IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/hhs/stavef/2020_001.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Contagious Margin Calls: How Covid-19 threatened global stock market liquidity

Author

Listed:
  • Foley, Sean

    (Macquarie University, Australia)

  • Kwan, Amy

    (University of Sydney, Australia)

  • Philip, Richard

    (University of Sydney, Australia)

  • Ødegaard, Bernt Arne

    (University of Stavanger)

Abstract

The Covid-19 epidemic has caused some of the largest - and fastest - market dislocations in modern history. Contemporaneous with the significant fall in equity market values is the evaporation of market liquidity. We document the evolution of transactions costs, depth and rewards to liquidity suppliers across a variety of countries affected by the virus. We show that transactions costs increase sharply in a coordinated fashion across global markets, with depth drying up almost overnight. The withdrawal of global liquidity suppliers is correlated with the increase of over 400% in margin requirements, driving a pro-cyclical downwards liquidity spiral. These affects are shown to be concentrated in securities most exposed to electronic market-makers.

Suggested Citation

  • Foley, Sean & Kwan, Amy & Philip, Richard & Ødegaard, Bernt Arne, 2020. "Contagious Margin Calls: How Covid-19 threatened global stock market liquidity," UiS Working Papers in Economics and Finance 2020/1, University of Stavanger.
    • Handle: RePEc:hhs:stavef:2020_001
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://ba-odegaard.no/uis_wps_econ_fin/uis_wps_2020_01_odegaard.pdf
    File Function: Full text
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Conrad, Jennifer & Wahal, Sunil, 2020. "The term structure of liquidity provision," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 136(1), pages 239-259.
    2. Hugonnier, Julien & Morellec, Erwan, 2017. "Bank capital, liquid reserves, and insolvency risk," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 125(2), pages 266-285.
    3. Markus K. Brunnermeier & Lasse Heje Pedersen, 2009. "Market Liquidity and Funding Liquidity," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 22(6), pages 2201-2238, June.
    4. Shleifer, Andrei & Vishny, Robert W, 1992. "Liquidation Values and Debt Capacity: A Market Equilibrium Approach," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 47(4), pages 1343-1366, September.
    5. Andriy Shkilko & Konstantin Sokolov, 2020. "Every Cloud Has a Silver Lining: Fast Trading, Microwave Connectivity, and Trading Costs," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 75(6), pages 2899-2927, December.
    6. Rafael Repullo & Javier Suarez, 2013. "The Procyclical Effects of Bank Capital Regulation," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 26(2), pages 452-490.
    7. Stephen Morris & Hyun Song Shin, 2004. "Liquidity Black Holes," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 8(1), pages 1-18.
    8. Aramonte, Sirio & Szerszeń, Paweł J., 2020. "Cross-market liquidity and dealer profitability: Evidence from the bond and CDS markets," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 51(C).
    9. Andrew Ellul & Isil Erel & Uday Rajan, 2020. "The COVID-19 Pandemic Crisis and Corporate Finance," The Review of Corporate Finance Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 9(3), pages 421-429.
    10. Allaudeen Hameed & Wenjin Kang & S. Viswanathan, 2010. "Stock Market Declines and Liquidity," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 65(1), pages 257-293, February.
    11. Nicolae Gârleanu & Lasse Heje Pedersen, 2011. "Margin-based Asset Pricing and Deviations from the Law of One Price," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 24(6), pages 1980-2022.
    12. Stefano Ramelli & Alexander F Wagner, 2020. "Feverish Stock Price Reactions to COVID-19," The Review of Corporate Finance Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 9(3), pages 622-655.
    13. Karolyi, G. Andrew & Lee, Kuan-Hui & van Dijk, Mathijs A., 2012. "Understanding commonality in liquidity around the world," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 105(1), pages 82-112.
    14. Terrence Hendershott & Charles M. Jones & Albert J. Menkveld, 2011. "Does Algorithmic Trading Improve Liquidity?," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 66(1), pages 1-33, February.
    15. Markus Behn & Rainer Haselmann & Paul Wachtel, 2016. "Procyclical Capital Regulation and Lending," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 71(2), pages 919-956, April.
    16. Tobias Adrian & Nina Boyarchenko & Or Shachar, 2017. "Dealer Balance Sheets and Corporate Bond Liquidity Provision," Liberty Street Economics 20170524, Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
