IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/phsmap/v586y2022ics0378437121007573.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Using transfer entropy to measure information flows between cryptocurrencies

Author

Listed:
  • Assaf, Ata
  • Bilgin, Mehmet Huseyin
  • Demir, Ender

Abstract

In this paper, we use the transfer entropy to quantify information flows between three cryptocurrencies, namely Bitcoin, Ethereum and Ripple. We also employ the concept of Rényi transfer entropy that allows for capturing rare and frequent events separately as well as non-linear market dependencies, focusing on extreme (tail) observations of the return distributions. We find that Bitcoin and Ripple share a bidirectional information transmission, while there is only one directional information transmission from Ripple to Ethereum. There is no nonlinear information transmission according to the Rényi’s measure, which implies the linear dependency among the three cryptocurrencies. This information transmission between cryptocurrencies occurs mostly in the pre-crash period while they become independent after the 2017 cryptocurrency crash. We finally use the concept of volatility surprise to examine linkages among the volatility of our series, and find a highly significant information transmission flow in one direction from Bitcoin to Ripple. Our results should be useful to investors in helping them in developing investment strategies by considering these three cryptocurrencies.

Suggested Citation

  • Assaf, Ata & Bilgin, Mehmet Huseyin & Demir, Ender, 2022. "Using transfer entropy to measure information flows between cryptocurrencies," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 586(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:phsmap:v:586:y:2022:i:c:s0378437121007573
    DOI: 10.1016/j.physa.2021.126484
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378437121007573
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only. Journal offers the option of making the article available online on Science direct for a fee of $3,000
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.physa.2021.126484?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. Sifat, Imtiaz Mohammad & Mohamad, Azhar & Mohamed Shariff, Mohammad Syazwan Bin, 2019. "Lead-Lag relationship between Bitcoin and Ethereum: Evidence from hourly and daily data," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 306-321.
    2. Demir, Ender & Gozgor, Giray & Lau, Chi Keung Marco & Vigne, Samuel A., 2018. "Does economic policy uncertainty predict the Bitcoin returns? An empirical investigation," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 26(C), pages 145-149.
    3. Ciaian, Pavel & Rajcaniova, Miroslava & Kancs, d'Artis, 2018. "Virtual relationships: Short- and long-run evidence from BitCoin and altcoin markets," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 173-195.
    4. Corbet, Shaen & Lucey, Brian & Yarovaya, Larisa, 2018. "Datestamping the Bitcoin and Ethereum bubbles," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 26(C), pages 81-88.
    5. Sensoy, Ahmet, 2019. "The inefficiency of Bitcoin revisited: A high-frequency analysis with alternative currencies," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 28(C), pages 68-73.
    6. Yaya, OlaOluwa S. & Ogbonna, Ahamuefula E. & Olubusoye, Olusanya E., 2019. "How persistent and dynamic inter-dependent are pricing of Bitcoin to other cryptocurrencies before and after 2017/18 crash?," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 531(C).
    7. Katsiampa, Paraskevi, 2019. "An empirical investigation of volatility dynamics in the cryptocurrency market," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 322-335.
    8. Okyu Kwon & Jae-Suk Yang, 2008. "Information flow between stock indices," Papers 0802.1747, arXiv.org.
    9. Corbet, Shaen & Meegan, Andrew & Larkin, Charles & Lucey, Brian & Yarovaya, Larisa, 2018. "Exploring the dynamic relationships between cryptocurrencies and other financial assets," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 165(C), pages 28-34.
    10. Zięba, Damian & Kokoszczyński, Ryszard & Śledziewska, Katarzyna, 2019. "Shock transmission in the cryptocurrency market. Is Bitcoin the most influential?," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 102-125.
