Lesson 5 of 6
Writing about what you own
The convention when publishing about a position you hold: say that you hold it, say when that was true, and never write to move the price you will sell into.
By Javier Sanz
Founder of ValueScreener. Built Ninety Nine, a securities services provider, and sold it to a tier-one global bank; ran operations and internationalization at Alpaca, the brokerage API.
Who writes thisEditorial processLinkedIn (opens in a new tab)X (opens in a new tab)
In one minute
- Publishing about a company you own is ordinary and widespread. Publishing without saying you own it is what the convention exists to prevent.
- The anti-fraud rule reaches statements as well as trades: a false statement of material fact in connection with a purchase or sale is inside Rule 10b-5.
- A disclosure is a fact with a date: what you held and when, not a promise about what you will do next.
Writing about a holding is not a legal problem in itself. It becomes one when what is written is false, when the position is concealed, or when the purpose of writing is to move a price rather than to explain a view.
What a disclosure line has to carry
Four elements of a usable disclosure
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The position: that you hold, or are short, or hold derivatives, in the company you are writing about.
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The date: positions change, so a disclosure is true as of a stated day.
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The intent, stated honestly and without promising: whether you may buy or sell at any time without updating the piece.
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The absence of a relationship: whether you are paid by the company, by a fund with a position, or by anybody else with an interest in what readers do.
Why the rule bites harder than it looks
Rule 10b-5 forbids making an untrue statement of a material fact, or omitting a material fact necessary to make what is said not misleading, in connection with the purchase or sale of a security. A published article is a statement. If it contains a material falsehood, or omits something that makes the rest misleading, the rule does not care that the author was writing rather than trading.
That is the whole of the exposure for an honest writer, and it is also why the convention is worth following even where no specific rule compels it. A piece that names the position and the date cannot later be said to have concealed one.
The conduct the rule is aimed at
The first of those has a name in the regulatory literature and a long history of enforcement. The common element in all three is deception rather than opinion: a view that turns out wrong is not fraud, and a view held while quietly doing the opposite is a different thing.
The narrower convention this site follows
Nothing published here names a security as one to hold or avoid, which removes most of this problem at the root. The remaining discipline is the one every lesson in this academy follows: every figure states the filing it came from and the date it was read, so a reader can check the claim rather than trust the writer.
The same discipline serves a private writer well. A memo that states its figures with sources, its position with a date, and its uncertainty in its own words is a document its author can publish, keep, or hand to somebody else without having to remember what they meant.
Check yourself
Why does the anti-fraud rule reach writing at all?
- Because all financial writing is regulated
- Because it forbids untrue statements of material fact, and misleading omissions, in connection with the purchase or sale of a security
- Because writers must be licensed
Show the answer
Answer: B.
The rule is about deception in connection with securities transactions. A published statement can be part of that, whoever made the trade.What does a disclosure line need besides the position itself?
- The purchase price
- The date it is true as of, and whether the writer may trade without updating the piece
- The writer's total portfolio value
Show the answer
Answer: B.
A position is a fact with a date. Stating the date and the absence of any commitment to update is what keeps the disclosure accurate later.What distinguishes the conduct the rule targets from an opinion that turns out wrong?
- The size of the loss
- Deception: a knowing falsehood, a concealed position, or an undisclosed payment
- Whether the piece was published online
Show the answer
Answer: B.
Being wrong is not fraud. Saying something known to be false, or hiding a material interest in the reader's reaction, is a different thing.Sources
- 17 CFR 240.10b-5, read from the electronic Code of Federal Regulations on 2026-09-13: the prohibition on untrue statements of material fact and misleading omissions in connection with the purchase or sale of a security.
What this leaves out
- This is education about what a published rule says, not legal advice, and it does not tell any reader what they may publish in their own situation.
- Disclosure conventions vary by publisher, by platform and by country, and some are contractual rather than legal.
- Rules on paid promotion and on research analysts are separate regimes not covered here.
- Nothing here is advice about any security.