Pricing Efficiency and Arbitrage in the Bitcoin Spot and Futures Markets

This study examines the pricing efficiency for the leading cryptocurrency, Bitcoin using spot prices and all CBOE and CME futures contracts traded from January 2018 to March 2019. We find that the futures basis provide some predictive power for future changes in the spot price and in the risk premium. However, the basis of Bitcoin is a biased predictor of the future spot price changes. Cointegration tests also demonstrate that futures prices are biased predictors of spot prices. Deviations from no-arbitrage between spot and futures markets are persistent and widen significantly with Bitcoin thefts (hacks, frauds) as well as alternative cryptocurrency issuances.     

股指期货市场操纵与价格发现功能的关系研究

股指期货市场操纵会影响股指期货市场的价格发现功能,同样地,股指期货市场的价格发现功能也会影响股指期货市场的操纵行为。本文在理论探讨的基础上,利用股指期货主力合约及对应的沪深300指数高频数据对市场操纵行为进行实证分析。研究结果表明,当操纵嫌疑只存在于期货市场时,股指期货市场的价格发现功能将会减弱;当操纵嫌疑存在于期货、现货两个市场时,股指期货市场的价格发现功能相对会增强。而且,当股指期货市场价格发现功能较强时,市场操纵的难度和成本都将下降。当前中国股指期货市场的操纵行为可能主要局限于某些个别的、离散的交易日内,系统地通过操纵现货指数来操纵期货市场的可能性较低。     

Information transmission in informationally linked markets: Evidence from US and Chinese commodity futures markets

This paper investigates information transmission and price discovery in informationally linked markets within the multivariate generalized autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity and information share frameworks. Based on both synchronous and non-synchronous trading information from Chinese futures/spot markets, the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX), Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT), and CME Globex futures markets for copper and soybeans, we show that there is a bidirectional relationship in terms of price and volatility spillovers between US and Chinese markets, with a stronger effect from US to Chinese markets than the other way around. Additionally, the NYMEX and CBOT play a more important role than the CME Globex in the flow of information from US to Chinese markets. Moreover, we find that Chinese copper market adjusts more quickly than the NYMEX copper market to correct the disparity between both markets. However, the converse is true in the case of soybeans. Finally, our results highlight the remarkable role of Chinese futures markets in the price formation process, though NYMEX and CBOT futures markets are the main driving force in price discovery.     

The effectiveness of position limits: Evidence from the foreign exchange futures markets

This study considers the effects of the relative size of hedger and speculator open interests and the potential impact of implementing position limits on the price discovery process in both JPY–USD and EUR–USD futures markets. Hedging trading exerts a negative impact, regardless of its size, on price discovery in futures markets. Hedgers are less likely to be information motivated, so their trading uniformly delays the price discovery process. However, there is a positive and nonlinear impact of speculators’ trade size on price discovery, the contribution of which depends on the relative size of the speculative open interest. Contrary to conventional wisdom among regulators, speculative trading does not harm the market in terms of market efficiency; as long as the percentage of speculators’ open interest is below an endogenously determined threshold (approximately 20% for EUR–USD and 16.3% for JPY–USD), speculative trading even improves futures market efficiency.     

News announcements and price discovery in foreign exchange spot and futures markets

This paper studies competition in price discovery between spot and futures rates for the EUR–USD and JPY–USD markets around scheduled macroeconomic announcements. Using both the information shares approach and the common factor component weight approach for futures prices from the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME), as well as deal prices from spot trading on the Electronic Broking Services (EBS), we gauge how foreign exchange spot and futures markets respond to news surprises. The results show that the spot rates provide more price discovery than do the CME futures rates overall; however, the contribution of the futures rates to price discovery increases in the time surrounding macroeconomic announcement releases.     

What role do futures markets play in Bitcoin pricing? Causality,cointegration and price discovery from a time-varying perspective?

Recent papers that have explored spot and futures markets for Bitcoin have concluded that price discovery takes place either in the spot, or the futures market. Here, we consider the robustness of previous price discovery conclusions by investigating causal relationships, cointegration and price discovery between spot and futures markets for Bitcoin, using appropriate daily data and time-varying mechanisms. We apply the time-varying Granger causality test of Shi, Phillips, and Hurn [2018]; time-varying cointegration tests of Park and Hahn [1999], and time-varying information share methodologies, concluding that futures prices Granger cause spot prices and that futures prices dominate the price discovery process.     

An empirical investigation of large trader market manipulation in derivatives markets

Using account-level transaction data in options and futures markets, we investigate the existence of market manipulation, which is the ability of large traders to trade strategically, impacting prices and making abnormal profits. First, large trader’s option positions have a quantity impact on the underlying asset’s price. Second, large traders generate significantly positive alphas from trading options and futures. Among the different investor types, proprietary dealers generate the largest positive alphas. Third, these abnormal returns are consistent with strategic trading and cross-market manipulation. The evidence supports market manipulation across the options and futures markets, but not within the futures market itself.     

Trading costs and price discovery

The price discovery roles of a set of related markets or securities have been investigated in many different settings where trading costs effect is often commingled with other trading arrangement factors. In Hong Kong, regular futures and mini futures contracts as well as their underlying spot asset are all traded on a same electronic trading platform. The trading arrangements thus provide us with a unique setting where we can isolate the impacts of transaction costs on price discovery. Using Hasbrouck’s (J Finance 50:1175–1199, 1995) information share approach, it is found that in Hong Kong, the regular futures contracts market plays a dominant role in price discovery while the mini futures and cash index markets play minor roles. The results in this paper provide an unequivocal support to the trading costs hypothesis.     

