MAM-3 MAM-3 Prohibited Market Conduct
MAM-3.1 MAM-3.1 Prohibited Market Conduct
MAM-3.1.1
Article 106 of the CBB Law states that a person is guilty of market manipulation if he engages or encourages to engage in any conduct that may give a false or misleading impression as to the supply of or demand for, or the price or value of any securities or that may give an unrealistic picture of the market regarding the volume and/or prices of any securities. In application of this Article 106 of the CBB Law, the CBB will consider that a person is guilty of market manipulation if he engages or encourages to engage in any act of commission or omission of the prohibited market behaviour or conduct listed in rule MAM-3.1.2.
November 2010MAM-3.1.2
No person shall directly or indirectly:
(a) Engage or encourage others to engage in any behaviour or conduct that may give a false or misleading impression as to the supply of or demand for, or the price or value of any securities.(b) Engage or encourage others to engage in any behaviour or conduct that may give an unrealistic picture of the market regarding the volume and/or prices of any securities.(c) Create or do anything that is intended or likely to create a false or misleading appearance:(i) Of active trading in any securities on a securities market;(ii) With respect to the market for, or the price of, such securities; or(iii) By engaging or encouraging others to engage in any act of conducting or attempting to conduct a manoeuver with the intention to impede normal functioning of a market.(d) Maintain, inflate, depress, stabilize, or cause fluctuations in the market price of any securities, or the trading volume of any securities by means of a purchase or sale of any securities that do not involve a change in the beneficial ownership of those securities, or by any fictitious transaction or device.(e) Engage or encourage others to engage in any fraudulent or misleading or manipulative practice, such as to:(i) Employ any device, scheme or artifice to defraud;(ii) buy, sell, intermediate or otherwise deal in securities in a fraudulent manner;(iii) Obtain money or property by means of any untrue statement of a material fact or any omission to state a material fact necessary in order to make the statements made, in light of the circumstances under which they were made, not misleading;(iv) Engage in any transaction, practice, or course of business which operates or would operate as a fraud or deceit upon the purchaser; or(v) Induce, fraudulently, other persons to deal in securities, or trade in futures contracts.(f)Use or employ, in connection with issue, purchase or sale of any security listed or proposed to be listed in a licensed exchange, any manipulative or deceptive device or contrivance in contravention of the provisions of the CBB Law or the rules and regulations made thereunder, including the rules and regulations of licensed exchanges.(g)Manipulate or publish or cause to publish or report or cause to report by a person dealing in securities any information which is not true or which he does not believe to be true prior to or in the course of dealing in securities.(h) Indulge in price manipulation or any act or omission amounting to manipulation of the price or volume of a security.(i) Make a statement, promise, forecast or any other action, or disseminate information that is false or misleading and has or is likely to have an impact on the price or volume of securities.(j) Employ manipulative or deceptive devices or practices.(k) Disseminate information about illegal transactions.(i) Fail, intentionally or recklessly, to notify the licensed exchange or the CBB of such information as is required to be disclosed as per the CBB Law, rules and regulations, Modules on listing requirements, Disclosure Standards and AML/CFT of CBB's Rulebook Volume 6.(m) Indulge in manipulative or fraudulent or unfair trade practices in securities.(n) Advance or agree to advance any money to any person thereby inducing any other person to offer to buy any security in any issue only with the intention of manipulating or securing the minimum subscription to such issue.(o) Enter into a transaction in securities without the intention of performing it, or without the intention of change of ownership of such security.(p) Sell, deal or pledge stolen or counterfeit securities, whether in physical or dematerialized form.(q) Provide clients with such information relating to a security that cannot be verified by the clients before their dealing in such security.(r) Encourage clients to deal in securities solely with the object of enhancing his brokerage or commission.(s) Indulge in buying or selling securities in advance of a substantial client order, or whereby a futures or option position is taken about an impending transaction in the same or related futures or options contract.(t) Plant false or misleading news or rumours, or deceitful information which may induce sale or purchase of securities.November 2010MAM-3.2 MAM-3.2 False Trading and Market Rigging Transactions
MAM-3.2.1
Without prejudice to the provisions of the rule MAM-3.1.2 above, a person who:
(a) Effects, takes part in, is concerned in or carries out directly or indirectly, any transaction of purchase or sale of any securities, being a transaction that does not involve any change in the beneficial ownership of the securities;(b) Makes or causes to be made an offer to sell any securities at a specified price where he has made or caused to be made or proposes to make or to cause to be made, or knows that a person associated with him has made or caused to be made or proposes to make or to cause to be made, an offer to purchase the same number, or substantially the same number of securities at a price that is substantially the same as the first-mentioned price; or(c) Makes or causes to be made an offer to purchase any securities at a specified price where he has made or caused to be made or proposes to make or to cause to be made, or knows that a person associated with him has made or caused to be made or proposes to make or to cause to be made, an offer to sell the same number, or substantially the same number, of securities at a price that is substantially the same as the first-mentioned price,shall be deemed to have created a false or misleading appearance of active trading in securities on a securities market.
