IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/finana/v63y2019icp296-306.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Down but not out: Plenty of returns available for shorted down stocks

Author

Listed:
  • Galariotis, Emilios
  • Li, Bob
  • Chai, Daniel

Abstract

Unlike in other developed equity markets, short sellers in Australia are required to report their covered short positions on a daily basis to the market regulator, who subsequently disseminates this information freely to the public in a very timely manner. If short selling contains negative information, a strategy that longs (shorts) stocks with low (high) short selling interest should result in positive returns. This study examines the profitability of such a strategy, named the short selling interest momentum trading strategy. The results indicate that significant returns can be made by following short sellers' actions ex post. Further, stronger returns are made from price momentum winner stocks and short sellers behave rationally towards short selling activities. The findings from this study are robust to various controls relating to size, industry, price momentum and options.

Suggested Citation

  • Galariotis, Emilios & Li, Bob & Chai, Daniel, 2019. "Down but not out: Plenty of returns available for shorted down stocks," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 296-306.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:finana:v:63:y:2019:i:c:p:296-306
    DOI: 10.1016/j.irfa.2018.12.006
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1057521918301595
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.irfa.2018.12.006?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. Karl B. Diether & Kuan-Hui Lee & Ingrid M. Werner, 2009. "Short-Sale Strategies and Return Predictability," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 22(2), pages 575-607, February.
    2. Emilios C. C Galariotis & Phil Holmes & Vasileios Kallinterakis & Xiaodong S. Ma, 2014. "Market states, expectations, sentiment and momentum: How naive are investors?," Post-Print hal-00943345, HAL.
    3. Binh Do & Viet Do & Daniel Chai, 2012. "Does the 2008 short sale ban affect the enforcement of the Law of One Price? Evidence from Australia," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 52(1), pages 117-144, March.
    4. Bessembinder, Hendrik & Seguin, Paul J., 1993. "Price Volatility, Trading Volume, and Market Depth: Evidence from Futures Markets," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 28(1), pages 21-39, March.
    5. Stephen E. Christophe & Michael G. Ferri & James J. Angel, 2004. "Short-Selling Prior to Earnings Announcements," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 59(4), pages 1845-1876, August.
    6. Kent Daniel & David Hirshleifer & Avanidhar Subrahmanyam, 1998. "Investor Psychology and Security Market Under- and Overreactions," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 53(6), pages 1839-1885, December.
    7. Hemang Desai & K. Ramesh & S. Ramu Thiagarajan & Bala V. Balachandran, 2002. "An Investigation of the Informational Role of Short Interest in the Nasdaq Market," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 57(5), pages 2263-2287, October.
    8. Michael J. Aitken & Alex Frino & Michael S. McCorry & Peter L. Swan, 1998. "Short Sales Are Almost Instantaneously Bad News: Evidence from the Australian Stock Exchange," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 53(6), pages 2205-2223, December.
    9. Galariotis, Emilios C., 2010. "What should we know about momentum investing? The case of the Australian Security Exchange," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 18(4), pages 369-389, September.
    10. Thomas J. George & Chuan-Yang Hwang, 2004. "The 52-Week High and Momentum Investing," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 59(5), pages 2145-2176, October.
    11. Fama, Eugene F. & French, Kenneth R., 2015. "A five-factor asset pricing model," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 116(1), pages 1-22.
    12. Asquith, Paul & Pathak, Parag A. & Ritter, Jay R., 2005. "Short interest, institutional ownership, and stock returns," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 78(2), pages 243-276, November.
    13. Stratmann, Thomas & Welborn, John W., 2016. "Informed short selling, fails-to-deliver, and abnormal returns," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 38(PA), pages 81-102.
    14. 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.
    15. Boehmer, Ekkehart & Huszar, Zsuzsa R. & Jordan, Bradford D., 2010. "The good news in short interest," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 96(1), pages 80-97, April.
    16. Tim Brailsford & Clive Gaunt & Michael A O’Brien, 2012. "Size and book-to-market factors in Australia," Australian Journal of Management, Australian School of Business, vol. 37(2), pages 261-281, August.
    17. Jegadeesh, Narasimhan & Titman, Sheridan, 1993. "Returns to Buying Winners and Selling Losers: Implications for Stock Market Efficiency," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 48(1), pages 65-91, March.
    18. Lesmond, David A. & Schill, Michael J. & Zhou, Chunsheng, 2004. "The illusory nature of momentum profits," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 71(2), pages 349-380, February.
    19. Michael J. Cooper & Roberto C. Gutierrez & Allaudeen Hameed, 2004. "Market States and Momentum," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 59(3), pages 1345-1365, June.
