Liquidating large security positions strategically: a pragmatic and empirical approach

This article investigates static liquidation strategies for large security positions in illiquid markets. Under the assumption that the liquidation horizon is given exogenously, a discretionary liquidity trader solves for the optimal sales trajectory so as to maximize an objective function that considers the expected liquidation revenues and their standard deviation. Although existing literature tends to focus on theoretical aspects with the intention of deriving closed-form solutions for special types of market impact functions, this article considers a framework that is able to capture important empirical phenomena in the stock market, such as the intraday U-shaped pattern of price impact and the resiliency of the order book. The new model is very flexible since it allows for liquidation intervals of varying length and foregoes the assumption of constant speed of trading. Examples with real-world order book data demonstrate how the setup can be implemented numerically and provide deeper insight into relevant properties of the model.     

Do Japanese candlesticks help solve the trader’s dilemma?

In this paper, we investigate whether Japanese candlesticks can help traders to find the best trade-off between market timing and market impact costs. Based on fixed-effect panel regressions on a sample of 81 European stocks, we show that implicit transaction costs are better characterized by using specific Japanese candlesticks patterns. Although market timing costs are not lower when Hammer-like and Doji configurations occur, market impact costs are significantly lower when and after a Doji structure occurs. We further check the potential gains through order submission simulations and find that submission strategies based on the occurrence of Doji result in significantly lower market impact cost than random submission strategies. These findings are of great interest for investors who look for occasional liquidity pools to execute their orders inexpensively such as institutional traders or hedgers.     

Dynamic liquidation under market impact

The optimal liquidation problem with transaction costs, which includes a positive fixed cost, and market impact costs, is studied in this paper as a constrained stochastic optimal control problem. We assume that trading is instantaneous and the dynamics of the stock to be liquidated follows a geometric Brownian motion. The solution to the impulse control problem is computed at each time step by solving a linear partial differential equation and a maximization problem. In contrast to results obtained from the static formulation of Almgren and Chriss [J. Risk, 2000 Almgren, R and Chriss, N. 2000. Optimal execution of portfolio transactions. J. Risk, 3: 5–39. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar], 3, 5–39], when risk is not considered, the optimal liquidation strategy from our stochastic control formulation depends on temporary market impact cost and permanent market impact cost parameters. In addition, our computational results indicate the following properties of the optimal execution strategy from the stochastic control formulation. Due to the existence of a no-transaction region, it may not be optimal for some individuals to sell their assets on some trading dates. As the value of the permanent market impact parameter increases, the expected optimal amount liquidated at the terminal time increases. As the value of the quadratic temporary impact cost parameter increases, the expected optimal amount liquidated at trading times tends to be uniform, and the no-transaction region shrinks. In the presence of quadratic temporary market impact costs, in contrast to optimal strategies that result from fixed and/or proportional transaction costs alone, portfolios in the selling region are neither re-balanced into the no-transaction region nor into the sell and no-transaction interface.     

Tick size change on the Stock Exchange of Thailand

This paper explores the impact of an exogenous tick size reduction on bid-ask spreads, depths, and trading volume on the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET). On November 5, 2001, the SET implemented a tick size reduction on stocks priced below THB 25. Even though trading on SET is largely dominated by retail investors, the tick reduction produces similar empirical results found in markets where institutional investors are more dominant. Tick reduction on the SET is associated with declines in spreads, and quoted and accumulated market depths. The study finds no significant change in trading volume due to the reduction.

Market microstructure: A review from down under

The early automation of the Australian and New Zealand financial markets provided researchers with access to high‐frequency data to undertake extensive empirical market microstructure research. We use this anniversary edition of Accounting and Finance to review some of this research and to discuss the development of the Australian and New Zealand markets since their automation. We identify issues currently facing the markets and highlight potential areas for future research. The paper also provides a review of market microstructure theory on inventory control models and asymmetric information models.     

A change in market microstructure: the switch to electronic screen trading on the New Zealand stock exchange

The New Zealand Stock Exchange (NZSE) switched from open outcry trading to an electronic screen trading system on June 24, 1991. The change was made by the members of the exchange to improve the trading system and to reduce costs. This paper investigates empirically whether improvement was achieved through a reduction in transaction costs. The tests and results focus on order-flow migration to the exchange from alternative execution locations and changes in bid-ask spreads. On balance, we conclude that transaction costs have declined.     

对我国股市流动性问题的几点思考

本文提出换手率指标不能用来衡量股市流动性,并按国际市场和学术界对流动性的界定对我国股市流动性进行了分析,得出我国股市流动性在国际上处于较低水平;并分析了造成这种状况的原因主要有市场结构、交易机制和监管环境等方面;最后提出了改善我国股市流动性的一些对策。