    17. Jonathan Brogaard & Terrence Hendershott & Ryan Riordan, 2014. "High-Frequency Trading and Price Discovery," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 27(8), pages 2267-2306.
    18. Hasbrouck, Joel & Saar, Gideon, 2013. "Low-latency trading," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 16(4), pages 646-679.
    19. O'Hara, Maureen & Zhou, Xing (Alex), 2021. "Anatomy of a liquidity crisis: Corporate bonds in the COVID-19 crisis," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 142(1), pages 46-68.
    20. Giovanni Cespa & Thierry Foucault, 2014. "Illiquidity Contagion and Liquidity Crashes," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 27(6), pages 1615-1660.
    21. Gromb, Denis & Vayanos, Dimitri, 2002. "Equilibrium and welfare in markets with financially constrained arbitrageurs," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 66(2-3), pages 361-407.
    22. Bartlett, Robert P. & McCrary, Justin, 2019. "How rigged are stock markets? Evidence from microsecond timestamps," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 37-60.
    23. Stefano Ramelli & Alexander F. Wagner, 2020. "Feverish Stock Price Reactions to COVID-19," Swiss Finance Institute Research Paper Series 20-12, Swiss Finance Institute.
    24. Carole Comerton‐Forde & Terrence Hendershott & Charles M. Jones & Pamela C. Moulton & Mark S. Seasholes, 2010. "Time Variation in Liquidity: The Role of Market‐Maker Inventories and Revenues," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 65(1), pages 295-331, February.
    25. Donadelli, Michael & Kizys, Renatas & Riedel, Max, 2017. "Dangerous infectious diseases: Bad news for Main Street, good news for Wall Street?," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 84-103.
    26. Niels Joachim Gormsen & Ralph S J Koijen & Nikolai Roussanov, 0. "Coronavirus: Impact on Stock Prices and Growth Expectations," The Review of Asset Pricing Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 10(4), pages 574-597.
    27. Stefano Ramelli & Alexander F Wagner, 0. "Feverish Stock Price Reactions to COVID-19," Review of Corporate Finance Studies, Oxford University Press, vol. 9(3), pages 622-655.
    28. Daskalaki, Charoula & Skiadopoulos, George, 2016. "The effects of margin changes on commodity futures markets," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 22(C), pages 129-152.
    29. Michael J. Fleming, 2020. "Treasury Market Liquidity and the Federal Reserve during the COVID-19 Pandemic," Liberty Street Economics 20200529a, Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
    30. Markus K. Brunnermeier, 2009. "Deciphering the Liquidity and Credit Crunch 2007-2008," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 23(1), pages 77-100, Winter.
    31. Pierre-Olivier Weill, 2007. "Leaning Against the Wind," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 74(4), pages 1329-1354.
    32. Adrian, Tobias & Boyarchenko, Nina & Shachar, Or, 2017. "Dealer balance sheets and bond liquidity provision," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 89(C), pages 92-109.
    33. Jørgensen, Kjell & Skjeltorp, Johannes & Ødegaard, Bernt Arne, 2018. "Throttling hyperactive robots – Order-to-trade ratios at the Oslo Stock Exchange," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 1-16.
    34. Wagner, Alexander F. & Ramelli, Stefano, 2020. "Feverish Stock Price Reactions to COVID-19," CEPR Discussion Papers 14511, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    35. Berger, Allen N. & Bouwman, Christa H.S. & Kick, Thomas & Schaeck, Klaus, 2016. "Bank liquidity creation following regulatory interventions and capital support," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 26(C), pages 115-141.
    36. Michael J. Fleming & Francisco Ruela, 2020. "Treasury Market Liquidity during the COVID-19 Crisis," Liberty Street Economics 20200417, Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
    37. Scott R. Baker & Nicholas Bloom & Steven J. Davis & Kyle J. Kost & Marco C. Sammon & Tasaneeya Viratyosin, 2020. "The Unprecedented Stock Market Impact of COVID-19," NBER Working Papers 26945, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    38. Dudley, Evan & Nimalendran, Mahendrarajah, 2011. "Margins and Hedge Fund Contagion," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 46(5), pages 1227-1257, October.
    39. Ashraf, Badar Nadeem, 2020. "Stock markets’ reaction to COVID-19: Cases or fatalities?," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 54(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    RePEc Biblio mentions

    As found on the RePEc Biblio, the curated bibliography for Economics:
    1. > Economics of Welfare > Health Economics > Economics of Pandemics > Specific pandemics > Covid-19 > Economic consequences > Stock market

