IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/jbfnac/v49y2022i7-8p1211-1236.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Informed options trading prior to FDA announcements

Author

Listed:
  • Marc J. M. Bohmann
  • Vinay Patel

Abstract

We find that pre‐announcement implied volatility spreads and options trading activity are abnormally elevated and can predict Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announcement date stock returns. The effect is more pronounced in firms with higher levels of information asymmetry and lower‐quality corporate governance suggesting that some options traders are informed in advance of the details that affect the stock price impact of the FDA news. We provide the first examination of informed options trading prior to FDA announcements during a 21‐year period. Our findings have implications for regulators, investors and relevant firms.

Suggested Citation

  • Marc J. M. Bohmann & Vinay Patel, 2022. "Informed options trading prior to FDA announcements," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 49(7-8), pages 1211-1236, July.
  • Handle: RePEc:bla:jbfnac:v:49:y:2022:i:7-8:p:1211-1236
    DOI: 10.1111/jbfa.12600
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/jbfa.12600
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/jbfa.12600?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. Timothy Cairney & Judith Swisher, 2004. "The Role of the Options Market in the Dissemination of Private Information," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(7-8), pages 1015-1042.
    2. Ge, Li & Lin, Tse-Chun & Pearson, Neil D., 2016. "Why does the option to stock volume ratio predict stock returns?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 120(3), pages 601-622.
    3. Jun Pan & Allen M. Poteshman, 2006. "The Information in Option Volume for Future Stock Prices," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 19(3), pages 871-908.
    4. 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.
    5. Patel, Vinay & Putniņš, Tālis J. & Michayluk, David & Foley, Sean, 2020. "Price discovery in stock and options markets," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 47(C).
    6. Charles Cao & Zhiwu Chen & John M. Griffin, 2005. "Informational Content of Option Volume Prior to Takeovers," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 78(3), pages 1073-1109, May.
    7. Kay, John & Silberston, Aubrey, 1995. "Corporate Governance," National Institute Economic Review, National Institute of Economic and Social Research, vol. 153, pages 84-107, August.
    8. Chan, Konan & Ge, Li & Lin, Tse-Chun, 2015. "Informational Content of Options Trading on Acquirer Announcement Return," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 50(5), pages 1057-1082, October.
    9. Timothy Cairney & Judith Swisher, 2004. "The Role of the Options Market in the Dissemination of Private Information," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(7‐8), pages 1015-1042, September.
    10. Shih-Chuan Tsai, 2014. "Individuals’ Trading Prior to Earnings Announcements," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 41(9-10), pages 1124-1156, November.
    11. Savor, Pavel G., 2012. "Stock returns after major price shocks: The impact of information," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 106(3), pages 635-659.
    12. Marc Bohmann & Vinay Patel, 2020. "Information Leakage in Energy Derivatives around News Announcements," Published Paper Series 2020-2, Finance Discipline Group, UTS Business School, University of Technology, Sydney.
    13. Easley, David & de Prado, Marcos Lopez & O'Hara, Maureen, 2016. "Discerning information from trade data," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 120(2), pages 269-285.
    14. Bohmann, Marc & Michayluk, David & Patel, Vinay & Walsh, Kathleen, 2019. "Liquidity and earnings in event studies: Does data granularity matter?," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 118-131.
    15. Yan Lu & Sugata Ray, 2016. "Too Good to be True? An Analysis of the Options Market's Reactions to Earnings Releases," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 43(7-8), pages 830-848, July.
    16. Chiang, Raymond & Venkatesh, P C, 1988. " Insider Holdings and Perceptions of Information Asymmetry: A Note," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 43(4), pages 1041-1048, September.
    17. Wen Jin & Joshua Livnat & Yuan Zhang, 2012. "Option Prices Leading Equity Prices: Do Option Traders Have an Information Advantage?," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 50(2), pages 401-432, May.
    18. Patel, Vinay & Michayluk, David, 2016. "Return predictability following different drivers of large price changes," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 202-214.
    19. Hao, (Grace) Qing, 2016. "Is there information leakage prior to share repurchase announcements? Evidence from daily options trading," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 27(C), pages 79-101.
    20. Dittmar, Amy & Mahrt-Smith, Jan, 2007. "Corporate governance and the value of cash holdings," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 83(3), pages 599-634, March.
    21. Martin Bugeja & Vinay Patel & Terry Walter, 2015. "The microstructure of Australian takeover announcements," Australian Journal of Management, Australian School of Business, vol. 40(1), pages 161-188, February.
    22. Augustin, Patrick & Brenner, Menachem & Grass, Gunnar & Subrahmanyam, Marti G., 2016. "How do insiders trade?," CFS Working Paper Series 541, Center for Financial Studies (CFS).
    23. Suresh Govindaraj & Yubin Li & Chen Zhao, 2020. "The effect of option transaction costs on informed trading in the options market around earnings announcements," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 47(5-6), pages 615-644, May.
    24. Nicolas P. B. Bollen & Robert E. Whaley, 2004. "Does Net Buying Pressure Affect the Shape of Implied Volatility Functions?," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 59(2), pages 711-753, April.
