IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/nbr/nberwo/17652.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Competing on Speed

Author

Listed:
  • Emiliano Pagnotta
  • Thomas Philippon

Abstract

Two forces have reshaped global securities markets in the last decade: Exchanges operate at much faster speeds and the trading landscape has become more fragmented. In order to analyze the positive and normative implications of these evolutions, we study a framework that captures (i) exchanges' incentives to invest in faster trading technologies and (ii) investors' trading and participation decisions. Our model predicts that regulation that protect prices will lead to fragmentation and faster trading speed. Asset prices decrease when there is intermediation competition and are further depressed by price protection. Endogenizing speed can also change the slope of asset demand curves. On normative side, we find that for a given number of exchanges, faster trading is in general socially desirable. Similarly, for a given trading speed, competition among exchange increases participation and welfare. However, when speed is endogenous, competition between exchanges is not necessarily desirable. In particular, speed can be inefficiently high. Our model sheds light on important features of the experience of European and U.S. markets since the implementation of Reg. NMS, and provides some guidance for optimal regulations.

Suggested Citation

  • Emiliano Pagnotta & Thomas Philippon, 2011. "Competing on Speed," NBER Working Papers 17652, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:17652
    Note: AP CF IO
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.nber.org/papers/w17652.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Madhavan, Ananth, 1995. "Consolidation, Fragmentation, and the Disclosure of Trading Information," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 8(3), pages 579-603.
    2. Bruno Biais & Johan Hombert & Pierre-Olivier Weill, 2014. "Equilibrium Pricing and Trading Volume under Preference Uncertainty," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 81(4), pages 1401-1437.
    3. Ricardo Lagos & Guillaume Rocheteau, 2009. "Liquidity in Asset Markets With Search Frictions," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 77(2), pages 403-426, March.
    4. Albert J. Menkveld & Boyan Jovanovic, 2010. "Middlemen in Limit Order Markets," 2010 Meeting Papers 955, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    5. Biais, Bruno & Foucault, Thierry & Moinas, Sophie, 2015. "Equilibrium fast trading," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 116(2), pages 292-313.
    6. Avner Shaked & John Sutton, 1982. "Relaxing Price Competition Through Product Differentiation," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 49(1), pages 3-13.
    7. Thierry Foucault & Christine A. Parlour, 2004. "Competition for Listings," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 35(2), pages 329-355, Summer.
    8. Terrence Hendershott & Haim Mendelson, 2000. "Crossing Networks and Dealer Markets: Competition and Performance," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 55(5), pages 2071-2115, October.
    9. Amihud, Yakov & Mendelson, Haim, 1986. "Asset pricing and the bid-ask spread," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 17(2), pages 223-249, December.
    10. Glosten, Lawrence R, 1994. "Is the Electronic Open Limit Order Book Inevitable?," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 49(4), pages 1127-1161, September.
    11. Thierry Foucault & Johan Hombert & Ioanid Roşu, 2016. "News Trading and Speed," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 71(1), pages 335-382, February.
    12. Vayanos, Dimitri & Wang, Tan, 2007. "Search and endogenous concentration of liquidity in asset markets," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 136(1), pages 66-104, September.
    13. O'Hara, Maureen & Ye, Mao, 2011. "Is market fragmentation harming market quality?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 100(3), pages 459-474, June.
    14. Andrei Kirilenko & Albert S. Kyle & Mehrdad Samadi & Tugkan Tuzun, 2017. "The Flash Crash: High-Frequency Trading in an Electronic Market," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 72(3), pages 967-998, June.
    15. Daron Acemoglu, 1998. "Why Do New Technologies Complement Skills? Directed Technical Change and Wage Inequality," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 113(4), pages 1055-1089.
    16. Marco Pagano, 1989. "Trading Volume and Asset Liquidity," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 104(2), pages 255-274.
    17. Nicholas Economides, 1997. "The Economics of Networks," Brazilian Electronic Journal of Economics, Department of Economics, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, vol. 1(0), December.
    18. Yacine Aït-Sahalia & Mehmet Saglam, 2013. "High Frequency Traders: Taking Advantage of Speed," NBER Working Papers 19531, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    19. Tano Santos & Jose A. Scheinkman, 2001. "Competition among Exchanges," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 116(3), pages 1027-1061.
    20. Huang, Jennifer & Wang, Jiang, 2010. "Market liquidity, asset prices, and welfare," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(1), pages 107-127, January.
    21. Shabtai Donnenfeld & Shlomo Weber, 1995. "Limit Qualities and Entry Deterrence," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 26(1), pages 113-130, Spring.
    22. Spence, Michael, 1976. "Product Differentiation and Welfare," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 66(2), pages 407-414, May.
    23. Jaskold Gabszewicz, J. & Thisse, J. -F., 1979. "Price competition, quality and income disparities," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 20(3), pages 340-359, June.
    24. Mendelson, Haim, 1987. "Consolidation, Fragmentation, and Market Performance," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 22(2), pages 189-207, June.
    25. Shaked, Avner & Sutton, John, 1983. "Natural Oligopolies," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 51(5), pages 1469-1483, September.
    26. Weill, Pierre-Olivier, 2008. "Liquidity premia in dynamic bargaining markets," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 140(1), pages 66-96, May.
    27. Ricardo Lagos & Guillaume Rocheteau & Randall Wright, 2017. "Liquidity: A New Monetarist Perspective," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 55(2), pages 371-440, June.
    28. Jaskold Gabszewicz, J. & Thisse, J. -F., 1980. "Entry (and exit) in a differentiated industry," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 22(2), pages 327-338, April.
    29. N. Gregory Mankiw & Michael D. Whinston, 1986. "Free Entry and Social Inefficiency," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 17(1), pages 48-58, Spring.
    30. Uri Ronnen, 1991. "Minimum Quality Standards, Fixed Costs, and Competition," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 22(4), pages 490-504, Winter.
    31. Amihud, Yakov & Lauterbach, Beni & Mendelson, Haim, 2003. "The Value of Trading Consolidation: Evidence from the Exercise of Warrants," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 38(4), pages 829-846, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