November 2010MAM-3.2.2
In any proceedings against a person for a contravention of rule MAM-3.1.2 (c) and (d) because of an act referred to in rule MAM-3.2.1, it is a defence if the defendant establishes that the purpose or purposes for which he did the act was not, or did not include, the purpose of creating a false or misleading appearance of active trading in securities on a securities market.
November 2010MAM-3.2.3
For the purposes of rule MAM-3.1.2 (c) and (d) and rule MAM-3.2.1, a purchase or sale of securities does not involve a change in the beneficial ownership if a person who had an interest in the securities before the purchase or sale, or a person associated with the first-mentioned person in relation to those securities, has an interest in the securities after the purchase or sale.
November 2010MAM-3.2.4
In any proceedings against a person for a contravention of rule MAM-3.2.1 in relation to a purchase or sale of securities that did not involve a change in the beneficial ownership of those securities, it is a defence if the defendant establishes that the purpose or purposes for which he purchased or sold the securities was not, or did not include, the purpose of creating a false or misleading appearance with respect to the market for, or the price of, securities.
November 2010MAM-3.2.5
The reference in rule MAM-3.2.1 to a transaction of purchase or sale of securities includes:
(a) A reference to the making of an offer to purchase or sell securities; and(b) A reference to the making of an invitation, however expressed, that expressly or impliedly invites a person to offer to purchase or sell securities.November 2010MAM-3.3 MAM-3.3 Fraudulent Dealings
Fraudulently Inducing Persons to Deal in Securities
MAM-3.3.1
Without prejudice to the provisions of rule MAM-3.1.2 (e), no person shall:
(a) By making or publishing, by any means, any statement, promise or forecast that he knows or ought reasonably to have known to be misleading, false or deceptive;(b) By any dishonest concealment of material facts;(c) By the reckless making or publishing of any statement, promise or forecast that is misleading, false or deceptive; or(d) By recording or storing in, or by means of, any mechanical, electronic or other device information that he knows to be false or misleading in a material particular;induce or attempt to induce another person to deal in securities.
November 2010MAM-3.3.2
In any proceeding against a person for a contravention of rule MAM-3.3.1 constituted by recording or storing information as mentioned in rule MAM-3.3.1 (d), it is a defence if it is established that, at the time when the defendant so recorded or stored the information, he had no reasonable grounds for expecting that the information would be available to another person.
November 2010MAM-3.3.3
In any proceedings against a person for a contravention of rule MAM-3.3.1, the opinion of any registered or public accountant as to the financial position of any company at any time or during any period in respect of which he has made an audit or examination of the affairs of the company according to recognised audit practice shall be admissible, for any party to the proceedings, as evidence of the financial position of the company at any time or during that period, notwithstanding that the opinion is based in whole or in part on book-entries, documents or vouchers or on written or verbal statements by other persons.
