IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ecofin/v62y2022ics1062940822001188.html

Do cryptocurrencies provide better hedging? Evidence from major equity markets during COVID-19 pandemic

Author

Listed:
  • Maitra, Debasish
  • Ur Rehman, Mobeen
  • Ranjan Dash, Saumya
  • Hoon Kang, Sang

Abstract

Using the five-minute interval price data of two cryptocurrencies and eight stock market indices, we examine the risk spillover and hedging effectiveness between these two assets. Our approach provides a comparative assessment encompassing the pre-COVID-19 and COVID-19 sample periods. We employ copula models to assess the dependence and risk spillover from Bitcoin and Ethereum to stock market returns during both the pre-COVID-19 and COVID-19 periods. Notably, the COVID-19 pandemic has increased the risk spillover from Bitcoin and Ethereum to stock market returns. The findings vis-à-vis portfolio weights and hedge effectiveness highlight hedging gains; however, optimal investments in Bitcoin and Ethereum have reduced during the COVID-19 pandemic, while the cost of hedging has increased during this period. The findings also confirm that cryptocurrencies cannot provide incremental gains by hedging stock market risk during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Suggested Citation

  • Maitra, Debasish & Ur Rehman, Mobeen & Ranjan Dash, Saumya & Hoon Kang, Sang, 2022. "Do cryptocurrencies provide better hedging? Evidence from major equity markets during COVID-19 pandemic," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecofin:v:62:y:2022:i:c:s1062940822001188
    DOI: 10.1016/j.najef.2022.101776
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1062940822001188
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.najef.2022.101776?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