Trading activities and price discovery in foreign currency futures markets

This study investigates the relation between trading activities and the price discovery efficacy of the futures markets for EUR–USD and JPY–USD. According to data pertaining to weekly positions, collected from the Commitments of Traders reports distributed by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the information share of currency futures markets declines with hedgers’ positions but increases with speculators’ positions. In addition, both hedgers’ expected and unexpected positions have negative impacts on the contribution of the futures market; the futures market’s information share relates positively to speculators’ expected positions but is uncorrelated with speculators’ unexpected positions.     

Price discovery on the S&P 500 index markets: An analysis of spot index,index futures,and SPDRs

This paper investigates the price discovery function in three S&P 500 index markets: the spot index, index futures, and S&P Depositary Receipts markets. Four hypotheses regarding market structure and security design are proposed to differentiate the price discovery function performed by the three index instruments. Using matched synchronous intraday trading data, Johansen's maximum likelihood estimator is employed to disclose the cointegration relationships among the three markets. Results indicate that the three price series are a cointegrated system with one long-run stochastic trend. Estimated coefficients of the vector error correction model suggest that price adjustment takes place in the spot index market and for SPDRs, but not in the futures market. When the common stochastic trend is decomposed, it is found that the futures market serves the dominant price discovery function. The leverage hypothesis and the uptick rule hypothesis explain its superior price discovery function.     

Price discovery and volatility spillovers in index futures markets: Some evidence from Mexico

This paper investigates the hypotheses that the recently established Mexican stock index futures market effectively serves the price discovery function, and that the introduction of futures trading has provoked volatility in the underlying spot market. We test both hypotheses simultaneously with daily data from Mexico in the context of a modified EGARCH model that also incorporates possible cointegration between the futures and spot markets. The evidence supports both hypotheses, suggesting that the futures market in Mexico is a useful price discovery vehicle, although futures trading has also been a source of instability for the spot market. Several managerial implications are derived and discussed.     

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。     

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。     

Price dynamics and speculative trading in bitcoin

Few innovations in the money markets have brought more attention by regulators and policy makers than the digital currency Bitcoin. However, few studies in the literature have examined the price dynamics of Bitcoin. Besides providing an exploratory glace at the value and volatility of the Bitcoin across time, we also test whether the unusual level of Bitcoin’s volatility is attributable to speculative trading. Results in this study do not find that, during 2013, speculative trading contributed to the unprecedented rise and subsequent crash in Bitcoin’s value nor do we find that speculative trading is directly associated with Bitcoin’s unusual level of volatility.     

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.     

Which market dominates the price discovery in currency futures? The case of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and the Intercontinental Exchange

This paper examines the relative contributions to the price discovery process of EUR/USD futures traded in the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) and the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE). We find that the CME contributes 66.4%, 92.7%, and 97.3% to the price discovery process according to information share metrics suggested by Harris, McInish, and Wood (2002), Hasbrouck (1995), and Putninš (2013), respectively. The intraday information share metrics also show that the CME dominates the price discovery in most time periods. We attribute the CME's price discovery leadership to its higher trading activity, lower transaction costs, and higher volatility as compared to the ICE.     

Can both Bitcoin and gold serve as safe-haven assets? — A comparative analysis based on the NARDL model

This paper uses the nonlinear autoregressive distributed lag (NARDL) model to analyze the different performances of Bitcoin and gold under the impacts of three different uncertainties, namely global economic policy uncertainty (GEPU), US stock market volatility index (VIX) and the CBOE crude oil ETF volatility index (OVX). The results indicate that faced with shocks of different uncertainties, Bitcoin is unable to serve as a safe-haven, while gold can hedge against uncertainties to varying degrees. Moreover, the three types of uncertainties have asymmetric impacts on the prices of Bitcoin and gold respectively. The decrease of uncertainties has a greater impact on Bitcoin price than the increase, while the increase of uncertainties has a greater impact on gold price than the decrease. It suggests that investors are cautious and optimistic about Bitcoin, and gold remains unanimously recognized as the traditional safe-haven.     

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.     

The impact of multilateral trading facilities on price discovery: Further evidence from the European markets

This study examines relative price discovery for three major European indices, FTSE, CAC, and DAX, their futures and exchange traded funds (ETFs) using the data on 5‐minute intraday transaction prices over a four‐year period. We computed both Hasbrouck (1995) information share with error bounds and Gonzalo and Granger's (1995) common factor weights approach. Gonzalo and Granger's (1995) common factor weights suggest the index futures contracts play a dominant role in price discovery in the CAC market: the CAC 40 index futures lead the price discovery and Lyxor CAC 40 ETFs serving the second resort for information transmission. This could be due to the less frequent trading of ETFs. More importantly, CAC40 under the Gonzalo & Granger (1995) test shows upper and lower error bounds in good range may be the main reason to drive for the meaningful results. In contrast, the upper and lower bounds estimated from the Hasbrouck (1995) are far distant for most cases. Finally, FTSE and DAX markets offer compelling evidence to show that ETFs lead price discovery and spots and futures follows.     

The Intraday Relation between NYSE and CBOE Prices

I extend the literature regarding price discovery across stock and option markets through an empirical model that allows information to flow through an error‐correction term and volatility. NYSE prices tend to lead CBOE prices by at least thirty minutes over the entire six‐year sample period. In addition, informed trading in the options market is revealed more strongly through persistence in volatility and the spillover of volatility to the stock market than it is through returns.