Lock-up period
A contractual window after an offering during which insiders and early investors agree not to sell their shares.
Updated 2026-07-26
Lock-ups are agreements with the underwriters, not regulatory requirements. A typical one runs for some months after a listing and covers officers, directors and pre-offering shareholders. The terms are described in the prospectus.
Because it is contractual, a lock-up can be waived, released early, or staged so that portions expire on different dates. The expiry date printed in an offering document is the default, not a guarantee.
An expiry means only that a restriction ends. It says nothing about whether anyone intends to sell, and we do not treat it as a forecast of anything.
Related terms
4 entries- 424(b) prospectus
- The final prospectus filed after a registration becomes effective, carrying the terms the offering actually used.
- Form S-1
- The registration statement a company files to offer securities to the public for the first time.
- Insider
- A person or entity whose relationship with a company obliges them to report their transactions in its securities.
- Prospectus
- The disclosure document given to investors when securities are offered, describing the issuer, the securities and the risks.
Where this appears in the data
Written for reading the records published here. This is not a legal, tax or accounting definition, and where a jurisdiction defines the term precisely, that definition governs.