November 2010Employment of Manipulative and Deceptive Devices or Practices
MAM-3.3.4
Without prejudice to the provisions of rule MAM-3.1.2 (e), no person shall, directly or indirectly, in connection with the subscription, purchase or sale of any securities:
(a) Employ any device, practice, scheme or artifice to defraud;(b) Engage in any act or course of business which operates as a fraud or deception, or is likely to operate as a fraud or deception, upon any person;(c) Make any statement he knows to be false in a material particular; or(d) Omit to state a material fact necessary in order to make the statements made, in the light of the circumstances under which they were made, not misleading.November 2010MAM-3.4 MAM-3.4 Dissemination of Information about Illegal Transactions
MAM-3.4.1
Without prejudice to the provisions of section MAM-3.1, no person shall circulate or disseminate, or authorise or be concerned in the circulation or dissemination of, any statement or information to the effect that the price of any securities will, or is likely, to rise or fall or be maintained by reason of a transaction entered into, or to be entered into, or other act or thing done or to be done in relation to such securities which to his knowledge, was entered into or done in contravention of section MAM-3.1, or if entered into or done would be in contravention of section MAM-3.1, if:
(a) The person, or a person associated with the person, has entered into or purports to enter into any such transaction or has done or purports to do any such act or thing; or(b) The person, or a person associated with the person, has received, or expects to receive, directly or indirectly, any consideration or benefit for circulating or disseminating, or authorising or being concerned in the circulation or dissemination, the statement or information.November 2010MAM-3.5 MAM-3.5 False or Misleading Statements
MAM-3.5.1
Without prejudice to the provisions of rule MAM-3.1.2 (e) and (f), no person shall make a statement, or disseminate information, that is false or misleading in a material particular and is likely:
(a) To induce other persons to subscribe for securities;(b) To induce the sale or purchase of securities by other persons; or(c) To have the effect of raising, lowering, maintaining or fixing the market price of securities;if, when he makes the statement or disseminates the information:
(a) He does not care whether the statement or information is true or false; or(b) He knows or ought reasonably to have known that the statement or information is false or misleading in a material particular.November 2010MAM-3.6 MAM-3.6 Price Manipulation
MAM-3.6.1
Without prejudice to the provisions of rule MAM-3.1.2, no person shall effect, take part in, be concerned in or carry out, directly or indirectly, two or more transactions in securities, being transactions that have, or are likely to have, the effect of raising, lowering, maintaining or fixing the price of securities on a securities market, with intent to induce other persons to subscribe for, purchase or sell securities of the company or of a related company.
November 2010MAM-3.6.2
A reference to rule MAM-3.6.1 (a) or (b) to transactions in securities includes:
(a) A reference to the making of an offer to purchase or sell such securities; and(b) A reference to the making of an invitation, however expressed, that directly or indirectly invites a person to offer to purchase or sell such securities.November 2010MAM-3.7 MAM-3.7 Continuous Disclosure
MAM-3.7.1
This rule shall apply to:
(a) An entity the securities of which are listed for quotation on a licensed exchange;(b) A trustee of a business trust, where the securities of the business trust are listed for quotation on a securities exchange; or(c) A responsible person of a Collective Investment undertaking or business trust, where the units of the Collective Investment scheme are listed for quotation on a securities exchange.if the entity, trustee or responsible person is required by the licensed exchange under the listing rules or any other requirement of the licensed exchange to notify the licensed exchange of information on specified events or matters as they occur or arise for the purpose of the licensed exchange making that information available to a securities market operated by the licensed exchange.
November 2010MAM-3.7.2
The persons specified in rule MAM-3.7.1 shall not intentionally, recklessly or negligently fail to notify the licensed exchange of such information, as is required to be disclosed by the licensed exchange under the listing rules or any other requirement of the licensed exchange.
November 2010MAM-3.7.3
A contravention of rule MAM-3.7.2 shall not be an offence unless the failure to notify is intentional or reckless.
November 2010MAM-3.8 MAM-3.8 Fraudulent and Manipulative Practices in Offering Or Issuing Securities
MAM-3.8.1
Without prejudice to section MAM-3.1, no person shall either directly or indirectly:
(a) Obtain or participate in a subscription for any offering or issue of securities or use the proceeds thereof, in a fraudulent or manipulative manner, or in contravention of the CBB Law, the Offering Module or other applicable laws, rules and regulations; or(b) Induce or compel any person to surrender any rights attached to a security, including voting rights or the ability to appoint a proxy, either as a pre-condition for subscription of such security or otherwise;(c) Manipulate or fraudulently secure a minimum subscription of any offering or issue of securities, either by accepting a subscription in contravention of the Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Combating Financial Crime (CFC) Laws and regulations, or by accepting incomplete subscription forms or otherwise.(d) Make a reference to the CBB's or any other authority's approval for the purpose of marketing of or obtaining subscription for any offering or issue of securities, or give a misleading appearance that such an approval or no-objection relates to financial soundness of any project or merits of any offering or issue of securities.November 2010MAM-3.9 MAM-3.9 Prohibited Conduct — Futures Contract and Leveraged Foreign Exchange Trading
False Trading — Futures Contracts and Leveraged Foreign Exchange Trading
MAM-3.9.1
Without prejudice to section MAM-3.1, no person shall create, or do anything that is intended or likely to create, a false or misleading appearance of active trading in any futures contract on a futures market or in connection with leveraged foreign exchange trading, or a false or misleading appearance with respect to the market for, or the prices of futures contracts on a futures market or foreign exchange, in connection with leveraged foreign exchange trading.
