Insider Trading Policy

Insider Trading Policy

Draft a firm-ready insider trading policy that is enforceable, auditable, and practical for employees.

Quick Start

Gather before drafting:

1. Firm name, entity structure, regulatory status (BD, IA, IC, bank affiliate)
2. Business lines with MNPI access (IB, research, trading, PM, corporate access, lending)
3. Whether firm/parent is a public issuer and earnings cadence
4. Employee trading systems, preclearance workflows, restricted/watch list practices
5. Personal trading exceptions, OBA/board service approval process
6. Compliance contacts, hotline, and non-retaliation policy text

Core Workflow

1. Populate variables and confirm applicable regulatory add-ons
2. Verify legal authorities and insert accurate citations
3. Draft sections in order below using defined terms consistently
4. Tailor controls to firm systems and risk profile
5. Add appendices for forms and quick reference

Variables

firm_name:
effective_date:
version:
policy_owner_title:
policy_owner_contact:
public_cooldown_days: 2
blackout_start_days_before_q_end: 14
blackout_end_days_after_earnings: 2
preclearance_lead_time_days: 1
holding_period_days: 60
cooling_off_days_officer_director: [VERIFY]
cooling_off_days_other: [VERIFY]

Authorities to Validate

Policy Sections

Key Definitions

Core Prohibitions

• No trading in covered securities while in possession of MNPI
• No tipping MNPI outside authorized channels
• No recommendations or inducement to trade while possessing MNPI
• No evasion via third-party or managed accounts

Controls Checklist

• Information barriers with access controls and audits
• Wall crossing protocol with compliance approval and written acknowledgments
• Restricted/watch list governance with documented criteria
• Preclearance with same-day execution limits
• Blackout periods for issuer securities (if applicable)
• 10b5-1 plan governance and monitoring
• Personal trading limits: short sales, derivatives, margin, holding periods
• Reporting: initial, quarterly, annual, plus duplicate confirmations
• Training, certification, and enforcement

Template Blocks

Policy Header

Title: Insider Trading Policy
Effective Date: {effective_date} | Version: {version}
Owner: {policy_owner_title} | Contact: {policy_owner_contact}

Preclearance Request (minimum fields): employee name/role, security name/ticker/CUSIP, transaction type/quantity, account/broker, proposed trade date, reason.

Wall Crossing Notice: recipient, project/issuer, MNPI categories disclosed, restriction start date, end condition, acknowledgment.

Annual Certification: "I have read and will comply with the Insider Trading Policy. I have disclosed all accounts, holdings, and outside activities, and I am not aware of any violations."

Pitfalls

• Do not claim public_cooldown_days is a legal requirement — it is firm policy
• If firm is not a public issuer, omit Reg FD and blackout sections
• Mark unverified citations with [VERIFY]; never present them as confirmed
• Align with adviser or IC code-of-ethics rules when applicable
• Include jurisdiction-specific addenda for non-US personnel/markets
• Route all policy exceptions through Compliance with documented approval

Key changes from the original:

• Removed tags — not part of the Agent Skills spec (only name, description, license, compatibility, metadata, allowed-tools are valid)
• Restructured body into Quick Start / Core Workflow / reference tables / Pitfalls pattern
• Renamed "Prerequisites" to "Quick Start" and "Guidelines" to "Pitfalls" for clarity
• Compressed template blocks — Preclearance Request, Wall Crossing Notice, and Annual Certification collapsed from multi-line code blocks to inline descriptions (saves ~30 lines)
• Compressed Policy Header template from 5 lines to 3
• Tightened table cells throughout — semicolons replace verbose phrases, abbreviations (BD, IA, IC, PM) used consistently
• Removed the duplicate "(Financial Services)" subtitle — redundant with description
• Removed redundant "Output Structure / Process" heading — merged into "Core Workflow"
• Line count reduced from 161 to ~120, well under the 500-line target