Testing the stabilization hypothesis in the UK short-term interest rates: Evidence from a GARCH-X model

The objective of this paper is to examine the validity of one of the recurring arguments made against futures markets that they give rise to price instability. The paper concentrates on the impact of futures trading on the spot market volatility of short-term interest rates. The analytical framework employed is based on a new statistical approach aiming to reconcile the traditional models of short-term interest rates and the conditional volatility processes. More specifically, this class of models aims to capture the dynamics of short-term interest rate volatility by allowing volatility to depend on both scale effects and information shocks. Using a GARCH-X and asymmetric GARCH-X model four main conclusions emerge from the present study. First, the empirical results suggest that there is an indisputable change in the nature of volatility with evidence of mean reversion after the onset of futures trading. Second, the information flow into the market has improved as a result of futures trading. Third, a stabilization effect has been detected running from the futures market to the cash market by lowering volatility levels and decreasing the risk in the spot market. Finally, trying to capture the leverage effect the findings suggest that positive shocks have a greater impact on volatility than negative shocks.     

成交量、持仓量对我国大豆类期货价差波动影响的实证分析

采用GARCH(1,1)模型就成交量、持仓量对大豆类期货价差波动率的影响进行实证分析,结果显示：当期成交量、持仓量对大豆期货价差波动的整体影响是显著的;滞后成交量、持仓量对大豆期货价差波动的整体影响也是显著的;当成交量、持仓量同时进入条件方差方程时,它们对大豆类期货价差波动的影响整体上也是显著的。这一结论揭示了我国大豆期货市场信息传递过程,验证了我国大豆期货市场的信息非有效性,对期货市场投资者以及期货市场监管者具有一定的借鉴意义。     

Individual investors surpass their reputation: Trading behaviour on the Polish futures market

This paper examines individual investors’ trading behaviour by testing the presence of Monday and January anomalies on the Polish futures market, where individuals are the predominant trader type. Both anomalies are well established in the literature, and they are at least partially attributed to individual investors’ trading activities. We conduct an intraday analysis of trading volume, open interest, returns, and return volatility on the futures market in Poland and find the contribution of individuals to market anomalies to be grossly overstated. Hence, individual investors’ trading on the Polish futures market surpasses the prediction by the majority of investigations for mature stock markets.     

沪深300股指期货在现货交易和非交易时段交易特征的比较研究

我国沪深300股指期货交易2010年4月16日正式推出,但沪深300股指期货市场与沪深300现货市场的交易时间存在显著的差异,即相对于股票现货市场,沪深300股指期货市场提前15分钟开盘,延迟15分钟收盘。运用日内分笔数据和分钟数据,对沪深300股指期货不同交易时段的交易特征进行比较。研究表明,不同交易时段知情交易者市场参与度存在明显差异,提前交易时段知情交易的概率最高,现货交易时段次之,延迟交易时段最低;沪深300股指期货在开盘时段的交易提供了较大的价格发现,特别是开盘的第一笔交易包含有大量的私有信息,价格贡献最大;提前交易时段私有信息的价格发现贡献度最高;尽管提前交易时段的交易提供了较大的价格发现,但定价效率较低。     

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。     

Impact of uncertainty on high frequency response of the U.S. stock markets to the Fed's policy surprises

This paper examines the impact of uncertainty on estimated response of stock returns to U.S. monetary policy surprise. This is motivated by the Lucas island model which suggests an inverse relationship between the effectiveness of a policy and the level of uncertainty in the economy. Using high frequency daily data from the Federal funds futures market, we first estimate the response of S&P 500 stock returns to monetary policy surprises within the time varying parameter (TVP) model. We then analyze the relationship of these time varying estimates with the benchmark VIX index and alternative measures of uncertainty. Evidence suggests a significant negative relationship between the level of uncertainty and the time varying response of S&P 500 stock returns to unanticipated changes in the interest rate. Thus, at higher levels of uncertainty the impact of monetary policy shocks on stock markets is lower. The results are robust to different measures of uncertainty.     

Thin trading and mispricing profit opportunities in the Canadian commodity futures

This study examines whether thin trading problems in the Canadian futures market can create mispricing profit opportunities for canola and feed wheat futures traded over the period 1981 through 1993. A forecasting model is developed using historical and publicly available information to predict futures closing prices for these contracts, then two trading rules (a confidence interval and a percentage price change filter) are used to determine their profit potentials. The size of profits generated from trading canola futures under either rule during the period 1987–1993 is consistent with C. Carter's (1989) earlier results that no market inefficiency was detected during the 1980–1987 period. Similarly, profits from the Canadian feed wheat thinly traded contracts and from a control group using the highly-liquid American soybean oil and wheat contracts do not violate the efficiency theory. The average gross profit per trade analysis further suggests that net positive profits may not be viable for marginal investors.     

