IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/bol/bodewp/wp802.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Measuring market liquidity: An introductory survey

Author

Listed:
  • A. Gabrielsen
  • M. Marzo
  • P. Zagaglia

Abstract

Asset liquidity in modern financial markets is a key but elusive concept. A market is often said to be liquid when the prevailing structure of transactions provides a prompt and secure link between the demand and supply of assets, thus delivering low costs of transaction. Providing a rigorous and empirically relevant definition of market liquidity has, however, provided to be a difficult task. This paper provides a critical review of the frameworks currently available for modelling and estimating the market liquidity of assets. We consider definitions that stress the role of the bid-ask spread and the estimation of its components that arise from alternative sources of market friction. In this case, intra-daily measures of liquidity appear relevant for capturing the core features of a market, and for their ability to describe the arrival of new information to market participants.

Suggested Citation

  • A. Gabrielsen & M. Marzo & P. Zagaglia, 2011. "Measuring market liquidity: An introductory survey," Working Papers wp802, Dipartimento Scienze Economiche, Universita' di Bologna.
  • Handle: RePEc:bol:bodewp:wp802
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://amsacta.unibo.it/4216/1/WP802.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Brown, Stephen J. & Warner, Jerold B., 1985. "Using daily stock returns : The case of event studies," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 14(1), pages 3-31, March.
    2. Glosten, Lawrence R, 1987. "Components of the Bid-Ask Spread and the Statistical Properties of Transaction Prices," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 42(5), pages 1293-1307, December.
    3. Beveridge, Stephen & Nelson, Charles R., 1981. "A new approach to decomposition of economic time series into permanent and transitory components with particular attention to measurement of the `business cycle'," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 7(2), pages 151-174.
    4. Amihud, Yakov, 2002. "Illiquidity and stock returns: cross-section and time-series effects," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 5(1), pages 31-56, January.
    5. Lo, Andrew W. & MacKinlay, A. Craig, 1989. "The size and power of the variance ratio test in finite samples : A Monte Carlo investigation," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 40(2), pages 203-238, February.
    6. French, Kenneth R. & Roll, Richard, 1986. "Stock return variances : The arrival of information and the reaction of traders," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 17(1), pages 5-26, September.
    7. Amihud, Yakov & Mendelson, Haim, 1980. "Dealership market : Market-making with inventory," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 8(1), pages 31-53, March.
    8. Hamilton, James L, 1991. "The Dealer and Market Concepts of Bid-Ask Spread: A Comparison for NASDAQ Stocks," Journal of Financial Research, Southern Finance Association;Southwestern Finance Association, vol. 14(2), pages 129-139, Summer.
    9. McInish, Thomas H & Wood, Robert A, 1992. "An Analysis of Intraday Patterns in Bid/Ask Spreads for NYSE Stocks," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 47(2), pages 753-764, June.
    10. Madhavan, Ananth & Richardson, Matthew & Roomans, Mark, 1997. "Why Do Security Prices Change? A Transaction-Level Analysis of NYSE Stocks," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 10(4), pages 1035-1064.
    11. Marco Pagano, 1998. "The Changing Microstructure of European Equity Markets," CSEF Working Papers 04, Centre for Studies in Economics and Finance (CSEF), University of Naples, Italy.
    12. Hasbrouck, Joel, 1993. "Assessing the Quality of a Security Market: A New Approach to Transaction-Cost Measurement," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 6(1), pages 191-212.
    13. Brown, Stephen J. & Warner, Jerold B., 1980. "Measuring security price performance," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 8(3), pages 205-258, September.
    14. Roll, R., 1989. "Price Volatility, International Market Links, And Their Implications For Regulatory Policies," Papers t10, Columbia - Center for Futures Markets.
    15. Pagano, Marco & Roell, Ailsa, 1996. "Transparency and Liquidity: A Comparison of Auction and Dealer Markets with Informed Trading," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 51(2), pages 579-611, June.
    16. George, Thomas J & Kaul, Gautam & Nimalendran, M, 1991. "Estimation of the Bid-Ask Spread and Its Components: A New Approach," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 4(4), pages 623-656.
    17. Glosten, Lawrence R. & Milgrom, Paul R., 1985. "Bid, ask and transaction prices in a specialist market with heterogeneously informed traders," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 14(1), pages 71-100, March.
    18. Amihud, Yakov & Mendelson, Haim, 1986. "Asset pricing and the bid-ask spread," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 17(2), pages 223-249, December.
    19. Datar, Vinay T. & Y. Naik, Narayan & Radcliffe, Robert, 1998. "Liquidity and stock returns: An alternative test," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 1(2), pages 203-219, August.
    20. Hamilton, James L, 1979. "Marketplace Fragmentation, Competition, and the Efficiency of the Stock Exchange," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 34(1), pages 171-187, March.
    21. Harris, Lawrence, 1990. "Statistical Properties of the Roll Serial Covariance Bid/Ask Spread Estimator," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 45(2), pages 579-590, June.
