IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/finana/v54y2017icp114-129.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Informed trading and the price impact of block trades: A high frequency trading analysis

Author

Listed:
  • Sun, Yuxin
  • Ibikunle, Gbenga

Abstract

Using high frequency data from the London Stock Exchange (LSE), we investigate the relationship between informed trading and the price impact of block trades on intraday and inter-day basis. Price impact of block trades is stronger during the first hour of trading; this is consistent with the hypothesis that information accumulates overnight during non-trading hours. Furthermore, private information is gradually incorporated into prices despite heightened trading frequency. Evidence suggests that informed traders exploit superior information across trading days, and stocks with lower transparency exhibit stronger information diffusion effects when traded in blocks, thus informed block trading facilitates price discovery.

Suggested Citation

  • Sun, Yuxin & Ibikunle, Gbenga, 2017. "Informed trading and the price impact of block trades: A high frequency trading analysis," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 114-129.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:finana:v:54:y:2017:i:c:p:114-129
    DOI: 10.1016/j.irfa.2016.07.005
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1057521916301156
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.irfa.2016.07.005?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
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Harrison Hong & Terence Lim & Jeremy C. Stein, 2000. "Bad News Travels Slowly: Size, Analyst Coverage, and the Profitability of Momentum Strategies," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 55(1), pages 265-295, February.
    2. Huang, Roger D. & Masulis, Ronald W., 2003. "Trading activity and stock price volatility: evidence from the London Stock Exchange," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 10(3), pages 249-269, May.
    3. Hasbrouck, Joel, 1991. "Measuring the Information Content of Stock Trades," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 46(1), pages 179-207, March.
    4. David Easley & Soeren Hvidkjaer & Maureen O'Hara, 2002. "Is Information Risk a Determinant of Asset Returns?," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 57(5), pages 2185-2221, October.
    5. Chakravarty, Sugato, 2001. "Stealth-trading: Which traders' trades move stock prices?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 61(2), pages 289-307, August.
    6. Alfonso Dufour & Robert F. Engle, 2000. "Time and the Price Impact of a Trade," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 55(6), pages 2467-2498, December.
    7. Holthausen, Robert W. & Leftwich, Richard W. & Mayers, David, 1990. "Large-block transactions, the speed of response, and temporary and permanent stock-price effects," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 26(1), pages 71-95, July.
    8. Foster, F Douglas & Viswanathan, S, 1993. "Variations in Trading Volume, Return Volatility, and Trading Costs: Evidence on Recent Price Formation Models," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 48(1), pages 187-211, March.
    9. Meulbroek, Lisa K, 1992. "An Empirical Analysis of Illegal Insider Trading," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 47(5), pages 1661-1699, December.
    10. Gemmill, Gordon, 1996. "Transparency and Liquidity: A Study of Block Trades on the London Stock Exchange under Different Publication Rules," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 51(5), pages 1765-1790, December.
    11. Holden, Craig W & Subrahmanyam, Avanidhar, 1992. "Long-Lived Private Information and Imperfect Competition," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 47(1), pages 247-270, March.
    12. Keim, Donald B & Madhaven, Ananth, 1996. "The Upstairs Market for Large-Block Transactions: Analysis and Measurement of Price Effects," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 9(1), pages 1-36.
    13. Madhavan, Ananth & Cheng, Minder, 1997. "In Search of Liquidity: Block Trades in the Upstairs and Downstairs Markets," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 10(1), pages 175-203.
    14. Chordia, Tarun & Roll, Richard & Subrahmanyam, Avanidhar, 2002. "Order imbalance, liquidity, and market returns," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 65(1), pages 111-130, July.
    15. Easley, David & Hvidkjaer, Soeren & O’Hara, Maureen, 2010. "Factoring Information into Returns," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 45(2), pages 293-309, April.