November 2010Bucketing
MAM-3.9.2
Without prejudice to section MAM-3.1 no person shall:
(a) Knowingly execute, or hold himself out as having executed, an order for the purchase or sale of a futures contract on a futures market, without having effected a bona fide purchase or sale of the futures contract in accordance with the business rules, practices and procedures of the licensed exchange;(b) Knowingly execute, or hold himself out as having executed, an order to make a purchase or sale of foreign exchange in connection with leveraged foreign exchange trading, without having effected a bona fide purchase or sale in accordance with the order.November 2010Manipulation of Price of Futures Contract and Cornering
MAM-3.9.3
Without prejudice to section MAM-3.1 no person shall, directly or indirectly:
(a) Manipulate or attempt to manipulate the price of a futures contract that may be dealt in on a futures market, or of any commodity which is the subject of such futures contract; or(b) Corner, or attempt to corner, any commodity which is the subject of a futures contract.November 2010Fraudulently Inducing Persons to Trade in Futures Contracts
MAM-3.9.4
Without prejudice to section MAM-3.1 no person shall:
(a) By making or publishing any statement, promise or forecast that he knows or ought reasonably to have known to be false, misleading or deceptive;(b) By any dishonest concealment of material facts;(c) By the reckless making or publishing of any statement, promise or forecast that is false, misleading or deceptive; or(d) By recording or storing in, or by means of hard copy or any mechanical, electronic or other device information that he knows to be false or misleading in a material particular;induce or attempt to induce another person to trade in a futures contract or engage in leveraged foreign exchange trading.
November 2010MAM-3.9.5
In any proceedings against a person for a contravention of rule MAM-3.9.4, constituted by recording or storing information as mentioned in rule MAM-3.9.4 (d), it is a defence if it is established that, at the time when the defendant so recorded or stored the information, he had no reasonable grounds for expecting that the information would be available to another person.
November 2010Employment of Fraudulent or Deceptive Devices and Practices
MAM-3.9.6
Without prejudice to section MAM-3.1 no person shall directly or indirectly, in connection with any transaction involving trading in a futures contract or leveraged foreign exchange trading:
(a) Employ any device, scheme or artifice to defraud;(b) Engage in any act, practice or course of business which operates as a fraud or deception, or is likely to operate as a fraud or deception, upon any person;(c) Make any false statement of a material fact; or(d) Omit to state a material fact necessary in order to make the statements made, in the light of the circumstances under which they were made, not misleading.November 2010Dissemination of Information about Illegal Transactions
MAM-3.9.7
Without prejudice to section MAM-3.1 no person shall circulate, disseminate, or authorise or be concerned in the circulation of dissemination of, any statement or information to the effect that the price of a class of futures contracts or foreign exchange in connection with leveraged foreign exchange trading will, or is likely to, rise or fall or be maintained because of the market operations of one or more persons which, to his knowledge, are conducted in contravention of section MAM-3.1 if:
(a) The person, or a person associated with the person, has conducted such market operations; or(b) The person, or a person associated with the person, has received, or expects to receive, directly or indirectly, any consideration or benefit for circulating or disseminating or authorising or being concerned in the circulation or dissemination, the statement or information.November 2010MAM-3.10 MAM-3.10 Methods of Market Abuse and Manipulation
MAM-3.10.1
A person who engages or encourages others to engage in market manipulation by his acts of commission or omission will be liable for penalties under the CBB Law, irrespective of the methods used for market manipulation. Methods of market abuse and market manipulation may include but not be limited to the methods mentioned in rules MAM-3.10.2 to MAM-3.10.38.