    11. Stanis{l}aw Dro.zd.z & Ludovico Minati & Pawe{l} O'swik{e}cimka & Marek Stanuszek & Marcin Wk{a}torek, 2019. "Competition of noise and collectivity in global cryptocurrency trading: route to a self-contained market," Papers 1911.08944, arXiv.org, revised Feb 2020.
    12. Urquhart, Andrew, 2016. "The inefficiency of Bitcoin," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 148(C), pages 80-82.
    13. Marcin Wk{a}torek & Stanis{l}aw Dro.zd.z & Jaros{l}aw Kwapie'n & Ludovico Minati & Pawe{l} O'swik{e}cimka & Marek Stanuszek, 2020. "Multiscale characteristics of the emerging global cryptocurrency market," Papers 2010.15403, arXiv.org, revised Mar 2021.
    14. Kee-Hong Bae & G. Andrew Karolyi & René M. Stulz, 2003. "A New Approach to Measuring Financial Contagion," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 16(3), pages 717-763, July.
    15. Long, Huaigang & Zaremba, Adam & Demir, Ender & Szczygielski, Jan Jakub & Vasenin, Mikhail, 2020. "Seasonality in the Cross-Section of Cryptocurrency Returns," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 35(C).
    16. Aharon, David Yechiam & Qadan, Mahmoud, 2019. "Bitcoin and the day-of-the-week effect," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 31(C).
    17. Stanis{l}aw Dro.zd.z & Robert Gk{e}barowski & Ludovico Minati & Pawe{l} O'swik{e}cimka & Marcin Wk{a}torek, 2018. "Bitcoin market route to maturity? Evidence from return fluctuations, temporal correlations and multiscaling effects," Papers 1804.05916, arXiv.org, revised Jul 2018.
    18. Bekiros, Stelios & Nguyen, Duc Khuong & Sandoval Junior, Leonidas & Uddin, Gazi Salah, 2017. "Information diffusion, cluster formation and entropy-based network dynamics in equity and commodity markets," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 256(3), pages 945-961.
    19. Obryan Poyser, 2019. "Exploring the dynamics of Bitcoin’s price: a Bayesian structural time series approach," Eurasian Economic Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 9(1), pages 29-60, March.
    20. Dimpfl Thomas & Peter Franziska Julia, 2013. "Using transfer entropy to measure information flows between financial markets," Studies in Nonlinear Dynamics & Econometrics, De Gruyter, vol. 17(1), pages 85-102, February.
    21. Kwon, Okyu & Yang, Jae-Suk, 2008. "Information flow between composite stock index and individual stocks," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 387(12), pages 2851-2856.
    22. Cagli, Efe Caglar, 2019. "Explosive behavior in the prices of Bitcoin and altcoins," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 29(C), pages 398-403.
    23. Katsiampa, Paraskevi, 2019. "Volatility co-movement between Bitcoin and Ether," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 221-227.
    24. Kraaijeveld, Olivier & De Smedt, Johannes, 2020. "The predictive power of public Twitter sentiment for forecasting cryptocurrency prices," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    25. Dastgir, Shabbir & Demir, Ender & Downing, Gareth & Gozgor, Giray & Lau, Chi Keung Marco, 2019. "The causal relationship between Bitcoin attention and Bitcoin returns: Evidence from the Copula-based Granger causality test," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 28(C), pages 160-164.
    26. Dimpfl, Thomas & Peter, Franziska J., 2014. "The impact of the financial crisis on transatlantic information flows: An intraday analysis," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 1-13.
    27. Cheah, Eng-Tuck & Fry, John, 2015. "Speculative bubbles in Bitcoin markets? An empirical investigation into the fundamental value of Bitcoin," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 130(C), pages 32-36.
    28. Ender Demir & Mehmet Huseyin Bilgin & Gokhan Karabulut & Asli Cansin Doker, 2020. "The relationship between cryptocurrencies and COVID-19 pandemic," Eurasian Economic Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 10(3), pages 349-360, September.
    29. Yi, Shuyue & Xu, Zishuang & Wang, Gang-Jin, 2018. "Volatility connectedness in the cryptocurrency market: Is Bitcoin a dominant cryptocurrency?," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 98-114.