    16. Benjamin M. Blau & Bonnie F. Van Ness & Robert A. Van Ness, 2009. "Intraday Stealth Trading: Which Trades Move Prices During Periods Of High Volume?," Journal of Financial Research, Southern Finance Association;Southwestern Finance Association, vol. 32(1), pages 1-21, March.
    17. Huang, Roger D & Stoll, Hans R, 1997. "The Components of the Bid-Ask Spread: A General Approach," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 10(4), pages 995-1034.
    18. Easley, David & Kiefer, Nicholas M & O'Hara, Maureen, 1997. "One Day in the Life of a Very Common Stock," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 10(3), pages 805-835.
    19. Aitken, Michael & Frino, Alex, 1996. "Execution costs associated with institutional trades on the Australian Stock Exchange," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 4(1), pages 45-58, May.
    20. Lakonishok, Josef & Lee, Inmoo, 2001. "Are Insider Trades Informative?," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 14(1), pages 79-111.
    21. Lee, Charles M C & Ready, Mark J, 1991. "Inferring Trade Direction from Intraday Data," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 46(2), pages 733-746, June.
    22. Lai, Sandy & Ng, Lilian & Zhang, Bohui, 2014. "Does PIN affect equity prices around the world?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 114(1), pages 178-195.
    23. Robert F. Engle & Jeffrey R. Russell, 1998. "Autoregressive Conditional Duration: A New Model for Irregularly Spaced Transaction Data," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 66(5), pages 1127-1162, September.
    24. Easley, David & Kiefer, Nicholas M & O'Hara, Maureen, 1996. "Cream-Skimming or Profit-Sharing? The Curious Role of Purchased Order Flow," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 51(3), pages 811-833, July.
    25. Chiraphol N. Chiyachantana & Pankaj K. Jain & Christine Jiang & Robert A. Wood, 2004. "International Evidence on Institutional Trading Behavior and Price Impact," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 59(2), pages 869-898, April.
    26. Easley, David & O'Hara, Maureen, 1987. "Price, trade size, and information in securities markets," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(1), pages 69-90, September.
    27. Hasbrouck, Joel, 1991. "The Summary Informativeness of Stock Trades: An Econometric Analysis," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 4(3), pages 571-595.
    28. Alex Frino & Maria Grazia Romano, 2010. "Transaction Costs and the Asymmetric Price Impact of Block Trades," CSEF Working Papers 252, Centre for Studies in Economics and Finance (CSEF), University of Naples, Italy.
    29. Kraus, Alan & Stoll, Hans R, 1972. "Price Impacts of Block Trading on the New York Stock Exchange," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 27(3), pages 569-588, June.
    30. Kaun Y. Lee & Kee H. Chung, 2009. "Information-Based Trading and Price Improvement," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(5-6), pages 754-773.
    31. Alexander, Gordon J. & Peterson, Mark A., 2007. "An analysis of trade-size clustering and its relation to stealth trading," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(2), pages 435-471, May.
    32. Vega, Clara, 2006. "Stock price reaction to public and private information," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 82(1), pages 103-133, October.
    33. Kyle, Albert S, 1985. "Continuous Auctions and Insider Trading," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 53(6), pages 1315-1335, November.
    34. John, Kose & Lang, Larry H P, 1991. "Insider Trading around Dividend Announcements: Theory and Evidence," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 46(4), pages 1361-1389, September.
    35. Chan, Louis K C & Jegadeesh, Narasimhan & Lakonishok, Josef, 1996. "Momentum Strategies," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 51(5), pages 1681-1713, December.
    36. Spierdijk, Laura, 2004. "An empirical analysis of the role of the trading intensity in information dissemination on the NYSE," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 11(2), pages 163-184, March.
    37. Brennan, Michael J. & Subrahmanyam, Avanidhar, 1996. "Market microstructure and asset pricing: On the compensation for illiquidity in stock returns," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 41(3), pages 441-464, July.
    38. Ibikunle, Gbenga, 2015. "Opening and closing price efficiency: Do financial markets need the call auction?," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 208-227.
    39. Lakonishok, Josef & Lev, Baruch, 1987. "Stock Splits and Stock Dividends: Why, Who, and When," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 42(4), pages 913-932, September.
    40. Glosten, Lawrence R. & Harris, Lawrence E., 1988. "Estimating the components of the bid/ask spread," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 21(1), pages 123-142, May.
