IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/jfnres/v45y2022i2p313-338.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Short selling and options trading: A tale of two markets

Author

Listed:
  • George D. Cashman
  • David M. Harrison
  • Hainan Sheng

Abstract

Recent research documents both short selling and option volume are predictive of future real estate investment trust (REIT) returns, suggesting informed investors exploit their informational advantage in both the traditional equity and derivative security markets. However, little work has explicitly examined the factors influencing which of these markets informed investors choose to engage when transacting. We address this gap in the literature and find clear evidence that the risk associated with short selling is a significant driver of this decision. Specifically, using a sample of 124 unique equity REITS with both active short selling and option markets over the past 10 years, we find that when short selling is riskier, option volume is more predictive of future returns. These results suggest that investors view options as an alternative to shorting, and their decision to transact in the derivatives market is materially influenced by short‐selling risk.

Suggested Citation

  • George D. Cashman & David M. Harrison & Hainan Sheng, 2022. "Short selling and options trading: A tale of two markets," Journal of Financial Research, Southern Finance Association;Southwestern Finance Association, vol. 45(2), pages 313-338, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:jfnres:v:45:y:2022:i:2:p:313-338
    DOI: 10.1111/jfir.12276
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/jfir.12276
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/jfir.12276?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Zoran Ivković & Scott Weisbenner, 2005. "Local Does as Local Is: Information Content of the Geography of Individual Investors' Common Stock Investments," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 60(1), pages 267-306, February.
    2. Owen A. Lamont & Richard H. Thaler, 2003. "Can the Market Add and Subtract? Mispricing in Tech Stock Carve-outs," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 111(2), pages 227-268, April.
    3. Miller, Edward M, 1977. "Risk, Uncertainty, and Divergence of Opinion," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 32(4), pages 1151-1168, September.
    4. George A. Waters & James E. Payne, 2007. "REIT markets and rational speculative bubbles: an empirical investigation," Applied Financial Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(9), pages 747-753.
    5. Walter L Eckardt Jr. & Bruce D. Bagamery, 1983. "Short Selling: The Mutual Fund Alternative," Journal of Financial Research, Southern Finance Association;Southwestern Finance Association, vol. 6(3), pages 231-238, September.
    6. Figlewski, Stephen, 1981. "The Informational Effects of Restrictions on Short Sales: Some Empirical Evidence," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 16(4), pages 463-476, November.
    7. Arturo Bris & William N. Goetzmann & Ning Zhu, 2007. "Efficiency and the Bear: Short Sales and Markets Around the World," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 62(3), pages 1029-1079, June.
    8. Johnson, Travis L. & So, Eric C., 2012. "The option to stock volume ratio and future returns," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 106(2), pages 262-286.
    9. Deqing Diane Li & Kenneth Yung, 2004. "Short Interests in Real Estate Investment Trusts," International Real Estate Review, Global Social Science Institute, vol. 7(1), pages 56-70.
    10. Joshua D. Coval & Tobias J. Moskowitz, 1999. "Home Bias at Home: Local Equity Preference in Domestic Portfolios," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 54(6), pages 2045-2073, December.
    11. Geczy, Christopher C. & Musto, David K. & Reed, Adam V., 2002. "Stocks are special too: an analysis of the equity lending market," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 66(2-3), pages 241-269.
    12. Joshua D. Coval & Tobias J. Moskowitz, 2001. "The Geography of Investment: Informed Trading and Asset Prices," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 109(4), pages 811-841, August.
    13. Blau, Benjamin M. & Fuller, Kathleen P. & Van Ness, Robert A., 2011. "Short selling around dividend announcements and ex-dividend days," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 17(3), pages 628-639, June.
    14. Tse-Chun Lin & Xiaolong Lu, 2016. "How Do Short-Sale Costs Affect Put Options Trading? Evidence from Separating Hedging and Speculative Shorting Demands," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 20(5), pages 1911-1943.
    15. George D. Cashman & David M. Harrison & Hainan Sheng, 2021. "Option Trading and REIT Returns," Real Estate Economics, American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association, vol. 49(1), pages 332-389, March.
    16. Jiao, Yawen & Massa, Massimo & Zhang, Hong, 2016. "Short selling meets hedge fund 13F: An anatomy of informed demand," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 122(3), pages 544-567.