    25. Cremers, Martijn & Weinbaum, David, 2010. "Deviations from Put-Call Parity and Stock Return Predictability," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 45(2), pages 335-367, April.
    26. Christine Cheng & Stewart Jones & William J. Moser, 2018. "Abnormal trading behavior of specific types of shareholders before US firm bankruptcy and its implications for firm bankruptcy prediction," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 45(9-10), pages 1100-1138, October.
    27. 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.
    28. Kanagaretnam, Kiridaran & Lobo, Gerald J. & Whalen, Dennis J., 2007. "Does good corporate governance reduce information asymmetry around quarterly earnings announcements?," Journal of Accounting and Public Policy, Elsevier, vol. 26(4), pages 497-522.
    29. Chern, Keh-Yiing & Tandon, Kishore & Yu, Susana & Webb, Gwendolyn, 2008. "The information content of stock split announcements: Do options matter?," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 32(6), pages 930-946, June.
    30. Marc J. M. Bohmann & David Michayluk & Vinay Patel, 2019. "Price discovery in commodity derivatives: Speculation or hedging?," Journal of Futures Markets, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 39(9), pages 1107-1121, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Kelley Bergsma & Andy Fodor & Vijay Singal & Jitendra Tayal, 2020. "Option trading after the opening bell and intraday stock return predictability," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 49(3), pages 769-804, September.
    2. Marc Bohmann & Vinay Patel, 2020. "Information Leakage in Energy Derivatives around News Announcements," Published Paper Series 2020-2, Finance Discipline Group, UTS Business School, University of Technology, Sydney.
    3. Gkionis, Konstantinos & Kostakis, Alexandros & Skiadopoulos, George & Stilger, Przemyslaw S., 2021. "Positive stock information in out-of-the-money option prices," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 128(C).
    4. Liu, Dehong & Qiu, Qi & Hughen, J. Christopher & Lung, Peter, 2019. "Price discovery in the price disagreement between equity and option markets: Evidence from SSE ETF50 options of China," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 557-571.
    5. Augustin, Patrick & Brenner, Menachem & Grass, Gunnar & Orłowski, Piotr & Subrahmanyam, Marti G., 2022. "Informed options strategies before corporate events," LawFin Working Paper Series 39, Goethe University, Center for Advanced Studies on the Foundations of Law and Finance (LawFin).
    6. Augustin, Patrick & Brenner, Menachem & Grass, Gunnar & Orłowski, Piotr & Subrahmanyam, Marti G., 2023. "Informed options strategies before corporate events," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 63(C).
    7. David Weinbaum & Andrew Fodor & Dmitriy Muravyev & Martijn Cremers, 2023. "Option Trading Activity, News Releases, and Stock Return Predictability," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 69(8), pages 4810-4827, August.
    8. Bing Han & Gang Li, 2021. "Information Content of Aggregate Implied Volatility Spread," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 67(2), pages 1249-1269, February.
    9. Suresh Govindaraj & Yubin Li & Chen Zhao, 2020. "The effect of option transaction costs on informed trading in the options market around earnings announcements," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 47(5-6), pages 615-644, May.
    10. Chang‐Mo Kang & Donghyun Kim & Junyong Kim & Geul Lee, 2022. "Informed trading of out‐of‐the‐money options and market efficiency," Journal of Financial Research, Southern Finance Association;Southwestern Finance Association, vol. 45(2), pages 247-279, June.
    11. Chen, Zhuo & Lu, Andrea, 2017. "Slow diffusion of information and price momentum in stocks: Evidence from options markets," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 98-108.
    12. Vinay Patel, 2015. "Price Discovery in US and Australian Stock and Options Markets," PhD Thesis, Finance Discipline Group, UTS Business School, University of Technology, Sydney, number 27, July-Dece.
    13. Mengyu Zhang & Thanos Verousis & Iordanis Kalaitzoglou, 2022. "Information and the arrival rate of option trading volume," Journal of Futures Markets, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 42(4), pages 605-644, April.
    14. Ming‐Yu Liu, 2019. "Improving momentum strategies using residual returns and option‐implied information," Journal of Futures Markets, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 39(4), pages 499-521, April.
    15. Vinay Patel, 2015. "Price Discovery in US and Australian Stock and Options Markets," PhD Thesis, Finance Discipline Group, UTS Business School, University of Technology, Sydney, number 6-2015.
    16. Chan, Konan & Li, Fengfei & Lin, Ji-Chai & Lin, Tse-Chun, 2017. "What do stock price levels tell us about the firms?," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 34-50.
    17. Khorram, Mehdi & Mo, Haitao & Sanger, Gary C., 2023. "Information flow and credit rating announcements," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    18. Doojin Ryu & Heejin Yang, 2018. "The directional information content of options volumes," Journal of Futures Markets, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 38(12), pages 1533-1548, December.
    19. Patrick Augustin & Menachem Brenner & Marti G. Subrahmanyam, 2019. "Informed Options Trading Prior to Takeover Announcements: Insider Trading?," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 65(12), pages 5697-5720, December.
    20. George J. Jiang & Guanzhong Pan, 2022. "Speculation or hedging?—Options trading prior to FOMC announcements," Journal of Futures Markets, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 42(2), pages 212-230, February.

    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:jbfnac:v:49:y:2022:i:7-8:p:1211-1236. 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: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0306-686X .

    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.