IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/nbr/nberwo/4737.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Anticipations of Foreign Exchange Volatility and Bid-Ask Spreads

Author

Listed:
  • Shang-Jin Wei

Abstract

The paper studies the effect of the market's perceived exchange rate volatility on bid-ask spreads. The anticipated volatility is extracted from currency options data. An increase in the perceived volatility is found to widen bid-ask spreads. The direction of the effect is consistent with an option model of the spread, but the magnitude is smaller. An increase in trading volume of spot exchange rates also widens the spread. The omission of the trading volume, however, does not bias the estimate of the effect of the volatility on the spreads. Although the spread-volatility relation implied by the option model of the spread is close to linear, some form of nonlinearity can still be detected from the data.

Suggested Citation

  • Shang-Jin Wei, 1994. "Anticipations of Foreign Exchange Volatility and Bid-Ask Spreads," NBER Working Papers 4737, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:4737
    Note: IFM
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.nber.org/papers/w4737.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Lyons, Richard K., 1988. "Tests of the foreign exchange risk premium using the expected second moments implied by option pricing," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 7(1), pages 91-108, March.
    2. David S. Bates, "undated". "Pricing Options Under Jump-Diffusion Processes," Rodney L. White Center for Financial Research Working Papers 37-88, Wharton School Rodney L. White Center for Financial Research.
    3. Jeffrey A. Frankel, 1993. "On Exchange Rates," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262061546, April.
    4. Lyons, Richard K., 1995. "Tests of microstructural hypotheses in the foreign exchange market," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(2-3), pages 321-351.
    5. Shang-Jin Wei & Jeffrey A. Frankel, 1991. "Are Option-Implied Forecasts of Exchange Rate Volatility Excessively Variable?," NBER Working Papers 3910, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. Black, Stanley W., 1991. "Transactions costs and vehicle currencies," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 10(4), pages 512-526, December.
    7. Boothe, Paul M, 1988. "Exchange Rate Risk and the Bid-Ask Spread: A Seven Country Comparison," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 26(3), pages 485-492, July.
    8. Robert C. Merton, 2005. "Theory of rational option pricing," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Sudipto Bhattacharya & George M Constantinides (ed.), Theory Of Valuation, chapter 8, pages 229-288, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    9. Copeland, Thomas E & Galai, Dan, 1983. "Information Effects on the Bid-Ask Spread," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 38(5), pages 1457-1469, December.
    10. Sarno,Lucio & Taylor,Mark P., 2003. "The Economics of Exchange Rates," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521485845, September.
    11. 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.
    12. Glassman, Debra, 1987. "Exchange rate risk and transactions costs: Evidence from bid-ask spreads," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 6(4), pages 479-490, December.
    13. Melvin, Michael & Tan, Kok-Hui, 1996. "Foreign Exchange Market Bid-Ask Spreads and the Market Price of Social Unrest," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 48(2), pages 329-341, April.
    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. Jeffrey A. Frankel & Andrew K. Rose, 1994. "A Survey of Empirical Research on Nominal Exchange Rates," NBER Working Papers 4865, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Mende, Alexander, 2005. "09/11 on the USD/EUR Foreign Exchange Market," Hannover Economic Papers (HEP) dp-312, Leibniz Universität Hannover, Wirtschaftswissenschaftliche Fakultät.
    3. Detken, Carsten & Hartmann, Philipp, 2000. "The Euro and International Capital Markets," International Finance, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 3(1), pages 53-94, April.
    4. Mr. Torbjorn I. Becker & Mr. Amadou N Sy, 2005. "Were Bid-Ask Spreads in the Foreign Exchange Market Excessive During the Asian Crisis?," IMF Working Papers 2005/034, International Monetary Fund.
    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. Parsley, David C & Wei, Shang-Jin, 1993. "Insignificant and Inconsequential Hysteresis: The Case of U.S. Bilateral Trade," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 75(4), pages 606-613, November.
    7. Geir H. Bjønnes & Dagfinn Rime & Haakon O. Aa. Solheim, 2002. "Volume and Volatility in the FX-Market: Does it matter who you are?," CESifo Working Paper Series 786, CESifo.
    8. Hartmann, Philipp, 1998. "Do Reuters spreads reflect currencies' differences in global trading activity?," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 17(5), pages 757-784, October.
    9. Jeffrey A. Frankel & Giampaolo Galli & Alberto Giovannini, 1996. "Introduction to "The Microstructure of Foreign Exchange Markets"," NBER Chapters, in: The Microstructure of Foreign Exchange Markets, pages 1-18, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    10. Gabriele Galati, 2000. "Trading volumes, volatility and spreads in foreign exchange markets: evidence from emerging market countries," BIS Working Papers 93, Bank for International Settlements.
    11. Shang-Jin Wei & Jeffrey A. Frankel, 1991. "Are Option-Implied Forecasts of Exchange Rate Volatility Excessively Variable?," NBER Working Papers 3910, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. Carsten Detken & Philipp Hartmann, 2000. "The Euro and International Capital Markets," International Finance, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 3(1), pages 53-94, April.
    13. Hua, Mingshu, 2009. "A study on foreign exchange dealers' bid-ask spread quote behavior," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 17(4), pages 506-523, September.

