Price Discovery Between Informationally Linked Markets During Different Trading Phases

The dynamic nature of the price information transfer when stock and futures markets switch between different price trading phases is examined. This is undertaken by decomposing Australian stock indexes and share price index futures contract data into bear- and bull-market phases and analyzing the change in the power of the bidirectional information feedback between the futures market and small, medium, and large stocks. Results support the hypothesis that the nature of the price-discovery process varies with the trading phase. In particular, during the bull phase small stocks show a marked increase in price exogeneity and futures prices contain relatively less price-sensitive fundamental information. We argue that in bull phases, futures trading becomes increasingly associated with noninformation trading such as realizing paper profits, portfolio rebalancing, and increased noise trading.     

限制交易政策如何影响期现关系?——对股指期货价格发现功能的实证检验

本文利用2015年中国股市大幅下跌期间,对股指期货严格限制交易政策这一独特事件前后的高频数据,研究限制交易政策对股指期货与股票市场价格引导关系的影响。利用I-S模型和分位数回归方法的实证结果表明:限制交易政策实施前,股指期货对股票市场的价格影响更强,尤其表现在价格急剧下跌时期;限制交易政策显著增加了期货市场交易成本,从而降低了期货市场的信息份额,削弱了其对股票市场的价格影响,并且改变了期货价格对现货价格“助跌强于助涨”的影响模式,增强了股指期货在价格上涨时对股票市场的影响。研究结果一方面直接量化了期货交易成本变动对其价格发现功能的负面影响,另一方面也从价格引导关系的视角提供了股市危机时期股指期货限制交易政策监管效果的实证证据。     

Information transfer,microstmctures and intraday price return spikes

Previous research has identified overnight public information as the cause of higher opening returns and mean reversion in security markets. This paper tests this hypothesis by using an intervention and transfer function time series model to filter out the dynamic effects of an overnight information set on the opening, and subsequent, intraday AOI stock and SPI futures intraday price returns. A further research objective was to analyse the process by which information is transferred into prices and whether there is a differential impact across stock and futures markets. It was determined that the information contained in the overnight US stock market had: (i) a differential impact on the Australian stock and futures market, and (ii) after filtering out the impact of overnight information, a significant reversal tendency remained in both markets after opening. Further analysis supported the conclusion that price spikes at opening were not wholly related to overnight information. Other possible explanations, such as different trading mechanisms, did not provide a satisfactory explanation. Overall, it appears that the uncertainty participants face at the beginning of a trading session may induce a number of subtle market reactions (both rational and irrational), in markets with different microstmctures and trading clientele.     

股指期货与现货市场的关系研究

本文从市场结构、交易执行效率和市场信息传播三个方面，由浅入深地展开了期现货市场关系的梳理和分析。股指期货市场的出现，一是使得原本现货市场单轨运行的市场结构变为了期现货市场双轨运行的新结构，增加了市场稳定性；二是依托期货交易方式的独特机制，大大提高了交易执行效率；三是期货价格也因此包含了更多内容，促进了市场信息的传播与扩散。同时，股指期货的独特设计使得其非常适合在危机条件下充分发挥功能，是一个重要的风险管理工具，已经成为现代资本市场的重要组成部分和基础性的内在稳定机制。     

Trading activity and price reversals in futures markets

We use the standard contrarian portfolio approach to examine short-horizon return predictability in 24 US futures markets. We find strong evidence of weekly return reversals, similar to the findings from equity market studies. When interacting between past returns and lagged changes in trading activity (volume and/or open interest), we find that the profits to contrarian portfolio strategies are, on average, positively associated with lagged changes in trading volume, but negatively related to lagged changes in open interest. We also show that futures return predictability is more pronounced if interacting between past returns and lagged changes in both volume and open interest. Our results suggest that futures market overreaction exists, and both past prices and trading activity contain useful information about future market movements. These findings have implications for futures market efficiency and are useful for futures market participants, particularly commodity pool operators.     

Stock market automation and the transmission of information between spot and futures markets

This paper examines the impact of automated trading in the stock market on the information transmission between the stock and futures markets. This issue is of particular relevance given the trend of exchanges to introduce automated trading. We focus on the Australian market as its institutional features and recent changes in trading systems have created an ideal environment for examining this issue. We initially find evidence of a substantial bidirectional information flow between the stock and futures markets. The paper then focuses on the period surrounding the move by the Australian stock exchange to automated trading. After the introduction of automated trading, we find a significant change in the information transfer process between the two markets. The findings are consistent with the hypothesis that automated trading results in a richer and more timely information set which accelerates the price discovery process. However, the evidence is not overwhelming and alternative explanations exist.     