    41. Saar, Gideon, 2001. "Price Impact Asymmetry of Block Trades: An Institutional Trading Explanation," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 14(4), pages 1153-1181.
    42. Karpoff, Jonathan M., 1987. "The Relation between Price Changes and Trading Volume: A Survey," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 22(1), pages 109-126, March.
    43. Chan, Louis K C & Lakonishok, Josef, 1997. "Institutional Equity Trading Costs: NYSE versus Nasdaq," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 52(2), pages 713-735, June.
    44. Foster, F. Douglas & Viswanathan, S., 1994. "Strategic Trading with Asymmetrically Informed Traders and Long-Lived Information," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 29(4), pages 499-518, December.
    45. Chan, Louis K C & Lakonishok, Josef, 1995. "The Behavior of Stock Prices around Institutional Trades," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 50(4), pages 1147-1174, September.
    46. Aktas, Nihat & de Bodt, Eric & Declerck, Fany & Van Oppens, Herve, 2007. "The PIN anomaly around M&A announcements," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 10(2), pages 169-191, May.
    47. Alex Frino & Elvis Jarnecic & Andrew Lepone, 2007. "The determinants of the price impact of block trades: further evidence," Abacus, Accounting Foundation, University of Sydney, vol. 43(1), pages 94-106, March.
    48. Jonathan Brogaard & Terrence Hendershott & Ryan Riordan, 2014. "High-Frequency Trading and Price Discovery," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 27(8), pages 2267-2306.
    49. Chordia, Tarun & Roll, Richard & Subrahmanyam, Avanidhar, 2008. "Liquidity and market efficiency," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(2), pages 249-268, February.
    50. Chung, Kee H. & Li, Mingsheng & McInish, Thomas H., 2005. "Information-based trading, price impact of trades, and trade autocorrelation," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 29(7), pages 1645-1669, July.
    51. Harrison Hong & Jeremy C. Stein, 1999. "A Unified Theory of Underreaction, Momentum Trading, and Overreaction in Asset Markets," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 54(6), pages 2143-2184, December.
    52. Barclay, Michael J. & Warner, Jerold B., 1993. "Stealth trading and volatility : Which trades move prices?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 34(3), pages 281-305, December.
    53. Seppi, Duane J, 1992. "Block Trading and Information Revelation around Quarterly Earnings Announcements," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 5(2), pages 281-305.
    54. Alzahrani, Ahmed A. & Gregoriou, Andros & Hudson, Robert, 2013. "Price impact of block trades in the Saudi stock market," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 23(C), pages 322-341.
    55. Ji-Chai Lin & Michael S. Rozeff, 1995. "The Speed Of Adjustment Of Prices To Private Information: Empirical Tests," Journal of Financial Research, Southern Finance Association;Southwestern Finance Association, vol. 18(2), pages 143-156, June.
    56. Easley, David, et al, 1996. "Liquidity, Information, and Infrequently Traded Stocks," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 51(4), pages 1405-1436, September.
    57. Daley, La & Hughes, Js & Rayburn, Jd, 1995. "The Impact Of Earnings Announcements On The Permanent Price Effects Of Block Trades," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(2), pages 317-334.
    58. Lin, Ji-Chai & Rozeff, Michael S, 1995. "The Speed of Adjustment of Prices to Private Information: Empirical Tests," Journal of Financial Research, Southern Finance Association;Southwestern Finance Association, vol. 18(2), pages 143-156, 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. Shang, Di & Diao, Gang & Zhao, Xiaodi, 2020. "Have China's regulations on imported waste paper improved its quality," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 119(C).
    2. Gaoshan Wang & Guangjin Yu & Xiaohong Shen, 2020. "The Effect of Online Investor Sentiment on Stock Movements: An LSTM Approach," Complexity, Hindawi, vol. 2020, pages 1-11, December.
    3. Le, Anh Tu & Le, Thai-Ha & Liu, Wai-Man & Fong, Kingsley Y., 2020. "Multiple duration analyses of dynamic limit order placement strategies and aggressiveness in a low-latency market environment," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    4. Donglian Ma & Pengxiang Zhai, 2021. "The Accuracy of the Tick Rule in the Bitcoin Market," SAGE Open, , vol. 11(2), pages 21582440211, May.
    5. Lien, Donald & Hung, Pi-Hsia & Wu, Yi-Hsien, 2023. "An intraday analysis of block orders on the Taiwan Stock Exchange," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 133-147.