    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. 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.
    2. Hartmann, Philipp, 1998. "Do Reuters spreads reflect currencies' differences in global trading activity?," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 17(5), pages 757-784, October.
    3. Hau, Harald & Killeen, William & Moore, Michael, 2002. "The euro as an international currency: explaining puzzling first evidence from the foreign exchange markets," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 21(3), pages 351-383, June.
    4. Carsten Detken & Philipp Hartmann, 2000. "The Euro and International Capital Markets," International Finance, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 3(1), pages 53-94, April.
    5. Ali Kutan & Su Zhou, 1995. "Sociopolitical instability, volatility, and the bid-ask spread: Evidence from the free market for dollars in Poland," Open Economies Review, Springer, vol. 6(3), pages 225-236, July.
    6. Bollerslev, Tim & Domowitz, Ian & Wang, Jianxin, 1997. "Order flow and the bid-ask spread: An empirical probability model of screen-based trading," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 21(8-9), pages 1471-1491, June.
    7. Hartmann, Philipp, 1997. "Do Reuters spreads reflect currencies' differences in global trading activity?," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 119148, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    8. Detken, Carsten & Hartmann, Philipp, 2000. "The Euro and International Capital Markets," International Finance, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 3(1), pages 53-94, April.
    9. Stenfors, Alexis & Susai, Masayuki, 2019. "Liquidity withdrawal in the FX spot market: A cross-country study using high-frequency data," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 36-57.
    10. Hartmann, Philipp, 1999. "Trading volumes and transaction costs in the foreign exchange market: Evidence from daily dollar-yen spot data," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 23(5), pages 801-824, May.
    11. King, Michael R. & Osler, Carol L. & Rime, Dagfinn, 2013. "The market microstructure approach to foreign exchange: Looking back and looking forward," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 95-119.
    12. Lyons, Richard K., 1998. "Profits and position control: a week of FX dealing1," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 17(1), pages 97-115, February.
    13. Jeffrey A. Frankel & Giampaolo Galli & Alberto Giovannini, 1996. "Introduction to "The Microstructure of Foreign Exchange Markets"," NBER Chapters, in: The Microstructure of Foreign Exchange Markets, pages 1-18, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    14. Mr. Torbjorn I. Becker & Mr. Amadou N Sy, 2005. "Were Bid-Ask Spreads in the Foreign Exchange Market Excessive During the Asian Crisis?," IMF Working Papers 2005/034, International Monetary Fund.
    15. Hua, Mingshu, 2009. "A study on foreign exchange dealers' bid-ask spread quote behavior," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 17(4), pages 506-523, September.
    16. Áron Gereben & György Gyomai & Norbert Kiss M., 2005. "The microstructure approach to exchange rates: a survey from a central bank’s viewpoint," MNB Occasional Papers 2005/42, Magyar Nemzeti Bank (Central Bank of Hungary).
    17. Khemraj, Tarron & Pasha, Sukrishnalall, 2008. "Foreign exchange market bid-ask spread and market power in an underdeveloped economy," MPRA Paper 11422, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    18. Milan Nedeljkovic & Branko Urosevic, 2011. "Determinants of the Dinar-Euro Nominal Exchange Rate," Working papers 18, National Bank of Serbia.
    19. Lim, Terence & Lo, Andrew W. & Merton, Robert C. & Scholes, Myron S., 2006. "The Derivatives Sourcebook," Foundations and Trends(R) in Finance, now publishers, vol. 1(5–6), pages 365-572, April.
    20. Richard K. Lyons, 2002. "Foreign exchange: macro puzzles, micro tools," Economic Review, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, pages 51-69.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • F31 - International Economics - - International Finance - - - Foreign Exchange

    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:4737. 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.