IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/jfutmk/v46y2026i8p1315-1349.html

Asymmetric Option Returns in China

Author

Listed:
  • Xianzhen Wang
  • Xin Zhou

Abstract

This paper documents two return asymmetries in China's options market: call (put) returns are positive (negative) overnight but negative (positive) intraday. We provide a demand‐pressure‐based explanation for this phenomenon, identifying retail investors' gambling motives as the primary catalyst, which are particularly salient following negative realizations of underlying returns. Additionally, insurance‐driven demand accounts for the negative overnight put returns, while attention‐driven demand contributes to the night‐day asymmetry in call returns. Despite institutional investors exploiting these mispricings, the asymmetries persist over time, leaving retail investors to bear losses as counterparties.

Suggested Citation

  • Xianzhen Wang & Xin Zhou, 2026. "Asymmetric Option Returns in China," Journal of Futures Markets, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 46(8), pages 1315-1349, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:jfutmk:v:46:y:2026:i:8:p:1315-1349
    DOI: 10.1002/fut.70095
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1002/fut.70095
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1002/fut.70095?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
    ---><---

    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:wly:jfutmk:v:46:y:2026:i:8:p:1315-1349. 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.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using 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.interscience.wiley.com/jpages/0270-7314/ .

    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.