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High frequency trading and the 2008 short-sale ban

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  • Brogaard, Jonathan
  • Hendershott, Terrence
  • Riordan, Ryan

Abstract

We examine the effects of high-frequency traders (HFTs) on liquidity using the September 2008 short sale-ban. To disentangle the separate impacts of short selling by HFTs and non-HFTs, we use an instrumental variables approach exploiting differences in the ban's cross-sectional impact on HFTs and non-HFTs. Non-HFTs’ short selling improves liquidity, as measured by bid-ask spreads. HFTs’ short selling has the opposite effect by adversely selecting limit orders, which can decrease liquidity supplier competition and reduce trading by non-HFTs. The results highlight that some HFTs’ activities are harmful to liquidity during the extremely volatile short-sale ban period.

Suggested Citation

  • Brogaard, Jonathan & Hendershott, Terrence & Riordan, Ryan, 2017. "High frequency trading and the 2008 short-sale ban," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 124(1), pages 22-42.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jfinec:v:124:y:2017:i:1:p:22-42
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jfineco.2017.01.008
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    7. Luong, Phat V. & Sopranzetti, Ben, 2022. "Commodity markets intervention: Consequences of speculation, and informed trading," Journal of Commodity Markets, Elsevier, vol. 26(C).
    8. Arumugam, Devika, 2023. "Algorithmic trading: Intraday profitability and trading behavior," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 128(C).
    9. Peter N Dixon, 2021. "Why Do Short Selling Bans Increase Adverse Selection and Decrease Price Efficiency? [The market for ‘lemons’: Quality uncertainty and the market mechanism]," The Review of Asset Pricing Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 11(1), pages 122-168.
    10. Ya‐Kai Chang & Robin K. Chou, 2022. "Algorithmic trading and market quality: Evidence from the Taiwan index futures market," Journal of Futures Markets, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 42(10), pages 1837-1855, October.
    11. Rif, Alexandru & Utz, Sebastian, 2021. "Short-term stock price reversals after extreme downward price movements," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 123-133.
    12. Hautsch, Nikolaus & Noé, Michael & Zhang, S. Sarah, 2017. "The ambivalent role of high-frequency trading in turbulent market periods," CFS Working Paper Series 580, Center for Financial Studies (CFS).
    13. Nilabhra Bhattacharya & Bidisha Chakrabarty & Xu (Frank) Wang, 2020. "High-frequency traders and price informativeness during earnings announcements," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 25(3), pages 1156-1199, September.
    14. Chakrabarty, Bidisha & Moulton, Pamela C. & Pascual, Roberto, 2017. "Trading system upgrades and short-sale bans: Uncoupling the effects of technology and regulation," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 74-90.
    15. Ravi Kashyap, 2019. "Imitation in the Imitation Game," Papers 1911.06893, arXiv.org.
    16. Nathalie Oriol & Iryna Veryzhenko, 2019. "Market structure or traders' behavior? A multi agent model to assess flash crash phenomena and their regulation," Quantitative Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 19(7), pages 1075-1092, July.
    17. Yang, Haijun & Ge, Hengshun & Luo, Ying, 2020. "The optimal bid-ask price strategies of high-frequency trading and the effect on market liquidity," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 53(C).
    18. 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.
    19. Kemme, David M. & McInish, Thomas H. & Zhang, Jiang, 2022. "Market fairness and efficiency: Evidence from the Tokyo Stock Exchange," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 134(C).
    20. Yamani, Ehab, 2023. "Return–volume nexus in financial markets: A survey of research," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    21. Seungho Lee, 2022. "The COVID-19 pandemic, short-sale ban, and market efficiency: empirical evidence from the European equity markets," Journal of Asset Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 23(2), pages 156-171, March.
    22. Aït-Sahalia, Yacine & Brunetti, Celso, 2020. "High frequency traders and the price process," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 217(1), pages 20-45.
    23. Ekinci, Cumhur & Ersan, Oğuz, 2022. "High-frequency trading and market quality: The case of a “slightly exposed” market," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    24. Arumugam, Devika & Krishna Prasanna, P., 2021. "Commonality and contrarian trading among algorithmic traders," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 30(C).
    25. John Coughlan & Alexei G. Orlov, 2023. "High‐frequency trading and market quality: Evidence from account‐level futures data," Journal of Futures Markets, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 43(8), pages 1126-1160, August.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    High frequency trading; Short selling; Liquidity;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G12 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Asset Pricing; Trading Volume; Bond Interest Rates
    • G14 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Information and Market Efficiency; Event Studies; Insider Trading
    • G23 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Non-bank Financial Institutions; Financial Instruments; Institutional Investors

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