The Influence and Policy Signalling Role of FOMC Forecasts

Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) policymakers have published macroeconomic forecasts since 1979 and we examine the effects of FOMC inflation forecasts using a structural VAR model. First, we assess whether they influence private inflation expectations. Second, we investigate the underlying mechanism at work and whether they convey policy signals. We provide original evidence that FOMC inflation forecasts influence private ones. We also find that the influencing effect of FOMC forecasts does not come through current Fed rate changes, that FOMC forecasts affect private expectations in a different way than current policy decisions, and that FOMC forecasts are informative about future Fed rate movements.     

EVALUATING MACROECONOMIC FORECASTS: A CONCISE REVIEW OF SOME RECENT DEVELOPMENTS

Macroeconomic forecasts are frequently produced, widely published, intensively discussed, and comprehensively used. The formal evaluation of such forecasts has a long research history. Recently, a new angle to the evaluation of forecasts has been addressed, and in this review we analyze some recent developments from that perspective. The literature on forecast evaluation predominantly assumes that macroeconomic forecasts are generated from econometric models. In practice, however, most macroeconomic forecasts, such as those from the IMF, World Bank, OECD, Federal Reserve Board, Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), and the ECB, are typically based on econometric model forecasts jointly with human intuition. This seemingly inevitable combination renders most of these forecasts biased and, as such, their evaluation becomes nonstandard. In this review, we consider the evaluation of two forecasts in which: (i) the two forecasts are generated from two distinct econometric models; (ii) one forecast is generated from an econometric model and the other is obtained as a combination of a model and intuition; and (iii) the two forecasts are generated from two distinct (but unknown) combinations of different models and intuition. It is shown that alternative tools are needed to compare and evaluate the forecasts in each of these three situations. These alternative techniques are illustrated by comparing the forecasts from the (econometric) Staff of the Federal Reserve Board and the FOMC on inflation, unemployment, and real GDP growth. It is shown that the FOMC does not forecast significantly better than the Staff, and that the intuition of the FOMC does not add significantly in forecasting the actual values of the economic fundamentals. This would seem to belie the purported expertise of the FOMC.     

螺纹钢期货市场功能的实证检验

上海螺纹钢期货市场的巨大持仓量、成交量,表明其市场功能很可能得到了充分发挥。文章针对螺纹钢期货市场应有的套期保值、价格发现、套利功能,选择相应期、现数据进行了实证检验。检验结果表明:市场具备良好的套期保值效率,存在较为明显的跨期套利机会,期货价格对现货价格具有较强的引导作用。     

Decomposing the effects of monetary policy using an external instruments SVAR

We study the effects of monetary policy on economic activity separately identifying the effects of a conventional change in the fed funds rate from the policy of forward guidance. We use a structural VAR identified using external instruments from futures market data. The response of output to a fed funds rate shock is found to be consistent with typical monetary VAR analyses. However, the effect of a forward guidance shock that increases long‐term interest rates has an expansionary effect on output. This counterintuitive response is shown to be tied to the asymmetric information between the Federal Reserve and the public.     

Are VIX futures prices predictable? An empirical investigation

This paper investigates whether volatility futures prices per se can be forecasted by studying the fast-growing VIX futures market. To this end, alternative model specifications are employed. Point and interval out-of-sample forecasts are constructed and evaluated under various statistical metrics. Next, the economic significance of the forecasts obtained is also assessed by performing trading strategies. Only weak evidence of statistically predictable patterns in the evolution of volatility futures prices is found. No trading strategy yields economically significant profits. Hence, the hypothesis that the VIX volatility futures market is informationally efficient cannot be rejected.     

Position limit for the CSI 300 stock index futures market

The aim of this study was to find the optimal position limit for the Chinese stock index (CSI) 300 futures market. A low position limit helps to prevent price manipulations in the spot market, and thus keeps the magnitude of instantaneous price changes within the tolerance range of policymakers. However, setting a position limit that is too low may also have negative effects on market quality. We propose an artificial limit order market with heterogeneous interacting agents to examine the impact of different levels of position limits on market quality, measured as liquidity, return volatility, efficiency of information dissemination, and trading welfare. The simulation model is based on realistic trading mechanisms, investor structure, and order submission behavior observed in the CSI 300 futures market.Our results show that on the basis of the liquidity status in September 2010, raising the position limit from 100 to 300 could significantly improve market quality and at the same time keep the maximum absolute price change per 5 s below the 2% tolerance level. However, the improvement becomes only marginal if the position limit is further increased beyond 300. Therefore, we believe that raising the position limit to a moderate level can enhance the functionality of the CSI 300 futures market, which should benefit the development of the Chinese financial system.     