    30. Benjamin Blau & Todd Griffith & Ryan Whitby, 2020. "Comovement in the Cryptocurrency Market," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 40(1), pages 448-455.
    31. Fry, John & Cheah, Eng-Tuck, 2016. "Negative bubbles and shocks in cryptocurrency markets," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 343-352.
    32. Katsiampa, Paraskevi & Corbet, Shaen & Lucey, Brian, 2019. "Volatility spillover effects in leading cryptocurrencies: A BEKK-MGARCH analysis," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 29(C), pages 68-74.
    33. Walther, Thomas & Klein, Tony & Bouri, Elie, 2019. "Exogenous drivers of Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency volatility – A mixed data sampling approach to forecasting," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 63(C).
    34. Gajardo, Gabriel & Kristjanpoller, Werner D. & Minutolo, Marcel, 2018. "Does Bitcoin exhibit the same asymmetric multifractal cross-correlations with crude oil, gold and DJIA as the Euro, Great British Pound and Yen?," Chaos, Solitons & Fractals, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 195-205.
    35. Demir, Ender & Simonyan, Serdar & García-Gómez, Conrado-Diego & Lau, Chi Keung Marco, 2021. "The asymmetric effect of bitcoin on altcoins: evidence from the nonlinear autoregressive distributed lag (NARDL) model," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 40(C).
    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. Maiti, Moinak & Vukovic, Darko B. & Frömmel, Michael, 2023. "Quantifying the asymmetric information flow between Bitcoin prices and electricity consumption," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 57(C).
    2. Tong, Zezheng & Goodell, John W. & Shen, Dehua, 2022. "Assessing causal relationships between cryptocurrencies and investor attention: New results from transfer entropy methodology," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 50(C).
    3. Caferra, Rocco, 2022. "Sentiment spillover and price dynamics: Information flow in the cryptocurrency and stock market," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 593(C).
    4. Assaf, Ata & Mokni, Khaled & Youssef, Manel, 2023. "COVID-19 and information flow between cryptocurrencies, and conventional financial assets," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 89(C), pages 73-81.
    5. Pagnottoni, Paolo, 2023. "Superhighways and roads of multivariate time series shock transmission: Application to cryptocurrency, carbon emission and energy prices," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 615(C).
    6. Ferreira, Joaquim & Morais, Flávio, 2023. "Predict or to be predicted? A transfer entropy view between adaptive green markets, structural shocks and sentiment index," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 56(C).
    7. Santorsola, Marco & Caferra, Rocco & Morone, Andrea, 2022. "The financial repercussions of military escalation," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 603(C).
    8. Dhifaoui, Zouhaier & Khalfaoui, Rabeh & Abedin, Mohammad Zoynul & Shi, Baofeng, 2022. "Quantifying information transfer among clean energy, carbon, oil, and precious metals: A novel transfer entropy-based approach," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 49(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. Demir, Ender & Simonyan, Serdar & García-Gómez, Conrado-Diego & Lau, Chi Keung Marco, 2021. "The asymmetric effect of bitcoin on altcoins: evidence from the nonlinear autoregressive distributed lag (NARDL) model," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 40(C).
    2. BRIK, Hatem & El OUAKDI, Jihene & FTITI, Zied, 2022. "Roles of stable versus nonstable cryptocurrencies in Bitcoin market dynamics," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    3. Aurelio F. Bariviera & Ignasi Merediz‐Solà, 2021. "Where Do We Stand In Cryptocurrencies Economic Research? A Survey Based On Hybrid Analysis," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 35(2), pages 377-407, April.
    4. Helder Miguel Correia Virtuoso Sebastião & Paulo José Osório Rupino Da Cunha & Pedro Manuel Cortesão Godinho, 2021. "Cryptocurrencies and blockchain. Overview and future perspectives," International Journal of Economics and Business Research, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 21(3), pages 305-342.