    17. Fama, Eugene F. & French, Kenneth R., 1993. "Common risk factors in the returns on stocks and bonds," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(1), pages 3-56, February.
    18. Reena Aggarwal & Pedro A. C. Saffi & Jason Sturgess, 2015. "The Role of Institutional Investors in Voting: Evidence from the Securities Lending Market: Erratum," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 70(6), pages 2901-2902, December.
    19. Paul Borochin & John L. Glascock & Ran Lu-Andrews & Jie Yang, 2017. "Using Option Market Liquidity to Predict REIT Leverage Changes," The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Springer, vol. 55(2), pages 135-154, August.
    20. Santhosh Ramalingegowda & Steven Utke & Yong Yu, 2021. "Common Institutional Ownership and Earnings Management," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 38(1), pages 208-241, March.
    21. Jun Zhang, 2018. "Informed Options Trading Before Auditor Change Announcements," Journal of Financial Research, Southern Finance Association;Southwestern Finance Association, vol. 41(2), pages 213-236, June.
    22. Chen, Yi-Wen & Chen, Sheng-Syan & Chou, Robin K., 2020. "Short-Sale Constraints and Options Trading: Evidence from Reg SHO," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 55(5), pages 1555-1579, August.
    23. Reena Aggarwal & Pedro A. C. Saffi & Jason Sturgess, 2015. "The Role of Institutional Investors in Voting: Evidence from the Securities Lending Market," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 70(5), pages 2309-2346, October.
    24. Paul Brockman & (Grace) Qing Hao, 2011. "Short Selling And Price Discovery: Evidence From American Depositary Receipts," Journal of Financial Research, Southern Finance Association;Southwestern Finance Association, vol. 34(4), pages 569-588, December.
    25. Benjamin Blau & Matthew Hill & Hao Wang, 2011. "REIT Short Sales and Return Predictability," The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Springer, vol. 42(4), pages 481-503, May.
    26. Stambaugh, Robert F. & Yu, Jianfeng & Yuan, Yu, 2012. "The short of it: Investor sentiment and anomalies," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 104(2), pages 288-302.
    27. Siu Kei Wong & Thomas C. C. Lai & Kuang Kuang Deng, 2017. "Short Sales and Price Discovery in the Hong Kong Real Estate Market," Real Estate Economics, American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association, vol. 45(1), pages 133-153, February.
    28. Edwards, Amy K. & Hanley, Kathleen Weiss, 2010. "Short selling in initial public offerings," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 98(1), pages 21-39, October.
    29. Ekkehart Boehmer & Charles M. Jones & Xiaoyan Zhang, 2008. "Which Shorts Are Informed?," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 63(2), pages 491-527, April.
    30. Baghdadi, Ghasan A. & Bhatti, Ishaq M. & Nguyen, Lily H.G. & Podolski, Edward J., 2018. "Skill or effort? Institutional ownership and managerial efficiency," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 91(C), pages 19-33.
    31. Jian Shi & Junbo Wang & Ting Zhang, 2017. "Are Short Sellers Informed? Evidence From Credit Rating Agency Announcements," Journal of Financial Research, Southern Finance Association;Southwestern Finance Association, vol. 40(2), pages 179-221, June.
    32. Dan W. French & Andrew A. Lynch & Xuemin (Sterling) Yan, 2012. "Are Short Sellers Informed? Evidence from REITs," The Financial Review, Eastern Finance Association, vol. 47(1), pages 145-170, February.
    33. Sean Masaki Flynn, 2010. "Short Selling And Mispricings When Fundamentals Are Known: Evidence From Nyse‐Traded Closed‐End Funds," Journal of Financial Research, Southern Finance Association;Southwestern Finance Association, vol. 33(4), pages 463-486, December.
    34. Honghui Chen & David H. Downs & Gary A. Patterson, 2012. "The Information Content of REIT Short Interest: Investment Focus and Heterogeneous Beliefs," Real Estate Economics, American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association, vol. 40(2), pages 249-283, June.
    35. Dirk Brounen & David C. Ling & Melissa Porras Prado, 2013. "Short Sales and Fundamental Value: Explaining the REIT Premium to NAV," Real Estate Economics, American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association, vol. 41(3), pages 481-516, September.
    36. Brennan, Michael J. & Chordia, Tarun & Subrahmanyam, Avanidhar, 1998. "Alternative factor specifications, security characteristics, and the cross-section of expected stock returns," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(3), pages 345-373, September.
    37. Erik Devos & Thomas McInish & Michael McKenzie & James Upson, 2014. "Naked Short Selling and the Market Impact of Fails-to-Deliver: Evidence from the Trading of Real Estate Investment Trusts," The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Springer, vol. 49(4), pages 454-476, November.
    38. Wi Saeng Kim & Colin M. Young, 1991. "The Effect Of Traded Option Introduction On Shareholder Wealth," Journal of Financial Research, Southern Finance Association;Southwestern Finance Association, vol. 14(2), pages 141-151, June.
