How much illegal insider trading really goes on? MY guess is not a lot it's mostly hollywood.?

What do you think? Sure I know it happens but I think it is blown way out of proportion on TV and movies like Wall-Street that show insider trading.

It is huge. The money to be made is so great that there will always be people who are tempted.

I run into it all the time. I trade stocks on a very short time frame, so I spend a lot of time looking at fine scale charts. I frequently run into a stock the suddenly starts moving up in the last hour of trading for no apparent reason. Then, after the market closes, or before the open the next morning, there is a great announcement. Oops, that one leaked out. Pick some companies with big announcements and look on Yahoo finance at the detailed 1-day and 5-day charts preceding it. It doesn't happen every time, of course. Also, I see stock dropping after a good announcement. This often reflects people who loaded up on inside information trying to get out by dumping it on the public.

With the SEC cracking down on this, with all the regulations and procedures in place to monitor insiders on their buying and selling, it is pretty difficult for it to occur. However, I could imagine an insider having his buddy open an account somewhere else and trade based on what his insider buddy says. As long as they never have any written messeges to each other, what proof could their be that there are any ties there?

All the hedge funds are using inside info. It is very very prevalent. How do you think the big money is made? Fundamentals?
None of the insiders are going to go public, are they?
It happens in any business whres there is big money. Estate agents must give the nod to property developers etc etc.

A lot! Just look at the options trading patterns.