EU Market Abuse Regulation (MAR): Obligations and Practice

The Market Abuse Regulation applies the same way in Nicosia, Athens, Dublin and Paris. It binds the trader, the analyst, the company secretary, the developer who maintains the surveillance system and the director who signs off its budget. This orientation explains why the rules exist, who they bind and how the course will take you through them.

• The regime Three prohibitions and the duties that prevent them.
• The people Any person, every firm that trades, every issuer.
• The rulebook MAR, the technical standards, ESMA guidance, national law.
• The course Seven modules, a case study and a final assessment.

About 20 minutes of study time

Market abuse rules are not only for regulated firms. They bind the private investor, the manager of a listed company and the industrial company with a trading desk. This module sets out what MAR covers and who carries which duty.

• The layers Five layers, one example each.
• The scope Instruments, venues, trades off-venue, conduct abroad.
• The persons Any person, venues, PPAETs, issuers, managers, others.
• The changes The Listing Act timeline and the MiCA boundary.

About 50 minutes of study time

Every other rule in MAR depends on one definition. Insider dealing, unlawful disclosure, issuer disclosure and insider lists all start with the same question: is this inside information? This module teaches the four-part test and the cases that shape it.

• The test Precise, not public, relating to an issuer, price-sensitive.
• The cases Geltl, Lafonta, the journalist case, Carnegie, Brännelius.
• The examples Results, deals, ratings, capital decisions, client orders.
• The first hour What each team does when inside information arrives.

About 55 minutes of study time

Holding inside information is not unlawful. Using it, passing it on, or encouraging someone else to trade on it is. This module draws the lines, explains the defences that MAR recognises, and walks through a market sounding from the call script to the record.

• The prohibition Use, cancel, amend, recommend, induce.
• The defences The presumption of use and the legitimate behaviours.
• Disclosure Strict necessity, from trade unions to politicians.
• Soundings Both sides of the wall-cross call, and the records.

About 55 minutes of study time

Manipulation does not need inside information. It needs only an order, a trade or a statement that gives a false picture of supply, demand or price. This module classifies the behaviour, explains the indicators supervisors use, and shows how the same rule reaches research notes and social media posts.

• The limbs False signals, artificial prices, fictitious devices, false information, benchmarks.
• The patterns Seven patterns and the indicators that reveal them.
• The defences Legitimate reasons, accepted practices, buy-backs, stabilisation.
• The words Investment recommendations and social media.

About 50 minutes of study time

Supervisors cannot watch every trade. They rely on the firms that arrange and execute them to detect suspicious orders and transactions and to report them. This module follows an alert from detection to report, and shows what supervisors found when the pipeline failed.

• The duty Who must detect and report, and how broadly.
• The arrangements Coverage, automation, human analysis, calibration, records.
• The report Reasonable suspicion, without delay, with facts and reasons.
• The governance Four-eyes, testing, outsourcing and the annual audit.

About 50 minutes of study time

Issuers carry the duties that keep inside information either public or under control. This module explains when an issuer must announce, when it may delay, whom it must list, and what its managers must notify and when they may not trade. Banks and investment firms meet these duties as issuers, as advisers and as persons closely associated with managers.

• Disclose As soon as possible; the final-event rule.
• Delay Legitimate interest, not in contrast, confidentiality.
• List Insider lists in the 2026 format.
• Notify Managers’ transactions and closed periods.

About 50 minutes of study time

MAR is enforced against firms and against the people who work in them. This module sets out what supervisors and courts can do, the rights of a person under investigation, how to report a breach safely, and the controls that show a firm takes market abuse seriously.

• Administrative Fines, bans, orders and publication.
• Criminal Intent, prison and trading bans.
• Rights Silence and double proceedings.
• Reporting Whistleblowing and the firm’s control set.

About 45 minutes of study time

One acquisition, one placing, five working days. This case study follows an illustrative investment firm and its listed client through the week of a deal, and asks you to make the decisions their staff had to make, in the order they had to make them.

• Control Treat the deal as inside information from day one.
• Sound Run and receive soundings correctly.
• Disclose Act when the deal leaks, and at the final event.
• Detect and report Turn alerts into decisions and reports.

About 35 minutes of study time

About 25 minutes of study time