    20. Mardy Chiah & Daniel Chai & Angel Zhong & Song Li, 2016. "A Better Model? An Empirical Investigation of the Fama–French Five-factor Model in Australia," International Review of Finance, International Review of Finance Ltd., vol. 16(4), pages 595-638, December.
    21. Miller, Edward M, 1977. "Risk, Uncertainty, and Divergence of Opinion," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 32(4), pages 1151-1168, September.
    22. 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.
    23. Byun, Suk Joon & Lim, Sonya S. & Yun, Sang Hyun, 2016. "Continuing Overreaction and Stock Return Predictability," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 51(6), pages 2015-2046, December.
    24. Li, Bob & Stork, Thomas & Chai, Daniel & Ee, Mong Shan & Ang, Hong Nee, 2014. "Momentum effect in Australian equities: Revisit, armed with short-selling ban and risk factors," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 27(C), pages 19-31.
    25. Dechow, Patricia M. & Hutton, Amy P. & Meulbroek, Lisa & Sloan, Richard G., 2001. "Short-sellers, fundamental analysis, and stock returns," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 61(1), pages 77-106, July.
    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. Ang (Chewie), Tze Chuan & Hayat, Aziz & Li, Bob, 2020. "Short-selling risk in Australia," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 63(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. Wang, Xue & Yan, Xuemin (Sterling) & Zheng, Lingling, 2020. "Shorting flows, public disclosure, and market efficiency," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 135(1), pages 191-212.
    2. Kelley Bergsma & Jitendra Tayal, 2019. "Short Interest and Lottery Stocks," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 48(1), pages 187-227, March.
    3. Comerton-Forde, Carole & Do, Binh Huu & Gray, Philip & Manton, Tom, 2016. "Assessing the information content of short-selling metrics using daily disclosures," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 188-204.
    4. Charles M. Jones & Adam V. Reed & William Waller, 2016. "Revealing Shorts An Examination of Large Short Position Disclosures," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 29(12), pages 3278-3320.
    5. Bohl, Martin T. & Klein, Arne C. & Siklos, Pierre L., 2013. "Are short sellers positive feedback traders? Evidence from the global financial crisis," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 9(3), pages 337-346.
    6. Callen, Jeffrey L. & Fang, Xiaohua, 2015. "Short interest and stock price crash risk," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 181-194.
    7. Blau, Benjamin M. & Smith, Jason M., 2014. "Autocorrelation in daily short-sale volume," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 54(1), pages 31-41.
    8. Comerton-Forde, Carole & Jones, Charles M. & Putniņš, Tālis J., 2016. "Shorting at close range: A tale of two types," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 121(3), pages 546-568.
    9. Alexander, Gordon J. & Peterson, Mark A. & Beardsley, Xiaoxin Wang, 2014. "The puzzling behavior of short sellers around earnings announcements," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 23(2), pages 255-278.
    10. Tsai, Chia-Fen & Chang, Jung-Hsien & Tsai, Feng-Tse, 2021. "Lottery preferences and retail short selling," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    11. Mazouz, Khelifa & Wu, Yuliang, 2022. "Why do firm fundamentals predict returns? Evidence from short selling activity," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    12. Blau, Benjamin M. & Tew, Philip L., 2014. "Short sales and class-action lawsuits," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 20(C), pages 79-100.
    13. Lynch, Andrew & Nikolic, Biljana & Yan, Xuemin (Sterling) & Yu, Han, 2014. "Aggregate short selling, commonality, and stock market returns," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 17(C), pages 199-229.
    14. Fellner, Gerlinde & Theissen, Erik, 2014. "Short sale constraints, divergence of opinion and asset prices: Evidence from the laboratory," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 113-127.
    15. Hanauer, Matthias X. & Lesnevski, Pavel & Smajlbegovic, Esad, 2023. "Surprise in short interest," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    16. Blocher, Jesse & Haslag, Peter & Zhang, Chi, 2020. "Short trading and short investing," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 154-171.
    17. Rui Li & Nan Li & Jiahui Li & Chongfeng Wu, 2018. "Short selling, margin buying and stock return in China market," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 58(2), pages 477-501, June.
    18. Gerlinde Fellner & Erik Theissen, 2006. "Short Sale Constraints, Divergence of Opinion and Asset Values: Evidence from the Laboratory," Labsi Experimental Economics Laboratory University of Siena 009, University of Siena.
    19. Jank, Stephan & Roling, Christoph & Smajlbegovic, Esad, 2021. "Flying under the radar: The effects of short-sale disclosure rules on investor behavior and stock prices," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 139(1), pages 209-233.
    20. Alldredge, Dallin M. & Blau, Benjamin M. & Brough, Tyler J., 2012. "Short selling after hours," Journal of Economics and Business, Elsevier, vol. 64(6), pages 439-451.

    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:63:y:2019:i:c:p:296-306. 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.