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Is there a gap between the profitability of a trading strategy on paper and that which is achieved in practice? We answer this question by developing a general technique to measure the real-world implementation costs of financial market anomalies. Our method extends Fama-MacBeth regressions to compare the on-paper returns to factor exposures with those achieved by mutual funds. Unlike existing approaches, ours delivers estimates of all-in implementation costs without relying on parametric microstructure models or explicitly specified factor trading strategies. After accounting for implementation costs, typical mutual funds earn low returns to value and no returns to momentum.

The question of whether and to what extent option trading impacts underlying stock prices has been a focus of intense interest since options began exchange-based trading in 1973. Despite considerable effort, no convincing evidence for a pervasive impact has been produced. A recent strand of theoretical literature predicts that rebalancing by traders who hedge their option positions increases (decreases) underlying stock return volatility when these traders have net written (purchased) option positions. This paper tests this prediction and finds a statistically and economically significant negative relationship between stock return volatility and net purchased option positions of investors who are likely to hedge. Hence, we provide the first evidence for a substantial and pervasive influence of option trading on stock prices.

Aim/purpose – The aim of the paper is to compare and create a ranking of alternative trading systems and to investigate if there is a relationship between Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and stock indices of those markets and correlation between GDP and turnover value. Design/methodology/approach – The paper presents a comparative analysis of 13 European trading systems in such categories as: capitalisation, value of share trading, number of listed companies, number of new companies and companies removed from the market between the years 2016 and 2018. In addition, the paper includes a ranking of alternative trading systems in Europe which was created on the basis of the variables mentioned. The paper examines the correlation between GDP and indices of alternative trading systems and also between GDP and turnover value. Pearson’s correlation coefficient was used to examine the correlation. Findings – The ranking shows that the 1st place was taken by the British AIM market, which turned out to be the best in all categories under the comparison, the next two positions were occupied by the markets whose characteristic feature is that they cover several countries of the western Europe; these are the markets of First North and Alternext. The Polish market was at a fairly high 5th position among the 13 compared markets. The Greek and Russian markets came last. The relationship between the impact of GDP and index value as well as GDP and turnover value has also been examined. The research regarding the first aspect of the study confirmed the hypothesis about the correlation of GDP with the index. However, in the second case of the GDP and turnover value there is a very weak correlation. Research implications/limitations – The limitation in the correlation study was the difficulty in obtaining data for all 13 alternative trading systems taken for the study, thus comparing four markets in the GDP correlation and the value of the index and three markets in the relation GDP and turnover value. Originality/value/contribution – The added value of the paper is the ranking of alternative trading systems and study of correlations between Gross Domestic Product and stock indices of Alternative Trading Systems and turnover value of these markets.

PURPOSE: This article aims to analyze the types of disciplinary measures imposed by the WSE, as the ATS Organizer, on NewConnect companies in 2008-2020 for violation of applicable law. The analysis covers the types of disciplinary measures depending on the breach of the ATS Regulations by issuers., DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH: Due to the complexity of the data analysis, mixed research methods were used as observation, analysis, and inference. The study used reports available at www.newconnect.pl and statistical data from the Annals of the Warsaw Stock Exchange., FINDINGS: In the analyzed period, 57.42% of NewConnect companies were subject to sanctions. The most common disciplinary measures imposed on companies for non-compliance with the ASO Regulations are suspension, warning, and a fine. A financial penalty has a more disciplinary effect on NewConnect companies than other punitive measures., PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS: The conclusions of this study can be used in the sanctioning process of the ATS Organizer. The article's content concerns the findings of the analysis of the most common violations of the ATS Regulations by issuers and the answer to whether the penalty imposed by the ATS Organizer disciplines issuers, contributing to better fulfillment of the obligations arising from the ATS Regulations., ORIGINALITY/VALUE: The theoretical and empirical literature does not provide guidance on factors that discipline issuers, contribute to compliance with regulations, and avoid excluding a company from the NewConnect market. The analysis results presented in the article supplement the existing research on sanctions imposed on companies listed on NewConnect in 2008-2020 due to the type of violation., peer-reviewed

We examine trading and quoting behavior of dealers in the corporate bond market, using dealer quotation data from two major corporate bond ATSs. We find a clear pecking order of transaction costs in which central dealers offer the lowest transaction costs, followed by high-quoting dealers, then moderate-quoting dealers, and finally non-quoting dealers. We also find that ATSs provide a useful venue for inventory management, especially for dealers who do not possess extensive bilateral trading networks as central dealers. Overall, our study contributes to broadening our understanding of electronic trading channels beyond the traditional voice trading channel and their implications on customer transaction costs in an important OTC market.