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


    Cited by:

    1. Lester, Benjamin & Weill, Pierre-Olivier & Hugonnier, Julien, 2022. "Heterogeneity in decentralized asset markets," Theoretical Economics, Econometric Society, vol. 17(3), July.
    2. Vasilios Mavroudis, 2019. "Market Manipulation as a Security Problem," Papers 1903.12458, arXiv.org.
    3. Yacine Aït-Sahalia & Mehmet Saglam, 2013. "High Frequency Traders: Taking Advantage of Speed," NBER Working Papers 19531, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. Hoffmann, Peter, 2013. "A dynamic limit order market with fast and slow traders," Working Paper Series 1526, European Central Bank.
    5. Nathalie Oriol & Alexandra Rufini & Dominique Torre, 2015. "Should Dark Pools be Banned from Regulated Exchanges?," GREDEG Working Papers 2015-21, Groupe de REcherche en Droit, Economie, Gestion (GREDEG CNRS), Université Côte d'Azur, France.
    6. Andrew G. Atkeson & Andrea L. Eisfeldt & Pierre‐Olivier Weill, 2015. "Entry and Exit in OTC Derivatives Markets," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 83, pages 2231-2292, November.
    7. Benjamin Lester & Guillaume Rocheteau & Pierre‐Olivier Weill, 2015. "Competing for Order Flow in OTC Markets," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 47(S2), pages 77-126, June.
    8. Trejos, Alberto & Wright, Randall, 2016. "Search-based models of money and finance: An integrated approach," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 164(C), pages 10-31.
    9. Thomas Philippon, 2015. "Has the US Finance Industry Become Less Efficient? On the Theory and Measurement of Financial Intermediation," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 105(4), pages 1408-1438, April.
    10. Cécile Bastidon, 2017. "Stock markets fragmentation, volatility and final investors," Annals of Finance, Springer, vol. 13(4), pages 435-451, November.
    11. Cimon, David A., 2021. "Broker routing decisions in limit order markets," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 54(C).
    12. Andrew G. Atkeson & Andrea L. Eisfeldt & Pierre-Olivier Weill, 2013. "The Market for OTC Derivatives," NBER Working Papers 18912, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    13. Hoffmann, Peter, 2014. "A dynamic limit order market with fast and slow traders," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 113(1), pages 156-169.
    14. Sarah Draus, 2012. "Market Power on Exchanges: Linking Price Impact to Trading Fees," CSEF Working Papers 490, Centre for Studies in Economics and Finance (CSEF), University of Naples, Italy.
    15. van Kervel, V.L., 2013. "Competition between stock exchanges and optimal trading," Other publications TiSEM 5c608a0f-527d-441d-a910-e, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    16. 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.
    17. Gonçalves, Jorge & Kräussl, Roman & Levin, Vladimir, 2019. "Do "speed bumps" prevent accidents in financial markets?," CFS Working Paper Series 636, Center for Financial Studies (CFS).
    18. Alessandro Gavazza, 2016. "An Empirical Equilibrium Model of a Decentralized Asset Market," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 84, pages 1755-1798, September.
    19. William Fuchs & Andrzej Skrzypacz, 2019. "Costs and benefits of dynamic trading in a lemons market," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 33, pages 105-127, July.
    20. Michael Goldstein & James J. Angel, 2014. "When Finance Meets Physics: The Impact of the Speed of Light on Financial Markets and Their Regulation," The Financial Review, Eastern Finance Association, vol. 49(2), pages 271-281, May.
    21. Pinter, Gabor & Uslu, Semih, 2023. "Price formation in markets with trading delays," Bank of England working papers 1023, Bank of England.
    22. Dugast, J., 2013. "Limited attention and news arrival in limit order markets," Working papers 449, Banque de France.
    23. Thomas Philippon, 2014. "Efficiency and Benefit-Cost Analysis of the Financial System," The Journal of Legal Studies, University of Chicago Press, vol. 43(S2), pages 107-120.
    24. Rocheteau, Guillaume & Rodriguez-Lopez, Antonio, 2014. "Liquidity provision, interest rates, and unemployment," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 80-101.
    25. Mariana Khapko & Marius Zoican, 2019. "Do speed bumps curb low-latency trading? Evidence from a laboratory market," Papers 1910.03068, arXiv.org.