基于波动效应与价格发现的期指仿真交易研究

沪深300股指期货仿真交易的推出,对我国现货市场的影响如何以及这种影响是否有利于现货效率的改进。首次采用修正的GARCH模型和向量误差修正模型（VEC）将股指期货推出后现货市场波动性的变化和股指期货与现货市场的价格发现功能结合起来进行对比研究。结果表明,期指仿真交易的推出对于现货市场效率的改进确实存在正面的影响。其引入在短期内加大了现货市场的波动,但这一波动正是市场信息流动加速的反映,因而提高了市场信息的传递效率。同时期货价格领先于现货价格,存在由期货市场到现货市场长期的单向因果关系,说明期货价格具有引导现货价格向均衡方向调整的功能,从而在经验上支持了股指期货市场的开放政策。     

Examining the Equilibrium Relationship Between the Shanghai 50 Stock Index Futures and the Shanghai 50 ETF Options Markets

Based on the put-call-futures parity model, this article studies the equilibrium relationship between the Shanghai 50 stock index futures and the Shanghai 50 Exchange-Traded Fund (ETF) options markets by analyzing the arbitrage opportunities and profits between these two derivative markets. This article reveals that the cost spread, option volatility, days from the expiration date, moneyness of options, trading strategy, and policy factors all have a great impact on the arbitrage profits and opportunities. In addition, significant arbitrage profits and opportunities indicate violations of put-call-futures parity. Although no equilibrium relationship exists between the Shanghai 50 stock index futures and the Shanghai 50 ETF options markets, efficiency in these markets has gradually improved.     

The Lead‐Lag Relationship Between Cash and Stock Index Futures in a New Market

This paper investigates the lead‐lag relationship in daily returns and volatilities between price movements of the FTSE/ATHEX‐20 and FTSE/ATHEX Mid‐40 stock index futures and the underlying cash indices in the relatively new futures market of Greece. Empirical results show that there is a bi‐directional relationship between cash and futures prices. However, futures lead the cash index returns, by responding more rapidly to economic events than stock prices. This speed is much higher in the more liquid FTSE/ATHEX‐20 market. Moreover, results indicate that futures volatilities spill information over to the corresponding cash market volatilities in both investigated futures markets, but volatilities in the cash markets have no effect on the volatilities of futures markets. Overall, it seems that new market information is disseminated faster in the futures market compared to the stock market. This implies that the futures markets can be used as price discovery vehicles, providing further evidence that derivatives markets contribute to completing and stabilising capital markets in Greece. A further finding of this study is that futures volume and disequilibrium effects between cash and futures prices are important variables in the explanation of volatilities in cash and futures markets.     

Empirical Evidence on the Role of Trading Suspensions in Disseminating New Information to the Capital Market

Abstract:  This paper examines the effect of temporarily suspending the trading of exchange-listed individual stocks. We evaluate whether regulatory authorities can successfully use the mechanism of trading suspension in forcing companies to disclose new and material information to the capital market. Previous studies on trading suspensions mainly concentrate on North-American stock markets and find conflicting results. This study utilizes a new data set comprising of firms listed on Euronext Brussels – an important segment of Europe's leading cross-border exchange. Our results show that suspension is indeed an effective means of disseminating new information. Stock prices adjust completely and instantaneously to the new information released during trading suspensions. We also observe a significant increase in trading volume with the reinstatement of trading. On the other hand, we do not find support for the claim that trading suspensions increase the volatility of stock prices. Overall, our results show the efficacy of trading suspensions in disseminating new information.     

A new methodology for studying intraday dynamics of Nikkei index futures using Markov chains

The empirical study of intraday patterns of stock trading volatilities and bid–ask spreads in the literature depends on assumptions of specific price generating process and may therefore not be robust to distributional assumptions. By creating discrete states that conform more naturally to the way prices are actually quoted in the derivatives and assets markets, we employ a new methodology of Markov chains for studying the intraday dynamics of derivative prices. We apply the method to study the intraday behavior of the Nikkei index futures prices, trading volumes, and spreads. We find some interesting results such as higher probabilities of transitions between larger volatilities at the opening and closing times. The volatility at lunch break is strikingly low. Contrary to most of the literature, the Nikkei intraday bid–ask spread does not show a U-shaped pattern. We offer some explanations.     

Index futures and positive feedback trading: evidence from major stock exchanges

This paper tests the hypothesis that the introduction of index futures has increased positive feedback trading in the spot markets of six industrialized nations. The analysis is based on a model that assumes two different groups of investors, i.e., risk averse expected utility maximizing investors and positive feedback traders. There is evidence consistent with positive feedback trading before the introduction of index futures across all markets under investigation. In the period following the introduction of index futures, there is no evidence supporting the hypothesis that positive feedback trading drives short-term dynamics of stock returns. The possibility that this is due to possible migration of feedback traders from the spot to the futures markets is also tested. The results show no evidence of positive feedback trading in the futures markets. Overall, the findings support the view that futures markets help stabilize the underlying spot markets by reducing the impact of feedback traders and thus attracting more rational investors who make the markets more informationally efficient and thus providing investors with superior ways of managing risk.     

Activity in futures: does underlying market size relate to futures trading volume?

This study investigates the determinants of trading volume in the futures markets and focuses on underlying market characteristics as an explanation for futures trading volume. Four major futures contracts traded on the Sydney Futures Exchange are investigated: the stock price index (SPI); the 90-day bank accepted bill (BAB); the 3-year bond; and the 10-year bond. An important outcome of this study is an identification of the fundamental drivers of trading volume in the futures markets, which have largely gone undocumented in prior research. We find evidence that futures trading volume is related to underlying market characteristics: the size of the Australian superannuation fund investments in equities (for the SPI), short term treasury notes (for the BAB), non-government bonds on issue (for the 3-year contract) and government bonds on issue (for the 10-year contract).     