Is something wrong with the structure of the U.S. stock market? Both industry participants and scholars have recently faulted the equity market for its lack of innovation. In particular, they have emphasized that stock exchanges may not have the right incentives to provide innovative solutions to market problems. I argue that understanding the quality of innovation in the equity market requires bringing other types of stock trading venues—particularly “alternative trading systems” (“ATSs”)—into the picture. My central claim is that ATSs have markedly superior incentives to innovate than exchanges for reasons rooted in their governing law and business models. First, ATSs face far lighter regulatory hurdles to beginning operations and changing structure than an exchange, and some important regulations that limit exchange experimentation do not apply to ATSs at all. Second, ATSs are subject to fewer disclosure obligations than exchanges, and as a result they can, in practice, retain their innovations as “trade secrets,” while this is exceptionally difficult for exchanges. Third, ATSs and exchanges have different revenue sources. This is important because ATSs benefit less from the status quo market design than exchanges and thus lack reasons to preserve that structure against desirable innovations, especially those reducing opportunities for latency arbitrage. The result is that ATSs produce the very innovations that some scholars have sought, but failed to find in exchanges, such as frequent batched auctions. I use newly available data on ATSs to inform and illustrate these arguments. I conclude by noting that the consequences of ATS innovations for the equity market as a whole are profoundly ambiguous, because it is unclear how much trading volume an ATS can ultimately attract.

We investigate the trading of corporate bonds on alternative trading system (ATS) platforms. We draw a key distinction between request-for-quote (RFQ) and electronic communication network (ECN) trading protocols, which balance investors’ preference for immediacy and anonymity. Trades on ATS platforms are smaller and more likely to involve investment-grade bonds. Trades on ATS platforms are more probable for older, less actively traded bonds from smaller issues and for bonds traded by more dealers where inventory is high. Moreover, dealer participation on ATS platforms is associated with lower customer transaction costs of between 24 and 32 basis points.

Day trading has become an important topic of discussion in the last decades, especially with regard to computer program trading or the increasing trend of high-frequency transactions. However, due to the high level of complexity regarding the forecasting of day trading trends, the use of traditional financial analysis or technical indicators for the forecasting of short-term market trends is often ineffective. The main reason is that in addition to the technical analysis of market physical trends, financial market trading behaviors are also often affected by psychological factors such as greed and fear, which are emotions displayed by investors during the transaction process. For this reason, this study will use the neural network to integrate into the financial engineering technology analysis of the physical momentum behavior and market profile theory to quantify controlled learning. The goal is to be able to provide an empirical explanation of the discoveries related to trading behaviors by using trading strategies. Our experiments showed that trading behaviors in the financial market could be explained by the physical trends of a quantitative and technical analysis of the market profile theory. It has also been proven that the financial trading market follows the existence of a certain trading logic.

Direct trading is a promising approach to simultaneously achieve trading benefits and reduce transmission line losses in smart grid. However, due to the selfish nature, small-scale electricity suppliers (SESs) and electricity consumers (ECs) will not participate direct trading if the trading does not bring them benefits. Therefore, how to provide proper economic incentives for these two parties to take part in direct trading is an essential issue. Nevertheless, the asymmetry trading information between them makes the problem challenging. In this paper, we propose a contract-based direct trading framework to tackle this challenge, in which the decision making process of ECs and SESs in the presence of asymmetric information is modeled as a contract game. In the proposed game, the EC designs a contract which contains its trading strategies toward all types of SESs. Through the contract, the EC not only attracts SESs to sell electricity but also maximizes its own revenue. The SESs, on the other hand, get maximal benefits if they truthfully select the contract items of their own types. We derive theoretically the optimal contract for the short-term market where the supply of SESs is deterministic. Then we extend our study to the long-term market where the supply of SESs is encountering significant uncertainty. Finally, simulation results are shown to verify the effectiveness of the proposed scheme.

