The impact of security concentration on adverse selection costs and liquidity: an examination of exchange traded funds

We examine the determinants of liquidity and adverse selection costs in a sample of basket securities. Using Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs), we find evidence that adverse selection costs are decreasing in the number of equities held in the underlying portfolio, but adverse selection costs do not increase as the concentration among the securities increases. We find no evidence that industry concentration increases basket security adverse selection costs or reduces liquidity. We also document significantly lower levels of adverse selection costs in ETFs versus a matched sample of equities. In addition, ETFs have quoted dollar depth that is 35 times larger than a matched sample of equities, but ETFs also have higher effective and quoted spreads. However, when considering spreads and depth in a single metric, ETFs have significantly higher levels of liquidity.     

Optimal order display in limit order markets with liquidity competition

Order display is associated with benefits and costs. Benefits arise from increased execution-priority, while costs are due to adverse market impact. We analyze a structural model of optimal order placement that captures trade-off between the costs and benefits of order display. For a benchmark model of pure liquidity competition, we give a closed-form solution for optimal display sizes. We show that competition in liquidity supply incentivizes the use of hidden orders to prevent losses due to over-bidding. Thus, because aggressive liquidity competition is more prevalent in liquid stocks, our model predicts that the proportion of hidden liquidity is higher in liquid markets. Our theoretical considerations ares supported by an empirical analysis using high-frequency order-message data from NASDAQ. We find that there are no benefits in hiding orders in il-liquid stocks, whereas the performance gains can be significant in liquid stocks.     

An analysis of the opening mechanisms of Exchange Traded Fund markets

We examine the opening of Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) markets in a multimarket trading environment. We find that the opening trades on the American Stock Exchange (AMEX) are the most costly. This result is consistent with the market power hypothesis which suggests that the specialists use their informational advantage about the order imbalance at the open or take advantage of the inelastic demand at the open by imposing wider spreads. We also find that the transparent opening mechanisms of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and Electronic Communication Networks (ECNs) enable them to facilitate greater price discovery at the opening and to have more efficient opening prices. This result implies that the transparency effect dominates the market power effect. Further, we find that peripheral markets do not passively free ride on information revealed through the AMEX because their opening trades contribute significantly to the price discovery process.     

Estimating heterogeneous agents behavior in a two-market financial system

In this paper, we propose a two-market empirical model with heterogeneous agents based on Chiarella et al. (J Econ Behav Organ 83(3):446–460, 2012). Using monthly data of French and US stock markets, the regression shows that individual markets have features of a two-regime switching process. By including inter-market traders whose trading decision is based on fundamental value of foreign market, the two-market model has a better capability in explaining both markets with domestic fundamental traders turning to be significant. The existence of inter-market traders implies that the two markets impact each other through their fundamentals and hence share some common set of factors, which provides foundation of market interactions, such as market co-movement.     

The influence of ETFs on the price discovery of gold, silver and oil

In this study we examine gold, silver and oil exchange traded funds (ETFs) and their relation to their respective futures instruments and underlying commodities by using intradaily data. We find that the gold, silver and oil ETFs closely track the performance of their underlying assets by using tracking error and pricing deviation metrics. It has been documented in the finance literature that price discovery occurs in the futures market. We test whether in recent times the existence of ETFs has changed the dominating role of the futures market in price discovery. We find that the availability of ETFs has shifted price discovery for gold and silver to the ETF market, while the oil market has price discovery occurring still predominantly in the futures market.     

Commonality in liquidity among Middle East and North Africa emerging stock markets: Does it really matter?

This study investigates commonality in daily liquidity among 11 emerging stock markets from the Middle East and North Africa from January 2005 to June 2017. First, we test long memory in liquidity in these markets. Second, we select a number of factors eligible to affect liquidity commonality among local, regional and global factors. We find that regional and US factors do not explain liquidity variations in all the markets that exhibit low sensitivity to external factors. Our results are robust to the use of alternative proxies. The analysis in sub-periods confirms our results showing that most markets are not very sensitive to fluctuations and external shocks of liquidity. For international investors, stock markets in the Middle East and North Africa present an opportunity for further diversification, as these markets exhibit weak correlations between them and with the global market with regard to liquidity.     

Impact of leveraged ETF trading on the market quality of component stocks

We investigate the effect of leveraged ETF trading on the trading activity and market quality of their component stocks. The results show that both quoted and effective spreads of component stocks increase about 0.2–3.0 basis points after the inception of leveraged ETFs, while other liquidity measures do not show significant changes. The trading volume of component stocks is positively and significantly correlated with the trading volume of leveraged ETFs, but the volatility of component stocks is not affected by ETF trading either at the daily level or during the last hour of trading. In addition, the volatility of component stocks decreases slightly after ETF inception. These findings do not support the previous claim that the trading of leveraged ETFs increases price volatility of component stocks.     

Investor sentiment and country exchange traded funds: Does economic freedom matter?

