• “Holding the market” refers to an illegal trading practice that attempts to support the price of a security after negative news has been published that would otherwise cause its price to fall.

  • In some cases, where regulation obliges market makers or specialists to add liquidity to shallow markets, this practice may be allowed.
  • It’s hard to hold the market these days because anyone has to have very deep pockets to have a significant impact on the price of a security.
  • The practice of owning and holding a broad market index is also called market ownership.