This article examines the profitability of volatility trading on S&P 500 equity index options in time-varying market conditions, with a particular focus on evaluating the authenticity of risk-adjusted returns. While significant profits are available on strategies that involve writing put options, our findings cast doubt on whether these profits can be genuinely attained in practice. After bid-ask spreads are included, we find that the profitability is significantly reduced. Furthermore, the implementation of the trades is generally difficult owing to margin requirements as investors have to set aside a large proportion of their wealth into margin accounts and also face a high likelihood of margin calls. Overall, the profitability of volatility trading tends to hinge on the capability of investors to capture the volatility risk premium and to wisely time its trades.

Social Trading platforms combine the trading functionalities of classical online broker services with the communication and interaction features of social networks. Next to following other users’ profiles, a main characteristic of social trading platforms is the possibility to follow other users by automatically copying their trades. By being a technologically based financial intermediary that enables individual profit maximization, social trading platforms constitute a contemporary example of financialization. Our empirical analysis of the behavior of traders on a social trading platform provides new insights on financialization related questions regarding the influence of transparency and interaction in delegated investment environments. The disposition effect is a well-studied behavioral bias of investors and traders. Human investors tend to realize returns of their winning positions too early and let unfavorable positions accumulate losses for too long. We find that on social trading platforms the traders’ sensitivity to the disposition effect is influenced by the amount of attention they receive from their followers who invested capital into the traders’ strategy. These novel insights propose a link between principal-agent theory and the disposition effect induced by transparency mechanisms. We extend the literature on trader-investor interaction channels in social trading networks. The results obtained in a social network environment are of high relevance for regulators who have a strong focus on customer protection and financial services regulation. They also provide guidelines for platform designers, traders, investors and social trading platform operators.

Given the widespread transfer of trading to electronic platforms it is important to ask whether such trading is more efficient than traditional open outcry. To empirically assess this we examine the Crude Palm Oil market from 1995:06 to 2008:07 - a market where all trading swapped over from open outcry to electronic trading at the end of 2001. Results indicate that both forms of trading are long-run efficient but that short-run inefficiencies do exist. Our main findings, derived from the application of a novel threshold autoregressive relative efficiency measure, is that market efficiency is conditional on (i) the volatility of the underlying asset (ii) the maturity of the futures contract and (iii) the market trading system. Specifically, bootstrap results from the efficiency measure suggest that the open outcry trading method is superior for shorter maturities when volatility is high, and indistinguishable from electronic trading when volatility is low or maturity is long. These results suggest that electronic trading should not supersede open outcry, but rather that there are clear benefits to their coexistence.

The integrity and credibility of financial statements are sensitive aspects that significantly influence the investors’ confidence in the capital market efficiency. Recent research in the area of (re)establishing effective communication between the auditor and the investors have brought into the attention of audit practitioners the provisions of International Standard on Auditing (ISA) 701 “Communicating Key Audit Matters in the Independent Auditor’s Report.” This approach proves that investors demand more information that accompanies the audit opinion, when forming a decision to buy, hold or sell equity instruments. Our research is focused on identifying, isolating and analyzing the significant changes in financial asset trading prices, as a consequence of publishing the auditor report. Thus, the overall objective is to assess the impact of the modified opinion, expressed by the auditor in accordance with ISA 705 “Modifications to the Opinion in the Independent Auditor’s Report”, upon the prices of financial assets. Subsequently, the specific objectives aim to identify quantifiable adjustments in the financial position of the entities and to analyze its impact on trading prices. Research is focused on a sample that consists of 32 listed entities, of which 25 entities are included in the BET-XT index and seven entities are traded on the alternative trading system AeRO, selected in relation to the liquidity degree measured by the BVB market operator. Our observations upon changes in financial asset prices were focused on 2009-2017 period, while the analized audit reports addressed the reporting periods from 2008 to 2016, included.

