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Price discovery and the cross-section of high-frequency trading

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  • Benos, Evangelos
  • Sagade, Satchit

Abstract

We quantify the price discovery contributions of high-frequency traders (HFTs) in the United Kingdom equity market and examine how it varies in their cross-section. For this, we group individual HFTs according to their liquidity taking/making activity. HFTs contribute about 14% of all trade-induced information, with aggressive HFTs accounting for two-thirds of this contribution. This suggests that HFTs who pursue strategies that require the use of aggressive trades are most informed, as opposed to passive HFTs who more likely act as market-makers. However, information shares decline with the amount of aggressive volume, suggesting that these trading strategies are not scalable.

Suggested Citation

  • Benos, Evangelos & Sagade, Satchit, 2016. "Price discovery and the cross-section of high-frequency trading," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 54-77.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:finmar:v:30:y:2016:i:c:p:54-77
    DOI: 10.1016/j.finmar.2016.03.004
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    Cited by:

    1. Bastian von Beschwitz & Donald B Keim & Massimo Massa, 2020. "First to “Read” the News: News Analytics and Algorithmic Trading," The Review of Asset Pricing Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 10(1), pages 122-178.
    2. Gianluca Piero Maria Virgilio, 2019. "High-frequency trading: a literature review," Financial Markets and Portfolio Management, Springer;Swiss Society for Financial Market Research, vol. 33(2), pages 183-208, June.
    3. Bellia, Mario & Pelizzon, Loriana & Subrahmanyam, Marti & Uno, Jun & Yuferova, Darya, 2017. "Coming early to the party," SAFE Working Paper Series 182, Leibniz Institute for Financial Research SAFE.
      • Mario Bellia & Loriana Pelizzon & Marti G. Subrahmanyam & Jun Uno & Darya Yuferova, 2020. "Coming early to the party," Working Papers 2020:11, Department of Economics, University of Venice "Ca' Foscari".
    4. Liu, Chunyuan & Han, Liyan & Chu, Gang, 2023. "The effect of overnight corporate announcements on price discovery," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 53(C).
    5. Kang, Jongho & Kang, Jangkoo & Kwon, Kyung Yoon, 2022. "Market versus limit orders of speculative high-frequency traders and price discovery," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 63(C).
    6. Aggarwal, Nidhi & Panchapagesan, Venkatesh & Thomas, Susan, 2023. "When is the order-to-trade ratio fee effective?," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    7. Adrian, Tobias & Capponi, Agostino & Fleming, Michael & Vogt, Erik & Zhang, Hongzhong, 2020. "Intraday market making with overnight inventory costs," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 50(C).
    8. Zhou, Hao & Elliott, Robert J. & Kalev, Petko S., 2019. "Information or noise: What does algorithmic trading incorporate into the stock prices?," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 27-39.
    9. Dodd, Olga & Frijns, Bart & Indriawan, Ivan & Pascual, Roberto, 2023. "US cross-listing and domestic high-frequency trading: Evidence from Canadian stocks," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 301-320.
    10. Roşu, Ioanid, 2019. "Fast and slow informed trading," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 1-30.
    11. Yan Chen & Peter Cramton & John A. List & Axel Ockenfels, 2021. "Market Design, Human Behavior, and Management," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 67(9), pages 5317-5348, September.
    12. Zura Kakushadze & Juan Andrés Serur, 2018. "151 Trading Strategies," Springer Books, Springer, number 978-3-030-02792-6, November.
    13. Li, Wei-Xuan & Chen, Clara Chia-Sheng & Nguyen, James, 2022. "Which market dominates the price discovery in currency futures? The case of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and the Intercontinental Exchange," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 52(C).
    14. Donald B. Keim & Massimo Massa & Bastian von Beschwitz, 2018. "First to \"Read\" the News: New Analytics and Algorithmic Trading," International Finance Discussion Papers 1233, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    15. Bizzozero, Paolo & Flepp, Raphael & Franck, Egon, 2018. "The effect of fast trading on price discovery and efficiency: Evidence from a betting exchange," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 156(C), pages 126-143.
    16. Alexander, Carol & Heck, Daniel F., 2020. "Price discovery in Bitcoin: The impact of unregulated markets," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 50(C).
    17. Benos, Evangelos & Brugler, James & Hjalmarsson, Erik & Zikes, Filip, 2017. "Interactions among High-Frequency Traders," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 52(4), pages 1375-1402, August.
    18. Lee, Jaeram & Ryu, Doojin & Yang, Heejin, 2021. "Does vega-neutral options trading contain information?," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 294-314.
    19. Mestel, Roland & Murg, Michael & Theissen, Erik, 2018. "Algorithmic trading and liquidity: Long term evidence from Austria," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 26(C), pages 198-203.
    20. Zhou, Hao & Kalev, Petko S., 2019. "Algorithmic and high frequency trading in Asia-Pacific, now and the future," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 186-207.
    21. Ramos, Henrique Pinto & Perlin, Marcelo Scherer, 2020. "Does algorithmic trading harm liquidity? Evidence from Brazil," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 54(C).
    22. Sánchez Serrano Antonio, 2020. "High-Frequency Trading and Systemic Risk: A Structured Review of Findings and Policies," Review of Economics, De Gruyter, vol. 71(3), pages 169-195, December.
    23. Donald Lien & Pi-Hsia Hung, 2023. "Whose trades contribute more to price discovery? Evidence from the Taiwan stock exchange," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 61(1), pages 213-263, July.
    24. Aquilina, Matteo & Budish, Eric B. & O'Neill, Peter, 2020. "Quantifying the High-Frequency Trading "Arms Race": A Simple New Methodology and Estimates," Working Papers 300, The University of Chicago Booth School of Business, George J. Stigler Center for the Study of the Economy and the State.
    25. Gianluca P. M. Virgilio, 2022. "A theory of very short-time price change: security price drivers in times of high-frequency trading," Financial Innovation, Springer;Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, vol. 8(1), pages 1-34, December.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    High-frequency trading; Price discovery;

    JEL classification:

    • G10 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - General (includes Measurement and Data)

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