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Farzami, Yasmine & Gregory-Allen, Russell & Molchanov, Alexander & Sehrish, Saba, 2021. "COVID-19 and the liquidity network," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 42(C).
    2. Liao Xu & Jilong Chen & Hao Xu, 2023. "Market sentiment to COVID‐19 and the Chinese stock market," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 63(S1), pages 1121-1135, April.
    3. Nguyen, Hung T. & Pham, Mia Hang & Truong, Cameron, 2023. "Leadership in a pandemic: Do more able managers keep firms out of trouble?," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(C).
    4. Yang, Xin & Jin, Cheng & Huang, Chuangxia & Yang, Xiaoguang, 2023. "Network characteristics and stock liquidity:Evidence from the UK," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 53(C).
    5. Pham, Linh & Karim, Sitara & Naeem, Muhammad Abubakr & Long, Cheng, 2022. "A tale of two tails among carbon prices, green and non-green cryptocurrencies," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).

    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. Anagnostidis, Panagiotis & Fontaine, Patrice, 2020. "Liquidity commonality and high frequency trading: Evidence from the French stock market," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).
    2. O’Donnell, Niall & Shannon, Darren & Sheehan, Barry, 2021. "Immune or at-risk? Stock markets and the significance of the COVID-19 pandemic," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 30(C).
    3. Aramonte, Sirio & Szerszeń, Paweł J., 2020. "Cross-market liquidity and dealer profitability: Evidence from the bond and CDS markets," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 51(C).
    4. Ricardo J Caballero & Alp Simsek, 2021. "A Model of Endogenous Risk Intolerance and LSAPs: Asset Prices and Aggregate Demand in a “COVID-19” Shock [Financial intermediaries and the cross-section of asset returns]," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 34(11), pages 5522-5580.
    5. Stefan Nagel, 2012. "Evaporating Liquidity," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 25(7), pages 2005-2039.
    6. Chiu, Junmao & Lien, Donald & Tsai, Wei-Che, 2023. "Global financial crisis, funding constraints, and liquidity of VIX futures," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    7. 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.
    8. Jaewon Choi & Or Shachar & Sean Seunghun Shin, 2019. "Dealer Liquidity Provision and the Breakdown of the Law of One Price: Evidence from the CDS–Bond Basis," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 65(9), pages 4100-4122, September.
    9. Heyden, Kim J. & Heyden, Thomas, 2021. "Market reactions to the arrival and containment of COVID-19: An event study," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 38(C).
    10. Aggarwal, Nidhi & Panchapagesan, Venkatesh & Thomas, Susan, 2023. "When is the order-to-trade ratio fee effective?," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    11. Duan, Yuejiao & Liu, Lanbiao & Wang, Zhuo, 2021. "COVID-19 Sentiment and the Chinese Stock Market: Evidence from the Official News Media and Sina Weibo," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 58(C).
    12. Goldstein, Michael A. & Namin, Elmira Shekari, 2023. "Corporate bond liquidity and yield spreads: A review," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    13. Hu, Conghui & Liu, Yu-Jane & Zhu, Ning, 2019. "De-Leverage and illiquidity contagion," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 102(C), pages 1-18.
    14. Wang, Xinjie & Wu, Yangru & Yan, Hongjun & Zhong, Zhaodong (Ken), 2021. "Funding liquidity shocks in a quasi-experiment: Evidence from the CDS Big Bang," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 139(2), pages 545-560.
    15. Aharon, David Y. & Siev, Smadar, 2021. "COVID-19, government interventions and emerging capital markets performance," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 58(C).
    16. Yarovaya, Larisa & Brzeszczyński, Janusz & Goodell, John W. & Lucey, Brian & Lau, Chi Keung Marco, 2022. "Rethinking financial contagion: Information transmission mechanism during the COVID-19 pandemic," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    17. Theodoros Daglis & Ioannis G. Melissaropoulos & Konstantinos N. Konstantakis & Panayotis G. Michaelides, 2022. "The impact of COVID-19 on global stock markets: early linear and non-linear evidence for Italy," Evolutionary and Institutional Economics Review, Springer, vol. 19(1), pages 485-495, April.
    18. Contessi, Silvio & De Pace, Pierangelo, 2021. "The international spread of COVID-19 stock market collapses," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 42(C).
    19. 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.
    20. Belkhir, Mohamed & Saad, Mohsen & Samet, Anis, 2020. "Stock extreme illiquidity and the cost of capital," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 112(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Covid-19; Margin requirements; Stock market liquidity;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G01 - Financial Economics - - General - - - Financial Crises
    • 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
    • G15 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - International Financial Markets

    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:hhs:stavef:2020_001. 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: Bernt Arne Odegaard (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/iouisno.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.