(a) Abuse of information:Amended: July 2021
November 2010Insider Dealing
MAM-3.10.2
Frontrunning: Frontrunning (or trading ahead) occurs when a broker times the purchase or sale of shares of a security for his own account so as to benefit from the price movement that follows execution of large customer orders. Frontrunning involves a trader taking a position in a security to profit from advance non-public knowledge of an imminent order that may affect the market price of that security.
November 2010MAM-3.10.3
Tailgating: When a broker or adviser buys or sells a security for an informed client(s) and then immediately makes the same transaction in his or her own account.
November 2010MAM-3.10.4
Spreading False Information to Purchase at Bargain Prices: An unlawful practice occurring mainly on the internet. A small group of informed people attempt to push down a stock by spreading false information and rumours. If they are successful, they can purchase the stock at bargain prices.
November 2010Improper Disclosure
MAM-3.10.5
Concealing Ownership: This is a transaction or a series of transactions which is designed to conceal the ownership of a security via the breach of disclosure requirements through the holding of the instrument in the name of a colluding party (or parties). The disclosures are misleading in respect of the true underlying holding of the instrument. (This practice does not cover cases where there are legitimate reasons for securities to be held in the name of a party other than the beneficial owner; e.g. nominee holdings. Nor do all failures to make a required disclosure necessarily constitute market manipulation.)
November 2010MAM-3.10.6
Touting: The practice refers to any person who is paid directly or indirectly, to recommend the sale of any security, without disclosing this fact and the amount of compensation to be received. Once someone is paid to recommend a security, this information should be provided to the market. Touting is also an unlawful practice in the securities market, since it does not follow the principle of full disclosure to the market and gives an unfair advantage to some investors over others.
November 2010Misuse of Information
MAM-3.10.7
Pump and Dump: This practice involves taking a long position in a security and then undertaking further buying activity and/or disseminating misleading positive information about the security with a view to increasing the price of the security. Other market participants are mislead by the resulting effect on price and are attracted into purchasing the security. The manipulator then sells out at the inflated price. Pump and dump is a scheme that attempts to boost the price of a stock through brokers recommendations, internet forums, or cold calling based on false, misleading or greatly exaggerated statements, and the perpetrators of this scheme, who already have an established position in the company's stock, sell their positions after the hype has led to a higher share price.
November 2010MAM-3.10.8
Trash and Cash: Trash and cash (or "slur and slurp") is the opposite of pump and dump. A party will take a short position in a security; undertake further selling activity and/or spread misleading negative information about the security with the purpose of driving down its price. The manipulator then closes their position after the price has fallen.
November 2010MAM-3.10.9
Influencing Market Price without Controlling the Available Supply or Demand: An individual may not control the supply of a security or the asset underlying a derivative contract, but may use various other means to manipulate the price, such as disseminating false information about the relevant company or taking advantage of a congested market. False information about the company or the derivative or cash market, which influences the price of the company's shares or of the asset underlying a derivative contract may be disseminated in publicly filed financial statements, press releases, or through some other medium.
November 2010MAM-3.10.10
Boiler Room Sales: Boiler rooms use banks of telephones to make cold calls to as many potential investors as possible using high-pressure selling techniques to persuade investors to purchase "house stocks"- stocks that the firm buys or sells as a market maker or has in its inventory. Boiler room operators typically sell worthless shares or thinly traded stocks of "microcap" or "small cap" companies.
November 2010MAM-3.10.11
Cybersmear: Cybersmear is a practice in which individuals post malicious messages about businesses in online forums, to manipulate the stock or to hurt a company they have a grievance against.
November 2010MAM-3.10.12
Scalping: Scalping is the fraudulent trading practice that occurs when a person buys shares of thinly-traded, small-cap companies, recommending the companies to the general public, and then selling the majority of his shares when the increased demand generated by his favourable recommendations drove up the stock price.
November 2010MAM-3.10.13
False Market: A market where prices are manipulated and impacted by erroneous information, preventing the efficient negotiation of prices. These types of markets will often be marred by volatile swings because the true value of the market is clouded by the misinformation.
November 2010MAM-3.10.14
Short and Distort (Bear Raid): An unlawful practice employed by unethical investors who short-sell a stock and then spread unsubstantiated rumours and other kinds of unverified bad news in an attempt to drive down the equity's price and realize a profit.
