Material non-public information

Okay kiddo, imagine you're playing a game of hide-and-seek. You're it, and you're looking for your friends who are hiding. You've checked a few spots, and you know where your friends might be hiding. But you haven't found them yet.

Now, imagine that you would tell your brother or sister where your friends might be hiding. And you let your brother or sister keep that secret to themselves. That would be kind of like telling someone information that you know, but that nobody else does.

Now, imagine that your friends are really good at hiding, and nobody can seem to find them. But you have an idea of where they might be because you heard them talking about it earlier. That's like having special information that others don't have.

These are examples of "non-public" information - information that not everyone knows.

Now, imagine that your friends who are hiding have left some really cool toys in one of the hiding spots. You know where the toys are, but nobody else does. If you tell your brother or sister where the toys are, they might go and get the toys before anyone else has a chance to find them.

This is kind of like what happens when someone has "material non-public" information. "Material" means that the information is important and could affect how people buy or sell things like stocks. If someone has this type of information and uses it to buy or sell stocks before anyone else knows, that would be like taking the cool toys before anyone else has a chance to find them.

And that's why it's not fair for people to use material non-public information to make money. It's important to share information fairly and make fair decisions based on what everyone knows - just like playing fair in a game of hide-and-seek.