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Antonakakis, Nikolaos & Cunado, Juncal & Filis, George & Gabauer, David & Perez de Gracia, Fernando, 2018. "Oil volatility, oil and gas firms and portfolio diversification," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 499-515.
    2. Al-Yahyaee, Khamis Hamed & Rehman, Mobeen Ur & Mensi, Walid & Al-Jarrah, Idries Mohammad Wanas, 2019. "Can uncertainty indices predict Bitcoin prices? A revisited analysis using partial and multivariate wavelet approaches," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 47-56.
    3. Kroner, Kenneth F. & Sultan, Jahangir, 1993. "Time-Varying Distributions and Dynamic Hedging with Foreign Currency Futures," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 28(4), pages 535-551, December.
    4. Conlon, Thomas & McGee, Richard, 2020. "Safe haven or risky hazard? Bitcoin during the Covid-19 bear market," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 35(C).
    5. Goodell, John W. & Goutte, Stephane, 2021. "Co-movement of COVID-19 and Bitcoin: Evidence from wavelet coherence analysis," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 38(C).
    6. Rehman, Mobeen Ur & Asghar, Nadia & Kang, Sang Hoon, 2020. "Do Islamic indices provide diversification to bitcoin? A time-varying copulas and value at risk application," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 61(C).
    7. Bouri, Elie & Molnár, Peter & Azzi, Georges & Roubaud, David & Hagfors, Lars Ivar, 2017. "On the hedge and safe haven properties of Bitcoin: Is it really more than a diversifier?," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 20(C), pages 192-198.
    8. Narayan, Paresh Kumar & Narayan, Seema & Eki Rahman, R. & Setiawan, Iwan, 2019. "Bitcoin price growth and Indonesia's monetary system," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 364-376.
    9. Scott R. Baker & Nicholas Bloom & Steven J. Davis & Kyle J. Kost & Marco C. Sammon & Tasaneeya Viratyosin, 2020. "The Unprecedented Stock Market Impact of COVID-19," NBER Working Papers 26945, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    10. Salisu, Afees A. & Vo, Xuan Vinh, 2020. "Predicting stock returns in the presence of COVID-19 pandemic: The role of health news," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    11. Mensi, Walid & Hammoudeh, Shawkat & Shahzad, Syed Jawad Hussain & Shahbaz, Muhammad, 2017. "Modeling systemic risk and dependence structure between oil and stock markets using a variational mode decomposition-based copula method," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 258-279.
    12. Kroner, Kenneth F & Ng, Victor K, 1998. "Modeling Asymmetric Comovements of Asset Returns," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 11(4), pages 817-844.
    13. Gil-Alana, Luis Alberiko & Abakah, Emmanuel Joel Aikins & Rojo, María Fátima Romero, 2020. "Cryptocurrencies and stock market indices. Are they related?," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 51(C).
    14. Pal, Debdatta & Mitra, Subrata K., 2019. "Hedging bitcoin with other financial assets," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 30-36.
    15. Corbet, Shaen & Larkin, Charles & Lucey, Brian, 2020. "The contagion effects of the COVID-19 pandemic: Evidence from gold and cryptocurrencies," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 35(C).
    16. Ai-Cheng Zhang & Noriyuki Kawasaki & Huiming Bao & Jia Liu & Liping Qin & Minami Kuroda & Jian-Feng Gao & Li-Hui Chen & Ye He & Naoya Sakamoto & Hisayoshi Yurimoto, 2020. "Evidence of metasomatism in the interior of Vesta," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 11(1), pages 1-7, December.
    17. He, Xiaoxiao & Zhu, Margaret Rui, 2020. "Are interim CEOs just caretakers?," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 61(C).
    18. Shahzad, Syed Jawad Hussain & Bouri, Elie & Roubaud, David & Kristoufek, Ladislav & Lucey, Brian, 2019. "Is Bitcoin a better safe-haven investment than gold and commodities?," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 322-330.
    19. Baur, Dirk G. & Hong, KiHoon & Lee, Adrian D., 2018. "Bitcoin: Medium of exchange or speculative assets?," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 177-189.
    20. Ashraf, Badar Nadeem, 2020. "Stock markets’ reaction to COVID-19: Cases or fatalities?," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 54(C).
    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. Tarchella, Salma & Khalfaoui, Rabeh & Hammoudeh, Shawkat, 2024. "The safe haven, hedging, and diversification properties of oil, gold, and cryptocurrency for the G7 equity markets: Evidence from the pre- and post-COVID-19 periods," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 67(PB).
    2. Jihed Majdoub & Salim Ben Sassi & Azza Bejaoui, 2021. "Can fiat currencies really hedge Bitcoin? Evidence from dynamic short-term perspective," Decisions in Economics and Finance, Springer;Associazione per la Matematica, vol. 44(2), pages 789-816, December.
    3. Muhammad Tahir Suleman & Umaid A Sheikh & Emilios C. Galariotis & David Roubaud, 2025. "The impact of bitcoin fear and greed on good and bad network connectedness: the case of the US sectoral high frequency returns," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 347(1), pages 633-677, April.
    4. Chkili, Walid & Ben Rejeb, Aymen & Arfaoui, Mongi, 2021. "Does bitcoin provide hedge to Islamic stock markets for pre- and during COVID-19 outbreak? A comparative analysis with gold," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    5. Bampinas, Georgios & Panagiotidis, Theodore, 2024. "How would the war and the pandemic affect the stock and cryptocurrency cross-market linkages?," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 70(PA).
    6. Ihsan Erdem Kayral & Ahmed Jeribi & Sahar Loukil, 2023. "Are Bitcoin and Gold a Safe Haven during COVID-19 and the 2022 Russia–Ukraine War?," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 16(4), pages 1-22, April.
    7. Elie Bouri & Ladislav Kristoufek & Nehme Azoury, 2022. "Bitcoin and S&P500: Co-movements of high-order moments in the time-frequency domain," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 17(11), pages 1-15, November.
    8. Hsu, Shu-Han & Sheu, Chwen & Yoon, Jiho, 2021. "Risk spillovers between cryptocurrencies and traditional currencies and gold under different global economic conditions," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 57(C).
    9. Dwita Mariana, Christy & Ekaputra, Irwan Adi & Husodo, Zaäfri Ananto, 2021. "Are Bitcoin and Ethereum safe-havens for stocks during the COVID-19 pandemic?," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 38(C).
    10. Nguyen, Bao Khac Quoc & Pham, Dung Thi Ngoc, 2025. "Investing during a Fintech revolution: The hedge and safe haven properties of Bitcoin and Ethereum," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 73(PA).
    11. Umar, Zaghum & Usman, Muhammad & Choi, Sun-Yong & Rice, John, 2023. "Diversification benefits of NFTs for conventional asset investors: Evidence from CoVaR with higher moments and optimal hedge ratios," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    12. Yu, Mengxia & Xu, Ke & Zheng, Xinwei, 2025. "Reprint of: Mimicking crypto portfolios in sustainable investment," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 57(1).
    13. Just, Małgorzata & Echaust, Krzysztof, 2024. "Cryptocurrencies against stock market risk: New insights into hedging effectiveness," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 67(PA).
    14. Chemkha, Rahma & BenSaïda, Ahmed & Ghorbel, Ahmed & Tayachi, Tahar, 2021. "Hedge and safe haven properties during COVID-19: Evidence from Bitcoin and gold," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 71-85.
    15. Long, Shaobo & Pei, Hongxia & Tian, Hao & Lang, Kun, 2021. "Can both Bitcoin and gold serve as safe-haven assets? — A comparative analysis based on the NARDL model," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    16. Khaki, Audil & Prasad, Mason & Al-Mohamad, Somar & Bakry, Walid & Vo, Xuan Vinh, 2023. "Re-evaluating portfolio diversification and design using cryptocurrencies: Are decentralized cryptocurrencies enough?," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    17. Ali, Fahad & Bouri, Elie & Naifar, Nader & Shahzad, Syed Jawad Hussain & AlAhmad, Mohammad, 2022. "An examination of whether gold-backed Islamic cryptocurrencies are safe havens for international Islamic equity markets," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 63(C).
    18. Salisu, Afees A. & Vo, Xuan Vinh & Lucey, Brian, 2021. "Gold and US sectoral stocks during COVID-19 pandemic," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 57(C).
    19. Belhassine, Olfa & Karamti, Chiraz, 2021. "Contagion and portfolio management in times of COVID-19," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 73-86.
    20. Mensi, Walid & Ur Rehman, Mobeen & Maitra, Debasish & Hamed Al-Yahyaee, Khamis & Sensoy, Ahmet, 2020. "Does bitcoin co-move and share risk with Sukuk and world and regional Islamic stock markets? Evidence using a time-frequency approach," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 53(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • G14 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Information and Market Efficiency; Event Studies; Insider Trading
    • G15 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - International Financial Markets

    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:ecofin:v:62:y:2022:i:c:s1062940822001188. 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/620163 .

    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.