November 2010MAM-3.10.15
Long and Distort: An unlawful practice employed by unethical investors who buy a stock and then spread unsubstantiated rumours and other kinds of unverified good news in an attempt to drive up the equity's price and realize a profit.
November 2010MAM-3.10.16
Stock Basher: An individual, either acting alone or on behalf of someone else, who attempts to devalue a stock by spreading false or exaggerated claims against a public company. After the stock's price has dropped, the basher, or the basher's employer, will then purchase the stock at a lower price than that he or she believes it is intrinsically worth.
(b) Market Manipulation:November 2010Manipulating Transactions
MAM-3.10.17
Painting the Tape: This practice involves engaging in a transaction or series of transactions which are shown on a public display facility to give the impression of activity or price movement in a security. This may include an unlawful practice in which traders buy and sell a specific security among themselves, creating the illusion of high trading volume and significant investor interest, which can attract unsuspecting investors who might then buy the stock and enable the traders to profit. Or, an unlawful action by a group of market manipulators buying and/or selling a security among themselves to create artificial trading activity, which, when reported on the ticker tape, lures in unsuspecting investors as they perceive an unusual volume.
November 2010MAM-3.10.18
Wash Sales: This is the practice of entering into arrangements for the sale or purchase of a security where there is no change in beneficial interests or market risk, or where the transfer of beneficial interest or market risk is only between parties who are acting in concert or collusion. (Repo transactions and stock lending/borrowing or other transactions involving transfer of securities as collateral do not constitute wash trades.) Wash sales include an unlawful transaction a trader makes by simultaneously buying and selling a security through two different brokers, thereby creating the illusion of activity. The trader sometimes would use a relative to conclude such manipulative transactions.
November 2010MAM-3.10.19
Improper Matched Orders: Transactions where both buy and sell orders are usually entered at the same time, with the exact same price and quantity by different but colluding parties.
November 2010MAM-3.10.20
Marking the Close: Marking the close (or ramping) involves deliberately buying or selling securities or derivatives contracts at the close of the market in an effort to alter the closing price of the security or derivatives contract. This practice may take place on any individual trading day but is particularly associated with dates such as future/option expiry dates or quarterly/annual portfolio or index reference/valuation points.
November 2010MAM-3.10.21
Cornering the Market: Securing such control of the bid or demand-side of both the derivative and the underlying asset that leads to a dominant position. This position can be exploited to manipulate the price of the derivative and/or the asset. With regards to derivatives, in a corner, a market participant or group of participants accumulates a controlling position in an asset in the cash, derivative and other markets. The market participant or group of participants then requires those holding short positions to settle their obligations under the terms of their contracts, either by making delivery or by purchasing the asset from the manipulator or by offsetting in the derivatives market opposite the manipulator at prices distorted by the manipulators.
In the context of a futures contract and leveraged foreign trading corners or attempts to corner, any commodity which is the subject of a futures contract.
November 2010MAM-3.10.22
Abusive Squeeze: This involves a party or parties with a significant influence over the supply of, or demand for, or delivery mechanisms for a security and/or the underlying product of a derivative contract exploiting a dominant position in order materially to distort the price at which others have to deliver, take delivery or defer delivery of the security/product in order to satisfy their obligations.
November 2010MAM-3.10.23
Capping and Pegging: This practice involves activity on both the stock market and the derivatives market. A trader writes an option, which obliges the trader to sell to (in the case of a call option) or buy from (in the case of a put option) the option holder a specified number of shares covered by the option in order to affect the share price in a direction that will make the option unprofitable to exercise.
November 2010MAM-3.10.24
Manipulative Naked Short Sales: A short sale is generally the sale of a stock the seller does not own. In a "naked" short sale, the seller does not borrow or arrange to borrow the securities in time to make delivery to the buyer within the standard settlement period. As a result, the seller fails to deliver securities to the buyer when delivery is due. Selling stock short and failing to deliver shares at the time of settlement with the purpose of driving down the security's price is a manipulative activity.
November 2010MAM-3.10.25
Pooling and Churning: "Pooling and Churning" can involve wash sales or pre-arranged trades executed in order to give an impression of active trading, and therefore investor interest in the stock.