Using unbalanced panel data of 27 iShares MSCI country-specific exchange traded funds (ETFs) over the period 1996–2014, this paper applies quantile regression to examine the impacts of global, foreign, and U.S. investor sentiments on the returns of the ETFs traded in the U.S. markets. We further investigate whether a country’s economic freedom affects the relationship between investor sentiments and ETF returns. We find that ETF returns are strongly determined by investor sentiments and the ETF expense ratio. The quantile regression approach reveals that high-return ETFs are positively sensitive to changes in global sentiment (measured by market turnover, VIX, U.S. federal funds rate), foreign sentiment (measured by current account balance, inflation, market turnover, public debt), U.S. sentiment, currency exchange ratio, and expense ratio, while negatively influenced by economic freedom and Asian proxy. The effects of VIX and foreign inflation are a reversal; that is, returns from lower (higher) quantiles have a negative (positive) relation with VIX and foreign inflation. Not all components of economic freedom affect returns equally.     

Changes in the liquidity of closed-end country funds after the introduction of World Equity Benchmarks

In 1996, the first exchange-traded funds (ETFs) designed to track a subset of the Morgan Stanley Capital International country indices were approved under the name World Equity Benchmarks (acronym “WEBS”™). We examine the impact of early WEBS-trading on the liquidity of corresponding closed-end country funds (CECFs), previously one of the main avenues for retail investors to achieve country-specific equity exposure. We document a decline in both the trading volume and the trading frequency for CECFs, suggesting that some investors migrate to WEBS. At the same time, the market depth for CECFs increases and the bid-ask spread for CECFs decreases following the introduction of WEBS. Our results support the hypothesis that despite the decline in volume and trading frequency, the liquidity of CECFs is favorably affected by the advent of WEBS.     

上证180指数流动性效应的实证研究

本文从实证的角度探讨了上证180指数创立事件对其成份股流动性的影响以及进一步改善的方法。上证180指数的成立事件一方面促进了成份股价差水平和交易信息对称程度的改善,另一方面又促使交易深度水平和交易活跃性的降低。这些流动性效应是由于机构投资者对180成份股偏好所造成的:机构投资者增加了180成份股的需求同时减少了供给,就导致了交易深度和活跃性的降低;机构投资者作为相对知情交易者,它们的偏好增加了市场的需求竞争程度,从而降低了交易者之间的信息不对称程度以及改善了市场价差水平。根据国外的经验,ETF可以有效地增强市场交易深度,因此本文建议创立上证180指数ETF弥补180指数对深度方面的负面影响。     

Fake news

This analysis uses Twitter stock and options prices sampled at a 30 s frequency around the fake news announcement, of a bid for a controlling stake in Twitter stock, to investigate how noise trading and informed trading is disseminated into equity and option markets. We find reaction to the fake news occurred in the equity market, and the option market reacted with a delay. This differs from many analyses of actual news events, which found informed traders prefer the options market, and information from their trades then leaks into the equity market. We conclude uninformed traders, and those aware of the hoax, prefer to trade in equity over option markets. This result has implications for isolating informed trading around actual news events.     

Disclosure, Corporate Governance and Foreign Share Ownership on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange

We investigate the association of foreign share ownership with firm‐level disclosure and corporate governance structures in Zimbabwe, a developing country in Southern Africa. Our motivation for the study derives from the literature, which suggests that foreign investors: (1) generally have a preference for companies in which they are well informed and where their investments are more likely to be protected, and (2) avoid companies in developing countries because of weak corporate governance structures and low disclosure. Using data drawn from companies listed on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange, we examine the effect of disclosure and corporate governance on foreign share ownership. We find that disclosure, proportion of non‐executive directors, institutional share ownership and audit committee independence are all positively and significantly associated with foreign share ownership. Our results also demonstrate that market capitalization, return on equity and liquidity ratios are significantly associated with foreign share ownership. These results are consistent with the notion that foreign investors have a preference for companies with effective corporate governance structures, companies with less information asymmetry, as well as companies with healthy cash positions. The results have implications for policy‐makers in developing countries in their endeavour to improve liquidity on stock markets through the participation of foreign investors. The results are also useful to managers in developing countries who are keen to increase the market value of their company, thereby reducing their cost of capital.     

Stock market co-movements: Islamic versus conventional equity indices with multi-timescales analysis

This study examines market co-movements in Islamic and mainstream equity markets across different regions in order to discover contagion during 9 major crises and to measure integration between markets. Using wavelet decomposition to unveil the multi-horizon nature of co-movement, we find that the shocks were transmitted via excessive linkages, while the recent subprime crisis reveals fundamentals-based contagion. While Islamic markets show traces of reduced exposure to the recent crisis owing to low leverage effect, their less diversified portfolio nature increases vulnerability to other crises. We generally find incomplete market integration, with relatively higher fundamental integration for Islamic markets which may be attributable to their real sector allocation nature.     

