Perhaps someone will change my mind, but I see the block on insider trading and spoofing as harmful to the financial industry overall.
Someone starts shorting a ton of Apple stock? That probably means something big is happen at Apple, and it's not good. It's information.
Spoofing as a technique can be used to combat and inhibit other types of trading, and is in some sense an algorithm to 'keep the opponent honest'.
As best as I can tell, the biggest reason that we as a culture are against insider trading is because 'it's not fair'. (happy to read a response that adds more depth to my understanding). It isn't fair, and the people with insider information are going to make a lot of money. But in the process of making that money they bring the information to everyone else. And insider trading incentivizes knowing as much as possible so that you can have an edge on the competition.
Someone starts shorting a ton of Apple stock? That probably means something big is happen at Apple, and it's not good. It's information.
Spoofing as a technique can be used to combat and inhibit other types of trading, and is in some sense an algorithm to 'keep the opponent honest'.
As best as I can tell, the biggest reason that we as a culture are against insider trading is because 'it's not fair'. (happy to read a response that adds more depth to my understanding). It isn't fair, and the people with insider information are going to make a lot of money. But in the process of making that money they bring the information to everyone else. And insider trading incentivizes knowing as much as possible so that you can have an edge on the competition.