Intraday Price Formation in U.S. Equity Index Markets

The market for U.S. equity indexes presently comprises floor‐traded index futures contracts, exchange‐traded funds (ETFs), electronically traded, small‐denomination futures contracts (E‐minis), and sector ETFs that decompose the S&P 500 index into component industry portfolios. This paper empirically investigates price discovery in this environment. For the S&P 500 and Nasdaq‐100 indexes, most of the price discovery occurs in the E‐mini market. For the S&P 400 MidCap index, price discovery is shared between the regular futures contract and the ETF. The S&P 500 ETF contributes markedly to price discovery in the sector ETFs, but there are only minor effects in the reverse direction.     

Analysis of DJIA,S&P 500, S&P 400, NASDAQ 100 and Russell 2000 ETFs and their influence on price discovery

This study examines the temporal behavior of price discovery in the spot, ETF and futures markets of the DJIA, S&P 500, S&P 400, NASDAQ 100 and Russell 2000. We document an increasing trend in the price discovery metrics of exchange traded funds for all indexes but the DJIA. Contrary to past studies, our findings show that the spot market rather than the futures market leads the price discovery. The arbitrage process that links exchange traded funds to spot prices, and not the futures prices might explain the results. This daily arbitrage that ensures exchange traded funds prices equal net asset values appear to promote spot market price discovery especially with the popularity of exchange traded funds in more recent years. We additionally document that the temporal behavior of the exchange traded funds price discovery metric affects differently price discovery in the spot and futures markets across indexes.     

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.     

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.     

Competition For Order Flow, Market Quality, And Price Discovery In The Nasdaq 100 Index Tracking Stock

We investigate competition for order flow, market quality, and price discovery in the Nasdaq 100 Index Tracking Stock (QQQ). The QQQ, an AMEX‐listed, exchange‐traded fund, is the most actively traded security in the U.S. equities market. On July 31, 2001, the NYSE began trading the QQQ, marking the first time it traded securities of companies it does not list. The greatest volume of trading takes place on electronic communication networks (ECNs), following by trading on the AMEX and the NYSE. Most of the block trades are executed on the AMEX, where the bid‐ask spreads are narrower. We find that ECNs contribute the most to the price‐discovery process. The spreads on all trading platforms have decreased and market quality and price discovery have improved since QQQ shares have traded on the NYSE.     

Information-based trading and information propagation: Evidence from the exchange traded fund market

This paper studies the information-based trading of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and the information propagation from the ETF market to its index. We find that the ETF trading triggered by asymmetric information and belief heterogeneity not only accelerates the ETFs' price discovery process but also increases the flow of information to the tracked index. Moreover, the price efficiency of the index also improves along with these two types of trading and their efficiency effects can be further enhanced by a speedier ETFs' price discovery. These observations portray the mechanism of the inter-market information propagation.     

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。     

Differently motivated exchange traded fund trading activities and the volatility of the underlying index

This paper examines the correlations between two types of a market index's volatility and three trading motives of the index's exchange traded funds (ETFs). We find that ETF trading driven by belief dispersion is highly correlated with both the variance in efficient price innovations (VEPI) and the index's total volatility. Privately informed ETF trading is closely connected to the VEPI but not the total volatility, while liquidity ETF trading explains the total volatility but has little power in explaining the VEPI. Moreover, the leading ETF dominates smaller ETFs in explaining both types of volatility and often has more explanatory power than control variables.     

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).     

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。     

From pit to electronic trading: Impact on price volatility of U.S. Treasury futures

This paper investigates the dynamics of price volatility and trading volume of 10-year U.S. Treasury note futures within the context of transition from pit to electronic trading. The analysis is conducted over four discernible phases of futures trading evolution: the pit-only phase, the leap to electronic trading, and the electronic trading dominant phase, which is divided further into two periods, the before and after the financial crisis of 2007/2009. Generalized autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity with in-mean conditional variance and generalized error distribution parameterization (GARCH-M-GED) tests are conducted to examine the conditional volatility of total returns index as a function of trading volume. The empirical results show a consistently negative relationship between the trading volume and price volatility for all four analyzed phases. They also show decreasing leptokurtosis (except for the direct effects of the recent crisis), continuously high persistency in volatility, as well as a weakening impact of unexpected ARCH-type shocks during the most recent analyzed period. Overall, the shift to electronic trading entails a substantial increase in trading volume, but not in price volatility of Treasury futures.     

Intraday trading halts in the Nikkei futures market

The Osaka Securities Exchange (OSE) halts Nikkei 225 index-futures trading when the next transaction is to take place at a price more than ¥30 (prior to February 1994) or ¥60 (from February 1994) away from the previous trading price. This paper examines the efficacy of the intraday price limit rule in terms of price discovery, liquidity and volatility. We also include transaction data from the Singapore International Monetary Exchange (SIMEX) where Nikkei futures are traded simultaneously. The intraday price limit rule generally appears to be ineffective in reducing volatility and avoiding price jumps, at least partly because OSE traders have access to the alternative market at SIMEX.     

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.     

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.     

Does ETF trading affect the efficiency of the underlying index?

This study finds that both contemporaneous and lagged ETF trading volumes in both absolute and relative terms are significant contributors to the price efficiency of the underlying index. The variation in ETF shares outstanding is also positively associated with the index efficiency but it weakens the effect of ETF trading on the index efficiency. Moreover, the synthetic ETF price dominates the index in information share and the dominance increases in ETF trading. However, the relation between an individual ETF's information share and its trading volume varies, which is significantly positive for the leading ETF but ambiguous for other ETFs.     

Trading activity and price discovery in Bitcoin futures markets

This study examines the impact of trading activities on price discovery in the Bitcoin futures markets. We find that trades of hedgers are positively correlated with the modified information shares in both CME and CBOE futures markets, suggesting that their trading promotes futures market efficiency. Retailers’ trading activity relates negatively to the price discovery of the CME Bitcoin futures and thus destabilizes the market. Speculators exert positive (negative) impact on the price discovery in the CME (CBOE) Bitcoin futures. Our finding that CME’s Bitcoin futures exhibit superior price discovery than CBOE’s provides plausible justification for CBOE’s decision in March 2019 to suspend further listings of Bitcoin futures contracts.     

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.     

Feedback trading in stock index futures: Evidence from South Africa

This study tests whether investors and speculators in stock index futures contracts on the South African stock market use feedback trading strategies. Feedback trading can be destabilizing and impede on the risk mitigation and price discovery functions of futures contracts. Using the Sentana and Wadhwani (1992) model, and accounting for the global financial crisis, we find no evidence of feedback trading in the Top40 futures index or the Top40 mini futures index contracts. Our findings have important implications for investors who wish to use index futures to mitigate risk or exploit arbitrage opportunities and regulators concerned about the destabilizing effects of futures trading.     

Multi-market trading in the Eurodollar futures market

On March 18, 2004, the London International Financial Futures and Options Exchange launched trading in Eurodollar futures contracts in an attempt to compete with a U.S. rival, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. The Chicago Mercantile Exchange responded to the challenge by introducing several policy changes that aided the transfer of its trading volume in Eurodollar futures from open outcry to the electronic trading platform, Globex, thereby retaining its market share. We compare trading volume, effective spread, and price discovery in Eurodollar futures at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange before and after the London International Financial Futures and Options Exchange began trading the same contract. We find a general increase in trading volume on Globex beginning October 2003, way before the London International Financial Futures and Options Exchange launched its contract. Globex provides greater price discovery than open outcry during the entire time period under study. Our research thus supports the global trend of conversion of traditional open outcry systems into electronic exchanges.