The stock market has been transformed during the last 25 years. Human suppliers of liquidity like the NASDAQ dealers and NYSE specialists have been replaced by algorithmic market making; stocks that once traded on a single venue now trade across twelve exchanges and a multitude of alternative trading systems. New venues like dark pools, and new participants like high†frequency traders, have emerged to take on prominent roles. This new market has had more than its share of controversy and regulatory scrutiny, particularly in the wake of Michael Lewis’s bestseller Flash Boys. In this article, the authors analyze five of the most controversial new market practices, including various high†frequency trading strategies and dark pool activities. They set out a simple conceptual framework based on adverse selection and agency problems, and apply that framework to assess the welfare effects of each of the five practices. While much that is criticized is indeed objectionable, other controversial practices are much more complex than popularly imagined and may in fact be socially desirable. They conclude by evaluating a range of potential reforms to equity market structure.

We use the largest cross-country sample of reported share transactions by corporate insiders to date to establish that insiders in the majority of European countries do not make statistically significant abnormal trading profits. This finding stands in contrast to the earlier evidence from the U.S. The result holds across subsamples of firms with different characteristics. Furthermore, the introduction of the European Union Market Abuse Directive (MAD) had a mixed impact on the frequency and volume of insider trading across countries but generally did not affect profits of insider-mimicking portfolios. We build on the heterogeneity of our sample countries to show that several country-level regulatory, economic and cultural factors are linked with the level of insider profits which can explain why the profitability of insider trading differs starkly across countries.

This study examines the occurrence of informed trading in public debt issued by companies in the United States. I find that earnings surprises are positively associated with bond price changes prior to the release of financial report data to the public, for firms with non-investment-grade ratings. Additionally, I find that the effect appears to be driven by firms with publicly traded equity. Evidence further indicates an increase in trading activity during the time window between report period end date and filing date, for firms with larger earnings surprises.

We examine the efficacy of exchange queries in assisting to explain anomalous trading behaviour in a timely manner. Most equity markets rely on continuous disclosure rules to motivate corporations to immediately disclose sensitive information that can affect trading. Queries allow exchanges to request that listed firms clarify unexplained variation in their securities directly. Using intraday data for a sample of liquid stocks, we find consistent price reversals after firms respond to the query by labelling the pre-announcement trading activity as unsubstantiated. The information contained in this unanticipated announcement is impounded within 20 minutes, preceded by a transition period of heightened trading intensity, wider spreads and shifting order book depth. We show evidence consistent with efficient markets and rational investor behaviour. Overall, this study finds that queries enhance the orderly flow of information and reduce information asymmetry. Exchanges in other countries should consider their use.

The authors introduce an activity-based approach to trading performance comparisons, in which the common denominator is an individual security. The framework facilitates answers to three questions. 1) Is there valuable information in peer trading comparisons if one analyzes performance on a stock-by-stock basis? Aggregated comparisons across institutions and brokers disguise important differences in the effectiveness of the trading process. 2) How does a stock trade? An answer lies in the characterization of single-stock profiles. The approach exploits institutional trading activity, combining such information with market data and repurposing old tools with the goal of reducing institutional trading costs. 3) How does one characterize the liquidity profile of a portfolio? The answer relies on observed liquidity, as evidenced by institutional trading activity. The solution depends on building the portfolio profile up from individual securities and yields not only the implementation costs of liquidation, for example, but also the horizon over which this may be accomplished.

This study uses the event study methodology to explore semi-strong form market efficiency in the context of low levels of trading activity. Covering six frontier stock markets, it investigates stock price reaction to major national news events that include natural disasters, parliamentary elections and credit rating reviews and the international events such as international terrorist incidents, major events surrounding the 2007/2008 sub-prime mortgage crisis and the United Kingdom’s referendum on membership in the European Union (Brexit). The results of the event studies, which feature a correction for low levels of trading activity, show that in sharp contrast with more actively traded markets, stock prices on markets with relatively low levels of trading activity did not react to the vast majority of major news events, and only tended to react to rare events with major consequences. Usually, where stock prices reacted to a news event, the reaction was significantly delayed, which is inconsistent with semi-strong form market efficiency. The implication is that low levels of trading activity may be associated with semi-strong form inefficiency, and stock prices in such markets may not fully reflect all relevant available information, and may be of limited value to a variety of decision-makers.