    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. Alzahrani, Ahmed A. & Gregoriou, Andros & Hudson, Robert, 2013. "Price impact of block trades in the Saudi stock market," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 23(C), pages 322-341.
    2. Jagjeev Dosanjh, 2017. "Exchange Initiatives and Market Efficiency: Evidence from the Australian Securities Exchange," PhD Thesis, Finance Discipline Group, UTS Business School, University of Technology, Sydney, number 1-2017.
    3. repec:uts:finphd:34 is not listed on IDEAS
    4. Aktas, Osman Ulas & Kryzanowski, Lawrence, 2014. "Market impacts of trades for stocks listed on the Borsa Istanbul," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 20(C), pages 152-175.
    5. Murphy Jun Jie Lee, 2013. "The Microstructure of Trading Processes on the Singapore Exchange," PhD Thesis, Finance Discipline Group, UTS Business School, University of Technology, Sydney, number 4, July-Dece.
    6. Murphy Jun Jie Lee, 2013. "The Microstructure of Trading Processes on the Singapore Exchange," PhD Thesis, Finance Discipline Group, UTS Business School, University of Technology, Sydney, number 2-2013.
    7. Gbenga Ibikunle & Davide Mare & Yuxin Sun, 2020. "The paradoxical effects of market fragmentation on adverse selection risk and market efficiency," The European Journal of Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 26(14), pages 1439-1461, September.
    8. Raman Kumar & Marius Popescu, 2014. "The implied intra-day probability of informed trading," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 42(2), pages 357-371, February.
    9. Hatheway, Frank & Kwan, Amy & Zheng, Hui, 2017. "An Empirical Analysis of Market Segmentation on U.S. Equity Markets," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 52(6), pages 2399-2427, December.
    10. Berkman, Henk & Koch, Paul D., 2008. "Noise trading and the price formation process," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 15(2), pages 232-250, March.
    11. Pascual, Roberto & Escribano, Álvaro & Tapia, Mikel, 2000. "Adverse selection costs, trading activity and liquidity in the NYSE: an empirical analysis in a dynamic context," UC3M Working papers. Economics 7276, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid. Departamento de Economía.
    12. A. Can Inci & Biao Lu & H. Nejat Seyhun, 2010. "Intraday Behavior of Stock Prices and Trades around Insider Trading," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 39(1), pages 323-363, March.
    13. Chung, Kee H. & Li, Mingsheng & McInish, Thomas H., 2005. "Information-based trading, price impact of trades, and trade autocorrelation," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 29(7), pages 1645-1669, July.
    14. Murgia, Maurizio & Pinna, Andrea & Gottardo, Pietro & Bosetti, Luisella, 2019. "The impact of large orders in electronic markets," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 174-192.
    15. Sadka, Ronnie, 2006. "Momentum and post-earnings-announcement drift anomalies: The role of liquidity risk," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 80(2), pages 309-349, May.
    16. Bikker, Jacob A. & Spierdijk, Laura & van der Sluis, Pieter Jelle, 2007. "Market impact costs of institutional equity trades," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 26(6), pages 974-1000, October.
    17. Oehler, Andreas & Häcker, Mirko, 2003. "Kurseinfluss mittlerer und großer Transaktionen am deutschen Aktienmarkt," Discussion Papers 20, University of Bamberg, Chair of Finance.
    18. Biais, Bruno & Glosten, Larry & Spatt, Chester, 2005. "Market microstructure: A survey of microfoundations, empirical results, and policy implications," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 8(2), pages 217-264, May.
    19. Yue Zhao & Difang Wan, 2018. "Institutional high frequency trading and price discovery: Evidence from an emerging commodity futures market," Journal of Futures Markets, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 38(2), pages 243-270, February.
    20. Lei, Qin & Wu, Guojun, 2005. "Time-varying informed and uninformed trading activities," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 8(2), pages 153-181, May.
    21. Rzayev, Khaladdin & Ibikunle, Gbenga, 2019. "A state-space modeling of the information content of trading volume," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 46(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Informed trading; Block trades; Transparency; Opacity; Price impact; Price discovery;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G12 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Asset Pricing; Trading Volume; Bond Interest Rates
    • G14 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Information and Market Efficiency; Event Studies; Insider Trading

    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:eee:finana:v:54:y:2017:i:c:p:114-129. 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/620166 .

    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.