    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. Haoyang Liu & Zhaogang Song & James Vickery, 2021. "Defragmenting Markets: Evidence from Agency MBS," Staff Reports 965, Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
    2. 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.
    3. Pierre-Cyrille Hautcoeur & Amir Rezaee & Angelo Riva, 2023. "Competition between securities markets: stock exchange industry regulation in the Paris financial center at the turn of the twentieth century," Cliometrica, Springer;Cliometric Society (Association Francaise de Cliométrie), vol. 17(2), pages 261-299, May.
    4. Kharma, Céline & Eugster, Nicolas, 2021. "Is competition beneficial? The case of exchange traded funds," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    5. Weill, Pierre-Olivier, 2020. "The search theory of OTC markets," CEPR Discussion Papers 14847, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    6. Giovanni Cespa & Xavier Vives, 2022. "Exchange Competition, Entry, and Welfare," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 35(5), pages 2570-2624.
    7. Belleflamme,Paul & Peitz,Martin, 2015. "Industrial Organization," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781107687899, October.
    8. O'Hara, Maureen & Ye, Mao, 2011. "Is market fragmentation harming market quality?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 100(3), pages 459-474, June.
    9. Peter Gomber & Satchit Sagade & Erik Theissen & Moritz Christian Weber & Christian Westheide, 2017. "Competition Between Equity Markets: A Review Of The Consolidation Versus Fragmentation Debate," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(3), pages 792-814, July.
    10. Breedon, Francis & Chen, Louisa & Ranaldo, Angelo & Vause, Nicholas, 2023. "Judgment day: Algorithmic trading around the Swiss franc cap removal," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 140(C).
    11. Carole Gresse, 2013. "Effects of Lit and Dark Trading Venue Competition on Liquidity : The MiFID Experience," Post-Print hal-01632517, HAL.
    12. Dugast, J., 2013. "Limited attention and news arrival in limit order markets," Working papers 449, Banque de France.
    13. Athanasios Geromichalos & Lucas Herrenbrueck & Sukjoon Lee, 2023. "The Strategic Determination of the Supply of Liquid Assets," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 49, pages 1-36, July.
    14. Paulo Pereira Silva, 2018. "Fragmentation and Market Quality: The Case of European Markets," De Economist, Springer, vol. 166(2), pages 179-206, June.
    15. Athanasios Geromichalos & Lucas Herrenbrueck & Sukjoon Lee, 2023. "The Strategic Determination of the Supply of Liquid Assets," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 49, pages 1-36, July.
    16. Yong-Hwan Noh & Giancarlo Moschini, 2006. "Vertical Product Differentiation, Entry-Deterrence Strategies, and Entry Qualities," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 29(3), pages 227-252, November.
    17. Luca Lambertini & Piero Tedeschi, 2007. "On the Social Desirability of Patents for Sequential Innovations in a Vertically Differentiated Market," Journal of Economics, Springer, vol. 90(2), pages 193-214, March.
    18. Afonso, Gara, 2011. "Liquidity and congestion," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 20(3), pages 324-360, July.
    19. Degryse, H.A., 2007. "Competition on financial markets : Does market design matter?," Other publications TiSEM ee5530b2-34f7-4d95-ad62-f, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    20. Madhavan, Ananth, 2000. "Market microstructure: A survey," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 3(3), pages 205-258, August.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • G12 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Asset Pricing; Trading Volume; Bond Interest Rates
    • L13 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Oligopoly and Other Imperfect Markets
    • L15 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Information and Product Quality

    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:nbr:nberwo:17652. 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: the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/nberrus.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.