This article considers the modern methods and approaches to design the company’s distribution network. The authors point out the relevance of this problem for the modern trading and manufacturing companies, give examples of the strategic goal setting of the company in the logistics network reorganization, and the benchmarks of possible economic effects of its conduction. The work reviews the scientific articles of contemporary American, European and Russian authors devoted to the approaches, concerning the implementation of projects for designing a distribution network, methods and models for its optimization. The article concludes that there is no single “language” and an approach to design the logistics networks, with a proper level of detail that takes into account the strategic features and industry specificity of the certain company. The authors propose an algorithm for designing a rational distribution network.

Securities trading underwent a major transformation within the last decade. This transformation was mainly driven by the regulatory induced fragmentation and by the increase of high-frequency trading (HFT). On the basis of the electronic market hypothesis, which poses that coordination costs decline when markets become automated, and the efficient market hypothesis in its semi-strong form, we study the effect of HFT on market efficiency in the European fragmented market landscape. In doing so, we further incorporate the realm of financialization, which criticizes the increase in transaction speed. By conducting a long-term analysis of CAC 40 securities, we find that HFT increases market efficiency by leveling midpoints between Euronext Paris and Bats Chi-X Europe. On the basis of a crosscountry event study, we analyze the effect of the German HFT Act. We observe that the midpoint dispersion of blue chip securities between the two leading venues Deutsche Boerse and Bats Chi-X Europe increased. We conclude that HFT increases market efficiency in the European market landscape by transmitting information between distant markets.

Speculators constantly search for mispriced securities, with many studying past prices to identify patterns, known as feedback trading. Positive feedback trading perpetuates a trend and is thus destabilising, as it drives prices away from their fundamental value and contributes to volatility. In contrast, negative feedback trading, trading in the opposite direction of the trend, is stabilising, as it drives prices back to their fundamental value. This study examined whether individual shares on the South African market are prone to feedback trading strategies; the results of which have importance for regulators and policymakers, arbitrageurs and portfolio managers. On average, 23% of the shares showed evidence of feedback trading, with approximately 9% of this being positive feedback trading and 14% negative feedback trading. The implications of these findings for various market participants are discussed.

While it has been demonstrated that momentum or contrarian trading strategies can be profitable in a range of institutional settings, less evidence is available concerning the actual trading strategies investors adopt. Standard definitions of momentum or contrarian trading strategies imply that a given investor applies the same strategy to both their buy and sell trades, which need not be the case. Using investor-level, transaction-based data from China, where tax effects are neutral, we examine investors' buy-sell decisions separately to investigate how past returns impact differentially on the trading strategies investors adopt when buying and selling stock. After controlling for a wide range of stock characteristics, extreme price changes and portfolio value, a clear asymmetry in trading is observed; with investors displaying momentum behavior when buying stocks, but contrarian behavior when selling stocks. This asymmetry in behavior is not driven purely by reactions to stock characteristics or extreme stocks. We discuss behavioral and cultural explanations for our findings.

This paper provides new evidence of late trading activities in the mutual fund markets of France, Germany and the UK. We find that investors who are allowed to trade late can earn substantial returns between 18% and 35% annually. Late trading accounts for up to 0.6% of daily flow. Evidence of such illicit and abusive trading practices was uncovered in 2003 during a large scandal in the US fund industry. Our findings suggest that late trading may still persist in European markets. However, we do not find evidence of late trading in the UK.

