Is it against the law to trade the stock of a company that your spouse works for if you are not acting on?

Question

inside information? do you need to register with the sec to trade stock of a company your spouse works for? the spouse is a mid level employee.

Answer 1

Why would you want to risk your wife's job?  

Legal or not, it is a poor choice.

Why would you want to trade it if you DIDN'T have insider information? It would seem to me that the assumption would be that you are doing it because you do have a better idea about the company than the public.  Then that is insider trading.

Answer 2

Check with an SEC agent.  I think the "mid-level" employee status of your spouse is just too vague to say "yes" or "no."