    5. Jaros{l}aw Kwapie'n & Marcin Wk{a}torek & Stanis{l}aw Dro.zd.z, 2021. "Cryptocurrency Market Consolidation in 2020--2021," Papers 2112.06552, arXiv.org.
    6. Almeida, José & Gonçalves, Tiago Cruz, 2023. "A systematic literature review of investor behavior in the cryptocurrency markets," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(C).
    7. Flori, Andrea, 2019. "News and subjective beliefs: A Bayesian approach to Bitcoin investments," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 336-356.
    8. Vidal-Tomás, David, 2021. "The entry and exit dynamics of the cryptocurrency market," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 58(C).
    9. Andrea Flori, 2019. "Cryptocurrencies In Finance: Review And Applications," International Journal of Theoretical and Applied Finance (IJTAF), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 22(05), pages 1-22, August.
    10. Assaf, Ata & Charif, Husni & Demir, Ender, 2022. "Information sharing among cryptocurrencies: Evidence from mutual information and approximate entropy during COVID-19," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 47(PA).
    11. Corbet, Shaen & Lucey, Brian & Urquhart, Andrew & Yarovaya, Larisa, 2019. "Cryptocurrencies as a financial asset: A systematic analysis," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 182-199.
    12. Bazán-Palomino, Walter, 2022. "Interdependence, contagion and speculative bubbles in cryptocurrency markets," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 49(C).
    13. Kyriazis, Nikolaos & Papadamou, Stephanos & Corbet, Shaen, 2020. "A systematic review of the bubble dynamics of cryptocurrency prices," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 54(C).
    14. Huynh, Toan Luu Duc & Nasir, Muhammad Ali & Vo, Xuan Vinh & Nguyen, Thong Trung, 2020. "“Small things matter most”: The spillover effects in the cryptocurrency market and gold as a silver bullet," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 54(C).
    15. Parthajit Kayal & Purnima Rohilla, 2021. "Bitcoin in the economics and finance literature: a survey," SN Business & Economics, Springer, vol. 1(7), pages 1-21, July.
    16. Peng‐Fei Dai & John W. Goodell & Luu Duc Toan Huynh & Zhifeng Liu & Shaen Corbet, 2023. "Understanding the transmission of crash risk between cryptocurrency and equity markets," The Financial Review, Eastern Finance Association, vol. 58(3), pages 539-573, August.
    17. Achraf Ghorbel & Wajdi Frikha & Yasmine Snene Manzli, 2022. "Testing for asymmetric non-linear short- and long-run relationships between crypto-currencies and stock markets," Eurasian Economic Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 12(3), pages 387-425, September.
    18. Ahmed H. Elsayed & Giray Gozgor & Chi Keung Marco Lau, 2022. "Causality and dynamic spillovers among cryptocurrencies and currency markets," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 27(2), pages 2026-2040, April.
    19. Muhammad Owais Qarni & Saiqb Gulzar, 2021. "Portfolio diversification benefits of alternative currency investment in Bitcoin and foreign exchange markets," Financial Innovation, Springer;Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, vol. 7(1), pages 1-37, December.
    20. Omane-Adjepong, Maurice & Alagidede, Imhotep Paul, 2019. "Multiresolution analysis and spillovers of major cryptocurrency markets," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 191-206.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Cryptocurrencies; Information flows; Shannon Entropy; Rényi transfer entropy;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C46 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods: Special Topics - - - Specific Distributions
    • F38 - International Economics - - International Finance - - - International Financial Policy: Financial Transactions Tax; Capital Controls
    • G01 - Financial Economics - - General - - - Financial Crises

    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:phsmap:v:586:y:2022:i:c:s0378437121007573. 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.journals.elsevier.com/physica-a-statistical-mechpplications/ .

    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.