It is impossible to eliminate the phenomenon of information asymmetry in today's roar capital. To reduce the negative aspects of this phenomenon are imposed by the organizers of the turnover of financial instruments on the issuer's disclosure obligations. Issuers of securities on the main floor of the WSE and NewConnect alternative trading system are required to present basic information about the company, its ownership as well as periodic reports on the current functioning and prospectuses. Due to the nature of the various markets the disclosure obligations are more or less restrictive. The purpose of this article is to compare the information obligations between equity markets operated by the WSE and to assess the validity of data application solutions. Nie sposób jest wyeliminować zjawiska asymetrii informacji na współczesnym ryku kapitałowym. Aby ograniczyć jego negatywne skutki nakładane są przez organizatorów obrotów instrumentami finansowymi obowiązki informacyjne. Emitenci papierów wartościowych na głównym parkiecie GPW oraz na alternatywnym systemie obrotu NewConnect są zobowiązani prezentować podstawowe dane o przedsiębiorstwie, jego stanie posiadania jak również okresowe raporty z jego bieżącego funkcjonowania oraz prospekty emisyjne. Z uwagi na charakter poszczególnych rynków obowiązki te są mniej lub bardziej restrykcyjne. Celem artykułu jest dokonanie porównania obowiązków informacyjnych pomiędzy rynkami akcyjnymi prowadzonymi przez GPW SA oraz dokonania oceny słuszności zastosowania danych rozwiązań. W artykule stawia się tezę, że bardziej restrykcyjne wymogi informowania akcjonariuszy dotyczące zmian dotykających spółkę giełdową mają bezpośrednie przełożenie na transparentność oraz ocenę jakości rynku w oczach inwestorów. Badanie zostało przeprowadzone poprzez dokonanie analizy porównawczej opartej na regulaminach obu parkietów oraz aktualnie obowiązującym stanie prawnym.

Stock splits have long presented financial puzzles: Why are they undertaken? Why are they associated with abnormal returns? Abnormal returns, particularly those coming shortly before a split’s announcement date, should raise strong suspicions of insider trading, particularly in nations with weak regulatory structures. We examined the 718 split events in the emerging stock market of Vietnam from 2007 through 2011. We found evidence consistent with illegal insider trading, particularly in firms that were vulnerable to insider manipulation and, therefore, more likely to split their stocks. When vulnerable firms’ stocks did split, they provided significant excess short-term returns. Tellingly, the abnormal returns on those stocks prior to the split announcements were also extremely high, indeed higher than their abnormal post-announcement returns. Moreover, trading volume increased prior to the split announcement date. This suspicious pattern is what we would expect if insiders were trading on their knowledge. We propose that illegal insider trading in contexts where it is possible to escape serious penalty provides a previously undiscussed and cogent explanation for both stock splits and abnormal short-term returns.

China has developed its own domestic carbon markets by setting up emission trading schemes. This study addresses concerns about the functioning of these schemes and the financial performance of the Chinese carbon market. It aims to assess an actual outcome of this policy intervention, i.e. trading records, which were used in our analysis to examine a key financial property of the allowance-based market in Shenzhen. In a mature market, assets that incur higher risks are likely to yield higher returns, i.e. a positive relationship. To examine this property, we solicited historical data on the price and trading volume of emission allowances. We statistically estimated the degree of volatility in the Shenzhen market and its relationship with expected return premium. We found that the rate of return was negatively associated with expected risk. This stands at odds with the usual expectation in the financial market and the prediction of asset pricing theory. Also, kurtosis in trading volume was excessively high and its fluctuations were highly concentrated. We discuss these findings in terms of market liquidity and information uncertainties, and offer some policy recommendations. More regulatory attention and economic fixes are needed to improve market efficiency and eliminate sources of market distortions.

Security trading now fragments into more than ten almost identical stock exchanges in the United States. We show that discrete pricing is one economic force that prevents the consolidation of trading volume. The uniform one-cent tick size (minimum price variation), imposed by the SEC's Rule 612, leads to more dispersed trading for lower priced securities. When a security reverse splits, its price increases and relative tick size (one cent divided by the price) decreases. We find that reverse splits consolidate trading of securities, using securities with identical underlying fundamentals that do not reverse split as the control group.

The U.S. equity options market has shown rapid growth, characterized by increased trading volume and new entrants in recent years. As competition in the options market has intensified, each trading venue has attempted to differentiate itself with a unique value proposition aimed at gaining market share. Using a sample that covers key events including the introduction of two new trading venues, we analyze the competition for trading volume, investigate the characteristics of trades and execution costs on the exchanges and examine the evolution of market share in the options industry. We find that exchange market share is positively related to execution quality and quote competition indicators and negatively related to execution costs, while exchanges that use the maker–taker model as their primary pricing model account for, on average, a lower market share than exchanges that use alternative pricing models. Given that exchanges increasingly compete using innovative methods involving market structure such as different order types, fee structures, pricing methods, and priority rules for matching orders, our finding that higher market quality in the form of higher execution quality, lower execution costs, and competitive quotes translates into higher market share is especially noteworthy.