November 2010MAM-3.10.26
Interpositioning: Interpositioning involves a 2-step process that allows the brokerage firm to generate a profit for the brokerage firm from the spread between two opposite trades. Interpositioning can take various forms. In one form, the broker purchases stock for the brokerage firm's proprietary account from the customer sell order; and then fills the customer buy order by selling from the brokerage firm's proprietary account at a higher price — thus locking in a riskless profit for the brokerage firm's proprietary account. A second form of interpositioning involves the broker selling stock into the customer buy order, and then filling the customer sell order by buying for the brokerage firm's proprietary account at a lower price — again, locking in a riskless profit for the brokerage firm's proprietary account. In both forms of interpositioning, the broker participates on both sides of the trade, thereby capturing the spread between the purchase and sale prices, disadvantaging at least one of the parties to the transaction.
November 2010MAM-3.10.27
Late Trading: This involves purchasing mutual fund shares at the closing price after the market closes. This is an investment technique involving short-term "in and out" trading of mutual fund shares, which has a detrimental effect on the long-term shareholders. The technique is designed to exploit market inefficiencies when the "net asset value" of the mutual fund shares; which is set at the market close, does not reflect the current market value of the stocks held by the mutual fund. When a "market timer" buys mutual fund shares at the stale NAV, it realizes a profit when it sells those shares the next trading day or thereafter. That profit dilutes the value of shares held by long term investors. Late Trading (or market timing) includes: (a) frequent buying and selling of shares of the same mutual fund; or (b) buying or selling mutual fund shares in order to exploit inefficiencies in mutual fund pricing. Market timing, while not illegal per se, can harm other mutual fund shareholders because it can dilute the value of their shares, if the market timer is exploiting pricing inefficiencies, or disrupt the management of the mutual funds' investment portfolio and can cause the targeted mutual fund to incur costs borne by other shareholders to accommodate frequent buying and selling of shares by the market timer.
November 2010MAM-3.10.28
Holding the Market: The practice of placing active or pending orders for a security into a market where the price is dropping rapidly in an attempt to "hold" the price of the security steady, or create a floor in the security. This practice is unlawful except when a broker or other party is mandated to keep the price of a security steady as part of Price Stabilization or a buy-back programme. This is only done in rare cases where there is not enough market depth to hold the price.
November 2010MAM-3.10.29
Ghosting: An unlawful practice whereby two or more market makers or brokers collectively attempt to influence and change the price of a stock. Ghosting is used to affect stock prices so the manipulators can profit from the price movement.
November 2010MAM-3.10.30
Freeriding: An unlawful practice in which an underwriting syndicate member withholds part of a new securities issue and later sells it at a higher price. This practice involves the unlawful activity of buying a stock and selling it before paying for the purchase.
November 2010MAM-3.10.31
Bucketing: A brokerage that makes trades on a client's behalf and promises a certain price and/or confirms execution of an order to a client without actually executing it. The brokerage however, waits until a different price arises and then makes the trade, keeping the difference as profit in an attempt to make a short-term profit.
November 2010MAM-3.10.32
Portfolio Pumping. The unlawful act of bidding up the value of a fund's holdings right before the end of a quarter, when the fund's performance is measured. This is done by placing a large number of orders on existing holdings, which drives up the value of the securities within the Portfolio.
November 2010Manipulating Devices
MAM-3.10.33
Advancing the Bid: Increasing the bid for a security to increase its price artificially, creating the impression of strength or the illusion that stock activity was causing the increase.
November 2010MAM-3.10.34
Placing Orders without Intention to Execute: This involves the entering of orders, especially into electronic trading systems, which are higher/lower than the previous bid/offer. The intention is not to execute the order but to give a misleading impression that there is demand for or supply of the security at that price. The orders are then withdrawn from the market before they are executed. (A variant on this type of market manipulation is to place a small order to move the bid/offer price of the security and being prepared for that order to be executed if it cannot be withdrawn in time.) These manipulative orders are entered in the pre-open sessions and also during the normal trading sessions.
November 2010MAM-3.10.35
Excessive Bid-ask Spreads: This conduct is carried out by intermediaries which have market power, such as specialists or market makers acting in cooperation, in such a way intentionally to move the bid-ask spread to and/or to maintain it at artificial levels and far from fair values, by abusing their market power, i.e. the absence of other competitors.
