Wash trade
A wash trade (not to be confused with a wash sale) is a form of stock manipulation in which an investor simultaneously sells and buys the same financial instruments. This may be done for a number of reasons:
- To artificially increase trading volume, giving the impression that the instrument is more in demand than it actually is.[1]
- To generate commission fees to brokers in order to compensate them for something that cannot be openly paid for. This was done by some of the participants in the Libor scandal.[2]