This paper studies the role of time-on-the-market information in dynamic trading environments under adverse selection. I consider a sequential search model in which (informed) sellers receive price offers from (uninformed) buyers and analyze both the case in which buyers receive no information about sellers' trading histories and the case in which buyers observe sellers' time-on-the-market. I analyze how the observability of time-on-the-market influences agents' trading behavior and investigate its welfare implications in both the single-seller environment and the stationary market environment.

The Korea Emissions Trading Scheme was formally launched in January 2015, aiming for a 30% reduction in South Korea's carbon emissions by 2030 from the business-as-usual levels. Under this trading mechanism, carbon allowance credits are traded on the Korea Exchange, while offset credits generated from emission-reduction projects are mostly traded over the counter. Exchange trading under the Korea Emissions Trading Scheme faced immediate liquidity problems a few days after its launch. Additionally, offset credits have been consistently traded at a much higher price on the over-the-counter market versus the exchange-traded allowance credits, a scenario opposite to the conventional wisdom. This article examines the causes of this inverse price relationship between these two types of credits as well as the lack of liquidity in exchange trading under the Korea Emissions Trading Scheme. Lessons learned from the Korean carbon market could have important implications for other countries seeking to adopt a...

Detecting the incidence and impact of illegal insider trading is a difficult process since access to the actual trading records of insiders that overlap precisely with fraudulent events is difficult. This paper provides a case study of a specific IT stock in Canada that was successfully prosecuted in the Canadian court system for market manipulation and illegal insider trading violations. The study provides a quantification of the impact of insider trading activities by the President directly through his own account or through accounts under his control, and illustrates the impact of some off-exchange transactions by the impugned parties. Overall, the costs of the insider trading violations are quite high, given the significant wealth effects produced by the events surrounding this case.

Previous research highlights the importance of two distinct types of informed trading in the options market: trading on the price direction of underlying stocks, and trading on their uncertainty. Surprisingly, however, the studies considering these in a unified framework are scant.This study attempts to fill the gap. We predict that when both directional andvolatility information could motivateoptions trading, the return predictability of options volume hinges onthe shape of the volatility smirk.Consistent with this prediction, we find thatthe negative relationship between options volume and future stock returns is concentrated in stocks exhibiting steep volatility smirks. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Jrl Fut Mark

In the wake of the recent financial crisis, significant regulatory actions have been taken aimed at limiting risks emanating from trading in bank business models. Prominent reform proposals are the Volcker Rule in the U.S., the Vickers Report in the UK, and, based on the Liikanen proposal, the Barnier proposal in the EU. A major element of these reforms is to separate "classical" commercial banking activities from securities trading activities, notably from proprietary trading. While the reforms are at different stages of implementation, there is a strong ongoing discussion on what possible economic consequences are to be expected. The goal of this paper is to look at the alternative approaches of these reform proposals and to assess their likely consequences for bank business models, risk-taking and financial stability. Our conclusions can be summarized as follows: First, the focus on a prohibition of only proprietary trading, as envisaged in the current EU proposal, is inadequate. It does not necessarily reduce risk-taking and it likely crowds out desired trading activities, thereby negatively affecting financial stability. Second, there is potentially a better solution to limit excessive trading risk at banks in terms of potential welfare consequences: Trading separation into legally distinct or ring-fenced entities within the existing banking organizations. This kind of separation limits cross-subsidies between banking and proprietary trading and diminishes contagion risk, while still allowing for synergies across banking, non-proprietary trading and proprietary trading.

In this study we investigate changes in the extent of speculative (informed) trading in China’s equity markets around market liberalization. To do so, we examine the dynamic relation between trading volume and stock returns’ autocorrelation of all individual stocks traded in mainland China’s equity markets between 1995 and 2010. We develop a “Trade Informativeness” index that tracks changes in the magnitude of informed trading over time. Our results show that the extent of speculative trading has eroded as a result of market liberalization. We also find some evidence that stock returns are more reflective of market fundamentals post market liberalization. Both findings suggest an improvement in the informational efficiency of the Chinese stock markets.

