frontrunning
frontrunning Lexical Profile
frontrunning Game Scores & Validity
• adjective
Currently leading in a race, election, or competition, or considered most likely to win.
"The frontrunning candidate maintained a comfortable ten-point lead in the final state polls."
• noun
The unethical and illegal practice by a broker or trader of executing personal orders on a security while taking advantage of advance knowledge of pending large orders from clients that will influence the price.
"Financial regulators fined the brokerage firm heavily after uncovering evidence of systematic frontrunning."
The act or strategy of setting the pace at the front of the pack during a race or competition.
"Her aggressive frontrunning in the opening miles exhausted the rest of the marathon field."
• verb
To trade a financial asset ahead of a known, pending large transaction in order to profit from the anticipated price movement (present participle of frontrun).
"Automated bots were caught frontrunning large institutional orders on the decentralized exchange."
Word Nuance & Usage
Often spelled with a hyphen as 'front-running'. While its adjectival sense in politics and sports carries a neutral or positive connotation of leadership, its nominal sense in finance refers to an unethical and illegal trading practice.