November 2010Misleading Behaviour and Distortion
MAM-3.10.36
Short and Extort: This practice occurs when short sellers state, for example posting messages on message boards, they would stop shorting the stock if they were given money or free shares.
November 2010MAM-3.10.37
Spoofing: Spoofing (or small lot bailing) is a fraudulent trading practice that occurs when a person uses a displayed limit order to manipulate prices, entering quotes followed by virtually simultaneous cancellations, obtaining an improper trading advantage. The order is placed with the intention of briefly triggering a market movement from which the participant or others may benefit by trading the opposite side of the original manipulative order.
November 2010MAM-3.10.38
Overtrading: An unethical practice employed by some brokers to increase their commissions by excessively trading in a client's account. It is also referred to as "churn and burn", "twisting" and "churning".
November 2010MAM-3.11 MAM-3.11 Motives and Parties Involved in Market Manipulation
MAM-3.11.1
Any manipulative behaviour or conduct prohibited under this Module will attract a penalty specified in Article 106 of the CBB Law and other enforcement actions by the CBB, irrespective of the objective of such manipulative market behaviour or conduct.
However, the CBB would investigate into the intentions behind the market behaviour or conduct and the objectives of the market behaviour or conduct of the various parties while dealing with suspected market behaviour or conduct cases.
(a) Some examples of such motives include:(i) Influencing the price or value of a security or a derivative contract, so that the manipulator can:• Buy at a lower price;• Sell at a higher price;• Influence takeover bids, or other large transactions; or• combat competitive transactions;(ii) Influencing the price of a derivative contract or the underlying asset;(iii) Influencing the subscription price in public or non-public offerings;(iv) Influencing the price/conversion ratio in connection with the merger of companies;(v) Influencing the price of a security in connection with take-over offers;(vi) Influencing someone to subscribe for, purchase, or sell assets or rights to assets, or to abstain from doing so;(vii) Influencing the accounts/balance sheet of institutional investors;(viii) Influencing the limit for triggering forced sale by creditors; and(ix) Influencing the impression of financial advice or placements.(b) Any person who violates, or aides or abets any violation of the provisions of this Module will be liable for penalty and other enforcement actions under the CBB Law, irrespective of the status or position of the person involved. Those in a position to effect a manipulation include:(i) Issuers of securities;(ii) Participants in the securities market, derivatives market or underlying cash market, including investors and institutions;(iii) Market intermediaries;(iv) Financial analysts;(v) Any other person;(vi) Any combination of the above acting in cooperation with one another; and(vii) Any person aiding or abetting the person(s) involved in prohibited behaviour or conduct.November 2010MAM-3.12 MAM-3.12 Error Trades
MAM-3.12.1
Every licensed exchange and market operator should have policies and systems for error trades which should be transparent and applied consistently and fairly, so that the brokerage firms and their representatives are made accountable for providing correct information with regards to the investor's and transaction details at the time of entering the orders into the trading systems of the licensed exchanges or market operators.
November 2010MAM-3.12.2
All transaction information after execution in the Automated Trading System of licensed exchanges must not be changed except when there is a misallocation of the Investor Account. Such change can only be made subject to the prior approval of the licensed exchange and any change after the settlement period can be made only after obtaining the CBB's Capital Markets Supervision Directorate's written approval.
November 2010MAM-3.12.3
A repeated pattern of error trades could be indicative of possible manipulation or other abuse market activity and the licensed exchanges should have adequate systems in place to detect such activities and report to the CBB.
November 2010MAM-3.12.4
If there is an error trade which is caused by mistake or lapse on the part of a brokerage firm, the cost for correcting such error trade shall be borne by the respective brokerage firm.
November 2010MAM-3.13 MAM-3.13 Defences
MAM-3.13.1
A person shall not be guilty of violation of section MAM-3.1 if he proves that his reasons for engaging in the alleged behaviour or conduct were legitimate and that he had acted in conformity with the accepted market practices in the market concerned, or that he had acted in conformity with any price stabilization rules or market making rules made/approved by the Central Bank, or if he believed on reasonable grounds that his behaviour or conduct did not violate Article 106 of the CBB Law, and that he had taken all reasonable precautions and exercised all due diligence to avoid behaving in any way against the said Article.
November 2010