We investigate the impact of insider trading in after-hours block market on stock price and short sales volume, before and after the trading becomes public information. During pre-announcement period, positive (negative) abnormal stock return is generated when insiders buy (sell) their shares but does not when quasi-insiders trade, implying that stock price reflects long-lived private information of corporate governance structure. The impact is most prominent when ownership shares are transferred to (from) corporate insiders. In contrast, short sales volume generally does not depend on the identity of block holders. Short sales volume has a negative correlation with abnormal stock return only during the transaction date, indicating that a short-sale decision of tippees is based on their sole expectation on instantaneous stock returns. We also find evidence that insiders select the timing of their trades with respect to maximizing their realized profits or minimizing their purchasing costs.

The sale of faster access to financial market data has recently generated public controversy. NY Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has referred to such fast data feeds as “Insider Trading 2.0”. For example, Thomson Reuters sold the University of Michigan’s Consumer Sentiment Index to computerized trading firms 2 seconds before releasing its data to its other paying clients. This paper explores the ethical issues involved in the sale of such information. Is selling faster access ethically the same as traditional insider trading, which generally involves a breach of fiduciary duty or the use of misappropriated information? Such practices are extremely different from traditional insider trading as there is neither a breach of fiduciary duty nor misappropriation of inside information. The ethical issues are similar to other market segmentation and price discrimination issues, in which different prices are charged to different customers. The ability to price discriminate across segments can actually benefit large segments of the population who may receive lower prices because others, such as the high-speed traders, are paying more. The sale of faster access to information, especially by exchanges, raises additional ethical issues. There may be adverse effects on market quality that must be addressed. The moral distaste for the practice expressed by some stems from the seeming unfairness of a modern market structure that provides advantages to a small group of computerized traders.

This paper managed to measure the positive feedback trading intensity and its asymmetry with high-frequency transaction data of China's individual stocks. The intraday positive feedback trading is found to be heterogeneous, and buying-winners effect is significantly stronger than selling-losers effect. In general, the high-frequency asymmetric positive feedback trading's impact on market quality is mixed: The intraday positive feedback trades contribute to a liquid and active-trading market but at the same time slow down the price discovery process and reduce the price efficiency.

Purpose The ineffectiveness of external governance mechanisms (laws and regulations) designed to curb insider trading in Malaysia leads this study to focus on the role of internal governance of firms in helping to reduce insider trading incidences. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the influence on institutional shareholders on insider trading activity. Design/methodology/approach The study uses data collected from a sample of 115 firms listed on the Bursa Malaysia over a five-year period (from year 2010 to 2014). Ordinary least squares technique is used to achieve the objective of this study. Findings The findings of this study points toward asymmetric information as a motivator for insider trading activity. Unlike previous studies which find the presence of institutional investors helping to reduce insider trading, this study finds results to the contrary. Originality/value This study focuses on the influence of institutional shareholdings on insider trading. The results provide more insight into the effectiveness of the role of institutions in curbing insider trading and suggest a closer monitoring of institutional shareholders.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the trading patterns of corporate insiders, both managing and non-managing, around the announcement dates of securities class action lawsuits and related legal settlements. Design/methodology/approach The authors use market model event study methodology to examine the impact of class action litigation and settlement announcements on the stock prices of sued firms. The authors then determine the extent of abnormal insider trading surrounding such announcements by comparing insider trading activity (volume and transaction counts) to prior insider trading in the same firm, and to a matched sample of firms not experiencing such litigation announcements. A multivariate framework is utilized to provide further insight into the determinants of such abnormal insider trading. Findings The authors establish that class action litigation and settlement announcements have a significant impact on the stock prices of sued firms, and that foreknowledge of these events appears to be used by insiders to earn abnormal profits. Moreover, results indicate that managing insiders exhibit higher opportunistic abnormal trading activity than non-managing insiders. Multivariate analysis shows that size, prior firm returns, and the implementation of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act are important determinants of such insider trading. Originality/value This appears to be the first paper to analyze insider trading surrounding class action settlement announcements, and raises concerns about the ethical conduct of certain insider groups while highlighting the importance of access to private information, even amongst insiders themselves.