IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/bde/opaper/2123e.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The role of derivatives in market strains during the COVID-19 crisis

Author

Listed:
  • Carlos González Pedraz

    (Banco de España)

  • Adrian van Rixtel

    (Banco de España)

Abstract

Since the onset of the pandemic, the equity market has experienced bouts of high volatility, with private investors’ use of derivatives for speculative purposes being cited as a relevant factor in some cases. This paper analyses two specific episodes: the revaluation of GameStop stock, and the swift rise and subsequent collapse of Archegos Capital. In both instances, the leverage provided by derivatives generated strains in the functioning of illiquid market segments in the form of trading feedback loops.

Suggested Citation

  • Carlos González Pedraz & Adrian van Rixtel, 2021. "The role of derivatives in market strains during the COVID-19 crisis," Occasional Papers 2123, Banco de España.
    • Handle: RePEc:bde:opaper:2123e
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.bde.es/f/webbde/SES/Secciones/Publicaciones/PublicacionesSeriadas/DocumentosOcasionales/21/Files/do2123e.pdf
    File Function: First version, September 2021
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.bde.es/f/webbde/SES/Secciones/Publicaciones/PublicacionesSeriadas/DocumentosOcasionales/21/Fich/do2123.pdf
    File Function: Spanish version
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Lasse Pedersen, 2009. "When Everyone Runs for the Exit," International Journal of Central Banking, International Journal of Central Banking, vol. 5(4), pages 177-199, December.
    2. Duffie, Darrell & Garleanu, Nicolae & Pedersen, Lasse Heje, 2002. "Securities lending, shorting, and pricing," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 66(2-3), pages 307-339.
    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. Benjamin Chabot & Eric Ghysels & Ravi Jagannathan, 2014. "Momentum Trading, Return Chasing, and Predictable Crashes," NBER Working Papers 20660, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Carlos González Pedraz & Adrian van Rixtel, 2021. "El papel de los derivados en las tensiones de los mercados durante la crisis del COVID-19," Occasional Papers 2123, Banco de España.
    3. Yan, Wanfeng & Woodard, Ryan & Sornette, Didier, 2012. "Diagnosis and prediction of rebounds in financial markets," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 391(4), pages 1361-1380.
    4. Bajgrowicz, Pierre & Scaillet, Olivier, 2012. "Technical trading revisited: False discoveries, persistence tests, and transaction costs," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 106(3), pages 473-491.
    5. John Geanakoplos & Lasse Heje Pedersen, 2012. "Monitoring Leverage," NBER Chapters, in: Risk Topography: Systemic Risk and Macro Modeling, pages 113-127, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. Arturo Bris & William N. Goetzmann & Ning Zhu, 2007. "Efficiency and the Bear: Short Sales and Markets Around the World," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 62(3), pages 1029-1079, June.
    7. Hauser, Florian & Huber, Jürgen, 2012. "Short-selling constraints as cause for price distortions: An experimental study," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 31(5), pages 1279-1298.
    8. Chen, Yong & Da, Zhi & Huang, Dayong, 2022. "Short selling efficiency," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 145(2), pages 387-408.
    9. Edwards, Amy K. & Hanley, Kathleen Weiss, 2010. "Short selling in initial public offerings," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 98(1), pages 21-39, October.
    10. Antonio Zoratto Sanvicente, 2015. "The Price-Trading Volume Relationship in the Brazilian Stock Market, the Impact of Stock Lending and a Role for Technical Analysis," Brazilian Review of Finance, Brazilian Society of Finance, vol. 13(4), pages 631-649.
    11. Gang Hu & J. Ginger Meng & Mark E. Potter, 2008. "Opinion Divergence Among Professional Investment Managers," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 35(5‐6), pages 679-703, June.
    12. Drenovak, Mikica & Ranković, Vladimir & Urošević, Branko & Jelic, Ranko, 2022. "Mean-Maximum Drawdown Optimization of Buy-and-Hold Portfolios Using a Multi-objective Evolutionary Algorithm," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 46(PA).
    13. Bottazzi, Jean-Marc & Luque, Jaime & Páscoa, Mário R., 2012. "Securities market theory: Possession, repo and rehypothecation," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 147(2), pages 477-500.
    14. Harjoat S. Bhamra & Raman Uppal, 2014. "Asset Prices with Heterogeneity in Preferences and Beliefs," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 27(2), pages 519-580.
    15. Dixon, Peter N. & Fox, Corbin A. & Kelley, Eric K., 2021. "To own or not to own: Stock loans around dividend payments," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 140(2), pages 539-559.
    16. Marc van Kralingen & Diego Garlaschelli & Karolina Scholtus & Iman van Lelyveld, 2020. "Crowded trades, market clustering, and price instability," Papers 2002.03319, arXiv.org.
    17. Rui Li & Nan Li & Jiahui Li & Chongfeng Wu, 2018. "Short selling, margin buying and stock return in China market," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 58(2), pages 477-501, June.
    18. Steven Lecce & Andrew Lepone & Michael D. McKenzie & Jin Boon Wong & Jin Y. Yang, 2018. "Short‐selling and credit default swap spreads—Where do informed traders trade?," Journal of Futures Markets, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 38(8), pages 925-942, August.
    19. Jensen, Mads Vestergaard & Pedersen, Lasse Heje, 2016. "Early option exercise: Never say never," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 121(2), pages 278-299.
    20. Jianping Mei & Jose A. Scheinkman & Wei Xiong, 2009. "Speculative Trading and Stock Prices: Evidence from Chinese A-B Share Premia," Annals of Economics and Finance, Society for AEF, vol. 10(2), pages 225-255, November.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    equity derivatives; leverage; retail investors; feedback loops; market functioning;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G12 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Asset Pricing; Trading Volume; Bond Interest Rates
    • G13 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Contingent Pricing; Futures Pricing
    • G14 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Information and Market Efficiency; Event Studies; Insider Trading

    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:bde:opaper:2123e. 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: Ángel Rodríguez. Electronic Dissemination of Information Unit. Research Department. Banco de España (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/bdegves.html .

    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.