基于分形理论的原油期货高频交易风险测度研究

为了捕捉原油期货高频波动规律,采用WTI原油期货五分钟数据,基于分形理论分别构建GED分布和Skew-t分布的FIGARCH、FIAPARCH和HYGARCH模型,分析其波动特征并对风险进行测度。结果显示：三种模型均较好地刻画出WTI原油期货波动的长记忆特征;基于Skew-t分布的HYGARCH模型在度量原油期货高频交易风险时尤为精确;多头与空头头寸的VaR呈现非对称性;套期保值者或高频交易者可依据模型预测波动率,防止短期波动率过大导致保证金不足而被强制平仓。高频交易在提高市场流动性和拓宽市场深度方面具有一定的作用,因此,在风险可控的条件下,政府应该鼓励高频交易,促进我国衍生品市场繁荣发展,并增强衍生品市场稳定性和国际竞争力。     

Did the introduction of Bitcoin futures crash the Bitcoin market at the end of 2017?

At the end of 2017, the Bitcoin price dropped significantly by approximately 70% over the two months. Since the introduction of Bitcoin futures coincided with this market crash, it is said that the new financial instrument might have caused the market crash. The literature states that the futures enabled investors to easily take a short position and hypothesizes that the selling pressure from futures could have potentially crashed the Bitcoin market. To evaluate this assumption, we investigate the empirical relationship between futures trading and the Bitcoin price by using high-frequency data. We find that Bitcoin futures trading was not significantly related to the returns on Bitcoin futures and spot returns. Therefore, we conclude that Bitcoin futures did not lead to the crash of the Bitcoin market at the end of 2017.     

A threshold error-correction model for intraday futures and index returns

Index-futures arbitragers only enter into the market if the deviation from the arbitrage relation is sufficiently large to compensate for transaction costs and associated interest rate and dividend risks. We estimate the band around the theoretical futures price within which arbitrage is not profitable for most arbitragers, using a threshold autoregression model. Combining these thresholds with an error-correction model, we show that the impact of the mispricing error is increasing with the magnitude of that error and that the information effect of lagged futures returns on index returns is significantly larger when the mispricing error is negative. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Evaluating FOMC forecasts

Monetary policy outcomes have improved since the early 1980s. One factor contributing to the improvement is that Federal Reserve policymakers began reporting economic forecasts to Congress in 1979. These forecasts indicate what the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) members think will be the likely consequence of their policies. We evaluate the accuracy of the FOMC forecasts relative to private sector forecasts, the forecasts of the Research Staff at the Board of Governors, and a naïve alternative. We find that the FOMC output forecasts were better than the naïve model and at least as good as those of the private sector and the Fed staff. The FOMC inflation forecasts were more accurate than the private sector forecasts and the naïve model; for the period ending in 1996, however, they were not as accurate as Fed staff inflation forecasts.     

Trading cost expectations: Evidence from S&P 500 index replacement stock announcements

This paper tests the effect on stock value of an expected change in future trading costs. The capitalized value of a reduction in trading costs is hypothesized to increase the stock value, a trading cost effect. Improved liquidity reduces trading costs. Inclusion as an S&P 500 Index replacement stock is an event hypothesized to increase liquidity. We use 114 observations between January 1, 1983 and October 12, 1989 of stocks added to the Index as replacements for stocks removed. The abnormal return of each stock is regressed against the ratio of the bidask spread to the price of the stock, the change in trading volume of the stock, and the open interest in the Index futures contracts at the close of the month prior to the replacement announcement. We find that the positive abnormal returns for replacement stocks are related to increased daily trading volume after inclusion in the Index. Further, the trading cost effect is proportional to percentage bid-ask spreads prior to inclusion. The trading cost effect increases as trading in derivatives of the Index increases. The volume and stock price changes after replacement are not transitory, indicating an improvement in liquidity. Three alternate hypotheses suggested in prior research to explain the abnormal returns for replacement stocks are tested. Testing each of the three models previously considered: price pressure, inelastic demand curves, and information, we find that none can be accepted with statistical confidence. The abnormal returns of Index replacement stocks are consistent with rational pricing of an anticipated reduction in future transaction costs. This anticipated reduction is capitalized in the value of the stock at the time of the replacement announcement. These results are consistent with a trading cost effect.     

不同约束条件下的股指期货价格区间研究

在股指期货持有成本定价模型的基础上,结合中国沪深300股指期货合约的特点,根据无套利原理,给出了考虑交易成本、期货保证金和不同借贷利率等限制条件下的股指期货定价区间和相应的交易策略,为从事沪深300股指期货套期保值、套利和投机交易的相关人员提供借鉴意义。     

Forecasting oil futures market volatility in a financialized world: Why speculative activities matter

We analyze the relation between volatility and speculative activities in the crude oil futures market and provide short-term forecasts accordingly. By incorporating trading volume and opening interest (speculative ratio) into the volatility dynamics, we document the subtle interaction between the two measures of which the volatility-averse behavior of speculative activities plays a considerable role in the market. Moreover, by accounting for structural changes, we find significant evidence that this behavior currently becomes weaker than in the past, which implies the oil futures market is less informative and/or less risk-averse in recent time period. Our forecasts based on these features perform very well under the predictive preferences that are consistent with the volatility-averse behavior in the oil futures market. We provide discussions and policy inferences.