Introduction
Trading restriction periods (blackout periods) are designated timeframes during which certain stakeholders are prohibited from selling shares or initiating transactions that involve selling shares. These periods are critical for compliance during sensitive corporate events such as earnings announcements, mergers, or other material developments, helping companies enforce insider trading regulations and securities law requirements. In Ledgy, administrators can create restriction periods that automatically prevent affected stakeholders from selling shares or using sell-to-cover or sell-all exercise settlements during the blackout window.
Restriction periods work for both integrated trading and self-managed (offline) trading. This guide explains how to access, create, and manage trading restriction periods, including how to configure affected stakeholders, dates, and compliance messaging, and how the behaviour differs between the two trading setups.
This is available for public companies using integrated trading (Ledgy Public plan) or self-managed trading.
Trading restriction periods (blackout periods) are critical for compliance during sensitive corporate events such as earnings announcements or mergers. Ledgy offers a comprehensive solution to manage these periods, ensuring that your company complies with trading regulations.
Trading restriction periods are designated timeframes during which certain stakeholders are prohibited from selling shares or initiating transactions that involve selling shares. These periods help companies enforce compliance with insider trading regulations and other securities laws.
How to Access Trading Restriction Periods
Where you find the Restriction Periods admin page depends on your trading setup:
Integrated trading: "Market Orders" > "Restriction Periods" in the navigation sidebar
Self-managed (offline) trading: "Equity Events" > "Restriction Periods" in the navigation sidebar
From this page, administrators can create, edit, end, delete, view, and audit restriction periods.
Creating a New Restriction Period
To create a new restriction period:
Navigate to Restriction Periods in the sidebar (under Market Orders or Equity Events, see above)
Click the + Restriction Period button
Configure the following settings:
Period title: Name of the restriction period (visible to employees)
Affected stakeholders: Select individual stakeholders, stakeholder groups, and/or stakeholder custom field values
Opening and closing dates: Set the start and end dates of the period.
Note đ¨ all blackout periods start at 0:00 (UTC) and end at 23:59 (UTC)đ¨
Stakeholder message: Add a message (max 200 characters) that will be shown to affected stakeholders:
Internal note: Optional note for internal reference (max 200 characters)
Click Add period to schedule the restriction period
Understanding Restriction Period Statuses
Upcoming: Scheduled to start in the future
Active: Currently ongoing (start date in the past, closing date in the future)
Expired: Finished (both start and closed dates are in the past)
What is Affected by Restriction Periods?
During an active restriction period, affected stakeholders see a banner with your stakeholder message and:
Integrated trading: cannot sell shares via the "Sell Shares" page
Self-managed (offline) trading: cannot submit new sell requests
Cannot create exercise requests that use Sell all or Sell to cover as settlement methods. Exercising with Hold all (or Withhold to cover, where offered) still works, because no shares are sold.
Will have any pending exercise requests that involve selling frozen unless cancelled
What happens to open orders and requests when a period starts?
This is the main difference between the two trading setups:
Integrated trading: pending market orders of the affected stakeholders are cancelled automatically when the restriction period starts.
Self-managed (offline) trading: open sell requests are not cancelled automatically. They stay in the Sell Requests queue, and administrators decide whether to fulfil or reject them.
Tip for self-managed trading: Before a restriction period starts, review the Sell Requests queue for affected stakeholders and decide whether each open request should still be executed with your broker or rejected.
Managing Restriction Periods
Administrators can manage restriction periods in the following ways
Upcoming periods: Full editing possible
Active periods: Cannot edit the start date, but can edit other details
Expired periods: Cannot be edited
Ending an active period early: Use the End restriction period action on an active period. This immediately restores trading access for all affected stakeholders.
Deleting restriction periods: Only upcoming restriction periods can be deleted. Active and expired periods cannot be removed to maintain audit records.
Audit logs
Administrators can also download an Excel sheet of all stakeholders under a restriction period when it began. This is available for download once a restriction period has ended.
Permissions
The "Manage Restriction Periods" permission controls which roles can create, edit, end, and delete restriction periods. All owners and admins automatically have this permission. Custom roles can view and edit restriction periods if the relevant permission is selected.
For how restriction periods look from the employee side, see What is a restriction period?. For the full self-managed trading workflow, see How do I manage self-managed trading in Ledgy?.