Why cryptocurrency markets are inefficient: The impact of liquidity and volatility

In this research, we study the multifractality, long-memory process, and efficiency hypothesis of six major cryptocurrencies (Bitcoin, Ethereum, Monero, Dash, Litecoin, and Ripple) using the time-rolling MF-DFA approach. For an in-depth analysis, this study uses the quantile regression approach to examine the determinants of efficient markets. The results show that all markets present evidence of long-memory property and multifractality. Furthermore, the inefficiency of cryptocurrency markets is time-varying, and Dash is the least inefficient market while Litecoin is the most inefficient. Finally, we find that higher liquidity improves but higher volatility weakens the efficiency of cryptocurrencies, depending on the quantiles. Therefore, we conclude that high liquidity with low volatility helps active traders to arbitrage away opportunities, resulting in market efficiency.     

The impact of monetary policy on stock market bubbles and trading behavior: Evidence from the lab

We investigate the effect of monetary policy on stock market bubbles and trading behavior in experimental asset markets. We introduce the possibility of investing in interest bearing bonds to the widely used laboratory asset market design of Smith et al. (1988). Treatment groups face a variable interest rate policy which depends on asset prices, while control groups are subjected to a constant interest rate. We observe a strong impact of our interest rate policy on liquidity in the stock market but only a small impact on bubbles. However, we find that announcing the possibility of reserve requirements significantly reduces bubbles.     

The effects of listing changes between NASDAQ market segments

This study analyzes the effects of listing changes within NASDAQ market segments during the period of 1998 to 2005. We find that firms phased up from the NASDAQ Small Capital Market (SmallCap) to the NASDAQ National Market (NNM) experienced significant declines in bid-ask spreads, the volatility of returns, and the probability of informed trading, and firms that phased down from NNM to the SmallCap experienced decreases in bid-ask spreads, but insignificant changes in the volatility of returns and the probability of informed trading. We also estimate simultaneous equations models of bid-ask spreads, return volatility, and trading volume for both groups of firms. The results confirm that improved liquidity is associated with the listing changes for the phase-up firms. However, the simultaneous equations model suggests that the decreases in bid-ask spreads for the phase-down firms are caused by the changes in share prices.     

The informational content of credit rating announcements for share prices in a small market

The informational value of credit ratings is a subject of continuing debate. This research examines whether reaction to small market credit rating announcements is different from large markets, due to limited information, liquidity premia, and analyst neglect factors. Unlike U.S. and Australian studies that find a significant reaction to only bad news, a significant positive reaction to both positive placements and upgrades is found in the New Zealand market. Further, significant market reaction largely accrues to firms not cross-listed in U.S. markets. This evidence suggests credit rating agencies act as substitute information providers for firms followed by relatively few analysts. A substantial portion of this research was completed while author Meyer was affiliated with Massey University, Albany Campus, Auckland, New Zealand.     

Revisiting the roles of gold: Does gold ETF matter?

This study investigates whether the role of gold changes due to the introduction of gold exchange-traded funds (ETFs) using sample data of seven countries in which physically-backed gold ETFs have been issued. The results show that the traditional roles of gold do change after the introduction of gold ETFs, particularly in the corresponding stock markets. The functions of hedge and safe haven provided by gold wear off during the post-ETF period in stock markets. In currency markets, however, gold still serves as a hedge and safe haven asset, and such effects become stronger during the post-ETF period. Moreover, gold ETFs play a role of relative strong safe haven than the physical gold does while the leading (lagged) stock returns extremely decline. Like the purposes of using physical gold assets, gold ETFs also provide hedge and safe haven effects to the exchange rate risks. Therefore, we might confirm that physical gold could be largely replaced by gold ETFs and investors could utilize gold ETFs to avoid potential risks in financial markets.     

The impact of ADR activity on stock market liquidity: Evidence from Latin America

This paper examines the impact of ADR activity on liquidity of four major Latin American stock markets. We construct a measure of ADR activity in U.S. markets for a sample of ADRs trading during January 2003–December 2010, which is subsequent to the financial liberalization episodes and currency crises that shocked emerging markets in the 1990s. The sample lists 164 depositary receipt programs (Levels I, II, and III): 16 from Argentina, 81 from Brazil, 19 from Chile, and 48 from Mexico. Using System GMM methods to handle the potential effects from stock market development on economic growth and ADR issuance, we find that higher ADR turnover in U.S. markets has positive effects on domestic market turnover, particularly for issuance of exchange-listed (Levels II and III) ADRs. This positive relationship is not a statistical artifact created by the global financial crisis of 2008.     

There is no smoke without a fire: The effect of government interventions in less advanced economies

The lack of liquidity in the interbank market during the crisis of 2007–2011 led governments to impose different policies to rescue their countries’ banking sectors. While in advanced countries interventions in the banking sector were mostly related to a lack of liquidity and significant asymmetric information regarding counterparty risk, in many less advanced countries they had a precautionary motive. In our article, we investigate the effectiveness of policy interventions on healthy banking markets, with possible negative spill-over effects from other countries. To this extent, we use an event study methodology to test the effect of liquidity and financial sector policy announcements on interbank spread changes in six Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries over the period between 2007 and 2011. We find that standard liquidity interventions did not provide effective stabilization. In fact, our evidence suggests that the spread widened after their announcement, probably as a result of the negative signal and consequently increased risk aversion of banks. In such situations, regulators should consider policy instruments that aim to decrease uncertainty in the market.