Market manipulation

Market manipulation is conduct that interferes with the honest formation of a price — through fake orders, coordinated trades, false statements or control of supply — in order to profit from the distortion it creates. US law addresses it through the Securities Exchange Act, the Commodity Exchange Act and the federal fraud statutes.

law and enforcement · updated 2026-11-06

See also

• Securities fraud — Securities fraud is deception in connection with the purchase or sale of a security. Market manipulation is one species of it; ins…
• Scienter — Scienter is the mental state of intending to deceive, manipulate or defraud. It is a required element of a Rule 10b-5 claim, and i…
• Artificial price — An artificial price is one that does not reflect the genuine forces of supply and demand. Proving artificiality is a required elem…

Terms that refer here

Artificial price · Manipulative device · Market abuse regulation · Price discovery · Section 9(a)(2) · Securities fraud

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