Would you be breaking the law if you went back in time and told yourself to buy Apple stock in the early 80s?

Question

Would that count as insider information and manipulating the stock market.

Answer 1

Ah, the if. If you would be born rich, then you would be right now in the Mediterranean on your 50 million $ yacht and contemplating, why your yacht is smaller then that of Beyonce's husband yacht, laying beside you and why all the it people party there.

Answer 2

Well, technically speaking, you'd be in possession of non-public knowledge about Apple, and would be using it to effect a stock transaction.  So in that regard, yes, I think a regulator would probably see that as illegal.

Of course, it brings up a paradox.  Let's say you built a time machine in your garage, and went back and somehow bought yourself a bunch of shares which made you really rich in a few years.  Well, now you've changed the past, meaning you suddenly have a whole different time line.  And most likely, that time line won't involve the same series of events that led you to build the time machine.  But if you never built it, how could you go back to change the past?  Get the idea? =P

Answer 3

There is no law for going back in time, let alone changing something by going back in time, so no.

Answer 4

Do you remember the movie "Back to the Future"?  The guy who got a hold of the sports book used it to his advantage...look how he ended up.