Up Next

ki-logo-white
Market-Based Solutions to Vital Economic Issues

SEARCH

Kenan Institute 2024 Grand Challenge: Business Resilience
ki-logo-white
Market-Based Solutions to Vital Economic Issues
Research
May 1, 2015

High-Frequency Quoting, Trading and the Efficiency of Prices

Abstract

We examine the relation between high-frequency quotation and the behavior of stock prices between 2009 and 2011 for the full cross-section of securities in the U.S. On average, higher quotation activity is associated with price series that more closely resemble a random walk, and significantly lower cost of trading. We also explore market resiliency during periods of exceptionally high low-latency trading: large liquidity drawdowns in which, within the same millisecond, trading algorithms systematically sweep large volume across multiple trading venues. Although such large drawdowns incur trading costs, they do not appear to degrade the price formation process or increase the subsequent cost of trading. In an out-of-sample analysis, we investigate an exogenous technological change to the trading environment on the Tokyo Stock Exchange that dramatically reduces latency and allows co-location of servers. This shock also results in prices more closely resembling a random walk, and a sharp decline in the cost of trading.

Note: Research papers posted on SSRN, including any findings, may differ from the final version chosen for publication in academic journals.


View Working Paper View Publication on Journal Site

You may also be interested in: