Wash trade

A wash trade (not to be confused with a wash sale) is a form of market 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]

Some exchanges now have protections built in, sometimes mandatory for participants, such as STPF (self-trade prevention functionality) on The ICE. ^[3]

References

↑ "September 25, 1997 order regarding the Securities Exchange Act of 1934".
↑ http://www.fsa.gov.uk/static/pubs/final/ubs.pdf
↑ https://www.theice.com/publicdocs/futures/IFEU_Self_Trade_Prevention_FAQ.pdf

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