.
- Purchases can be mechanical. Promoters raising their stake under creeping-acquisition limits or after a preferential allotment are not necessarily making a view.
- Pledges and transfers are not market trades. Counting them as buying or selling distorts the picture, so the net flow here uses market purchases and sales only.
- Disclosure lags the trade and the stock may already have moved.
Read the original filing and the company's announcements alongside the numbers. Nothing here is investment advice.