    39. Harald Hau, 2001. "Location Matters: An Examination of Trading Profits," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 56(5), pages 1959-1983, October.
    40. Figlewski, Stephen & Webb, Gwendolyn P, 1993. "Options, Short Sales, and Market Completeness," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 48(2), pages 761-777, June.
    41. Kim, Wi Saeng & Young, Colin M, 1991. "The Effect of Traded Option Introduction on Shareholder Wealth," Journal of Financial Research, Southern Finance Association;Southwestern Finance Association, vol. 14(2), pages 141-153, Summer.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Cashman, George D. & Harrison, David M. & Sheng, Hainan, 2022. "Short sales, short risk, and return predictability in Asia-Pacific real estate markets," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Cashman, George D. & Harrison, David M. & Sheng, Hainan, 2022. "Short sales, short risk, and return predictability in Asia-Pacific real estate markets," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    2. Ramachandran, Lakshmi Shankar & Tayal, Jitendra, 2021. "Mispricing, short-sale constraints, and the cross-section of option returns," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 141(1), pages 297-321.
    3. George D. Cashman & David M. Harrison & Hainan Sheng, 2021. "Option Trading and REIT Returns," Real Estate Economics, American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association, vol. 49(1), pages 332-389, March.
    4. Boulton, Thomas J. & Smart, Scott B. & Zutter, Chad J., 2020. "Worldwide short selling regulations and IPO underpricing," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    5. Chung, Chune Young & DeVault, Luke & Wang, Kainan, 2019. "Perceived information, short interest, and institutional demand," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 22-38.
    6. Beneish, M.D. & Lee, C.M.C. & Nichols, D.C., 2015. "In short supply: Short-sellers and stock returns," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 60(2), pages 33-57.
    7. Chen, Joseph & Hong, Harrison & Stein, Jeremy C., 2002. "Breadth of ownership and stock returns," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 66(2-3), pages 171-205.
    8. David C. Ling & Andy Naranjo & Benjamin Scheick, 2014. "Investor Sentiment, Limits to Arbitrage and Private Market Returns," Real Estate Economics, American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association, vol. 42(3), pages 531-577, September.
    9. Kim, Dongcheol & Lee, Inro & Na, Haejung, 2019. "Financial distress, short sale constraints, and mispricing," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 94-111.
    10. Khan, Mostafa Saidur Rahim & Bremer, Marc & Kato, Hideaki Kiyoshi, 2018. "Are short-sales constraints binding when there is a centralized lendable securities market? Evidence from Japan," Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 85-96.
    11. Callen, Jeffrey L. & Fang, Xiaohua, 2015. "Short interest and stock price crash risk," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 181-194.
    12. Boulton, Thomas J. & Braga-Alves, Marcus V., 2010. "The skinny on the 2008 naked short-sale restrictions," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 13(4), pages 397-421, November.
    13. Yi‐Wei Chuang & Wei‐Che Tsai & Pei‐Shih Weng & Chi Yin, 2021. "Do put warrants unwind short‐sale restrictions? Further evidence from the Taiwan Stock Exchange," Journal of Futures Markets, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 41(3), pages 325-348, March.
    14. Massimo Massa & Bastian von Beschwitz, 2015. "Biased Shorts: Short sellers’ Disposition Effect and Limits to Arbitrage," International Finance Discussion Papers 1147, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    15. Jones, Charles M. & Lamont, Owen A., 2002. "Short-sale constraints and stock returns," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 66(2-3), pages 207-239.
    16. Hillert, Alexander & Jacobs, Heiko & Müller, Sebastian, 2018. "Journalist disagreement," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 57-76.
    17. Lin, Zih-Ying & Chang, Chuang-Chang & Wang, Yaw-Huei, 2018. "The impacts of asymmetric information and short sales on the illiquidity risk premium in the stock option market," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 152-165.
    18. Tanya Gulati & S. K. Bose & Supriyo Roy, 2017. "Short selling restrictions in 2005–2009 in Indian market and underpricing of initial public offerings," Journal of Economics and Finance, Springer;Academy of Economics and Finance, vol. 41(1), pages 116-135, January.
    19. Daniel, Kent & Hirshleifer, David & Teoh, Siew Hong, 2002. "Investor psychology in capital markets: evidence and policy implications," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(1), pages 139-209, January.
    20. Lecce, Steven & Lepone, Andrew & McKenzie, Michael D. & Segara, Reuben, 2012. "The impact of naked short selling on the securities lending and equity market," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 15(1), pages 81-107.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:jfnres:v:45:y:2022:i:2:p:313-338. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/sfaaaea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.