The dynamic relationship of volatility,volume, and market depth in currency futures markets

This study examines the dynamic interactions among return volatilities, volume, and market depth for five currency futures markets. We use vector autoregressive analysis (VAR) to identify not only the nature of these relations but also the direction and speed of the information flow between variables. We find that return volatility is subject to strong reversal effects from trading volume and market depth. The results also indicate that the volatility appears to have predictive power on volume but not on market depth. Furthermore, this study finds that volume and depth are not endogenously determined, as their lead–lag relationship is asymmetrical. We also observe an increasing trend of integration between offshore and domestic information that affects the movement of currency futures prices.     

Differences in the Cost of Trade Execution Services on Floor-Based and Electronic Futures Markets

This paper provides new evidence on the impact of electronic trading on brokerage commissions by investigating a sample period that covers the period of transition from floor to electronic trading on the Sydney Futures Exchange. After controlling for liquidity, volatility and broker identity, the introduction of electronic trading remains to be associated with lower brokerage commissions relative to floor markets. The study also provides new evidence on brokerage commissions in futures markets finding that commission fees charged on futures trades average 0.002% of transaction value. This is up to 120 times smaller than the magnitude of brokerage fees charged in stock markets, and considerably lower than the magnitude of brokerage fees assumed for futures markets in previous research. Consistent with existing studies based on stock markets, commissions charged per contract decrease with order size reflecting economies of scale in the provision of brokerage services in futures markets. Commission rates are positively related to bid-ask spreads and price volatility, which proxy for the probability of execution error costs and execution difficulty, respectively. Finally, the identity of the broker is found to be a significant determinant of commissions reflecting different pricing schedules across brokers.     

中国利率市场的价格发现——对国债现货、期货以及利率互换市场的研究

本文采用信息份额模型和基于向量自回归(VAR)模型的格兰杰因果检验,研究了国债现货、国债期货和利率互换三个市场之间的价格发现机制。信息份额模型表明,从整体来看利率互换相对于国债期货和国债现货都具有信息优势,而国债期货相对于国债现货具有信息优势。另外,国债期货的价格发现能力相对于另外两个市场都在随时间增强。格兰杰因果检验结果显示,利率互换在价格发现中单向引领国债期货以及国债现货,国债期货单向引领国债现货。所有结果一致表明, 利率互换和国债期货这两种利率衍生产品在引导中国利率市场价格发现中发挥了重要作用。     

Informed Trading in Stock and Option Markets

We investigate the contribution of option markets to price discovery, using a modification of Hasbrouck's (1995) "information share" approach. Based on five years of stock and options data for 60 firms, we estimate the option market's contribution to price discovery to be about 17% on average. Option market price discovery is related to trading volume and spreads in both markets, and stock volatility. Price discovery across option strike prices is related to leverage, trading volume, and spreads. Our results are consistent with theoretical arguments that informed investors trade in both stock and option markets, suggesting an important informational role for options.     

Sequential information arrival in the Finnish stock index derivatives markets

This paper investigates the hypothesis of sequential information arrival in the Finnish stock index futures and options markets. With no short selling restrictions in the derivatives markets, no causality relationships between returns and trading volume are observed. However, by using the so-called call-put signal, based on call and put volumes, causality between returns and volume is found supporting the hypothesis of sequential information arrival. In addition, it is discovered that the increased volume in stock index options relative to index futures has significantly increased their importance in the intermarket price discovery process.     

Informed Futures Trading and Price Discovery: Evidence from Taiwan Futures and Stock Markets

This article focuses on the information effects between the futures market and its spot market. Intraday data are used to investigate the lead-lag relationships between the returns and trading activity of Taiwan stock index futures and the spot returns. We focus on the transmission direction and the sources of information. Consistent with most previous studies, our results show that other than the contemporaneous relationship predicted by carry-cost theory and efficient market theory, futures returns significantly lead spot returns, which implies that informed trades may occur in the futures market. Using private transaction information, net open buy, as a proxy for futures trading activity and distinguishing different types of futures traders, we find that foreign institutional traders are the major source of informed trades because their trading has predictive power for future movements in both spot and futures prices. Traders in other categories are information laggards.     

去伪存真:油价趋势与股票市场——来自“一带一路”35国的经验证据

油价波动深刻影响全球经济,严重时会造成全球股市动荡,甚至引发系统性金融风险。然而油价中的信息噪音严重阻碍国际油价对股票市场的预测效果。本文提出的移动平均法可有效减弱信息噪音,研究表明,本文基于移动平均法构建的油价趋势因子对“一带一路”沿线国家股票市场具有良好的样本内和样本外可预测性。进一步研究发现,国际油价波动对产油国和非产油国股票市场的影响存在非对称性。本文为国际油价冲击股票市场提供了新的有力证据,同时本文研究成果提示了油价风险,对维持我国股票市场稳定,保持金融稳定具有一定意义。