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Federal Filings Rise in the First Half of 2026, Average Settlements Reach a Decade High
First-Half 2026 AI Filings Reach a Five-Year High, Surpassing 2025 Total, While Crypto Cases Reach a Five-Year Low
There were 118 new federal securities class actions filed during the first half of 2026. Of these, 67 cases were filed in the first quarter of 2026, in line with the five-year high observed in the first quarter of 2025, and 51 cases were filed in the second quarter of 2026, a modest increase from the five-year low of 43 seen in the second quarter of 2025. If filings continue at the same pace during the second half of the year, filings for 2026 would reach 236, three cases above the recent peak in 2023 and a 15% increase from the 205 cases filed in 2025. Standard cases, which contain alleged violations of Rule 10b-5, Section 11, and/or Section 12, accounted for 112 of the 118 federal filings in the first half of 2026.
Artificial intelligence (AI)-related securities class actions continued to increase, with 18 filings in the first half of 2026, already exceeding the 17 cases filed during all of 2025. Alleged market manipulation also emerged as a notable theme. Pump-and-dump cases—in which market participants artificially inflate a stock price through misleading promotional activity before selling their shares at inflated prices—increased sharply, from no more than two filings annually during 2022–2025 to 11 in the first half of 2026. Spoofing cases, in which traders place orders they do not intend to execute to create a false impression of market demand or supply, re-emerged after several years of inactivity, with two filings in 2025 and one in the first half of 2026.
During the first half of 2026, 105 federal securities class actions were resolved, of which 65 were dismissed and 40 were settled. If resolutions continue at the same pace during the second half of 2026, 210 federal securities class actions would be resolved during this year, compared with 232 cases in 2025, a 9% decline. At this pace, the total number of standard cases dismissed in 2026 would fall to 112 from 136 in 2025. The average settlement value was $54 million in the first half of 2026, a 32% increase relative to the 2025 inflation-adjusted average settlement value of $41 million. The median settlement value was $18 million in the first half of 2026, same as the 2025 inflation-adjusted median settlement value.
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