    22. James L. Hamilton, 1991. "The Dealer And Market Concepts Of Bid-Ask Spread: A Comparison For Nasdaq Stocks," Journal of Financial Research, Southern Finance Association;Southwestern Finance Association, vol. 14(2), pages 129-139, June.
    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. Stelios Katranidis & Theodore Panagiotidis & Costas Zontanos, 2014. "An Evaluation Of The Greek Universities’ Economics Departments," Bulletin of Economic Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 66(2), pages 173-182, April.
    2. Medina, Vicente & Pardo, Ángel & Pascual, Roberto, 2014. "The timeline of trading frictions in the European carbon market," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 378-394.
    3. Vayanos, Dimitri & Wang, Jiang, 2013. "Market Liquidity—Theory and Empirical Evidence ," Handbook of the Economics of Finance, in: G.M. Constantinides & M. Harris & R. M. Stulz (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Finance, volume 2, chapter 0, pages 1289-1361, Elsevier.
    4. Craig W. Holden & Stacey Jacobsen & Avanidhar Subrahmanyam, 2014. "The Empirical Analysis of Liquidity," Foundations and Trends(R) in Finance, now publishers, vol. 8(4), pages 263-365, December.
    5. Ledenyov, Dimitri O. & Ledenyov, Viktor O., 2015. "Wave function method to forecast foreign currencies exchange rates at ultra high frequency electronic trading in foreign currencies exchange markets," MPRA Paper 67470, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. repec:uts:finphd:34 is not listed on IDEAS
    7. Pascual, Roberto & Escribano, Álvaro & Tapia, Mikel, 2000. "Adverse selection costs, trading activity and liquidity in the NYSE: an empirical analysis in a dynamic context," UC3M Working papers. Economics 7276, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid. Departamento de Economía.
    8. Jagjeev Dosanjh, 2017. "Exchange Initiatives and Market Efficiency: Evidence from the Australian Securities Exchange," PhD Thesis, Finance Discipline Group, UTS Business School, University of Technology, Sydney, number 1-2017, January-A.
    9. de Jong, F.C.J.M. & Nijman, T.E. & Röell, A.A., 1996. "Price effects of trading and components of the bid-ask spread on the Paris Bourse," Other publications TiSEM 08f5fa19-14b7-4bc8-ba07-1, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    10. Oleh Danyliv & Bruce Bland & Daniel Nicholass, 2014. "Convenient liquidity measure for Financial markets," Papers 1412.5072, arXiv.org.
    11. de Jong, Frank & Nijman, Theo & Roell, Ailsa, 1996. "Price effects of trading and components of the bid-ask spread on the Paris Bourse," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 3(2), pages 193-213, June.
    12. Shawky, Hany A. & Tian, Jianbo, 2011. "Small-cap equity mutual fund managers as liquidity providers," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 18(5), pages 802-814.
    13. Araújo, Gustavo Silva & Barbedo, Claudio Henrique da S. & Vicente, José Valentim M., 2014. "The adverse selection cost component of the spread of Brazilian stocks," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 21(C), pages 21-41.
    14. Dimitri Vayanos & Jiang Wang, 2012. "Market Liquidity -- Theory and Empirical Evidence," NBER Working Papers 18251, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    15. Ahn, Hee-Joon & Cai, Jun & Hamao, Yasushi & Ho, Richard Y. K., 2002. "The components of the bid-ask spread in a limit-order market: evidence from the Tokyo Stock Exchange," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 9(4), pages 399-430, November.
    16. He, Yan & Lin, Hai & Wang, Junbo & Wu, Chunchi, 2009. "Price discovery in the round-the-clock U.S. Treasury market," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 18(3), pages 464-490, July.
    17. Anne Michaels & Michael Grüning, 2017. "Relationship of corporate social responsibility disclosure on information asymmetry and the cost of capital," Journal of Management Control: Zeitschrift für Planung und Unternehmenssteuerung, Springer, vol. 28(3), pages 251-274, October.
    18. Henk Berkman & Carole Comerton‐Forde, 2011. "Market microstructure: A review from down under," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 51(1), pages 50-78, March.
    19. Bardong, Florian & Bartram, Söhnke M. & Yadav, Pradeep K., 2005. "Informed Trading, Information Asymmetry and Pricing of Information Risk: Empirical Evidence from the NYSE," MPRA Paper 13586, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 10 Oct 2008.
    20. G. Wuyts, 2007. "Stock Market Liquidity.Determinants and Implications," Review of Business and Economic Literature, KU Leuven, Faculty of Economics and Business (FEB), Review of Business and Economic Literature, vol. 0(2), pages 279-316.
    21. Martin Angerer & Georg Peter & Sebastian Stoeckl & Thomas Wachter & Matthias Bank & Marco Menichetti, 2018. "Bid-Ask Spread Patterns and the Optimal Timing for Discretionary Liquidity Traders on Xetra," Schmalenbach Business Review, Springer;Schmalenbach-Gesellschaft, vol. 70(3), pages 209-230, July.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • G1 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets
    • G10 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - General (includes Measurement and Data)
    • G12 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Asset Pricing; Trading Volume; Bond Interest Rates

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:bol:bodewp:wp802. 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: Dipartimento Scienze Economiche, Universita' di Bologna (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/sebolit.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.