Hidden and Fast Liquidity - Hidden Orders and High-Frequency Trading

e-Finanse ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-35
Author(s):  
Martins Carlos Jorge Lenczewski

AbstractThis work focuses on two of the more frequent practices in financial (especially capital) markets -the use of hidden orders and High-Frequency Trading (HFT). Although the use of each of them may reach 40% of the market turnover - even 60% for HFT, the actual knowledge on how they affect liquidity, prices, and market structure is still limited - especially if they are combined. The presence of both of these practices may look controversial, as it seems to be going in the opposite direction to what some of the goals that market regulators try to reach - transparency and increase of market liquidity. Additionally, their use suggests first, to give a clear advantage to some traders while not knowing the exact consequences to others. The aim of this paper is, by performing a literature study, to structure the current knowledge on a very specific topic in the area of market microstructure - the use of hidden orders and High-Frequency Trading. This paper tries to show the motivations, strategies, and eventual price effects behind hidden orders and High-Frequency Trading. It is also important to mention that this paper is based on scarce empirical research available (mainly for the US market) and as such, it is intended to encourage further analysis and research on this important topic.

2018 ◽  
Vol 54 (4) ◽  
pp. 1469-1497 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan Brogaard ◽  
Corey Garriott

Theory on high-frequency traders (HFTs) predicts that market liquidity for a security decreases in the number of HFTs trading the security. We test this prediction by studying a new Canadian stock exchange, Alpha, that experienced the entry of 11 HFTs over 4 years. We find that bid–ask spreads on Alpha converge to those at the Toronto Stock Exchange as more HFTs trade on Alpha. Effective and realized spreads for non-HFTs improve as HFTs enter the market. To explain the contrast with theory, which models the HFT as a price competitor, we provide evidence more consistent with HFTs fitting a quantity-competitor framework.


e-Finanse ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 34-46
Author(s):  
Carlos Jorge Lenczewski Martins

AbstractSince the appearance of high-frequency trading in the 1990s, speed has become one of the key issues in trading and with it, the controversy around High-Frequency Trading. In recent years, there have been many discussions and analyses of how high-frequency trading may affect the financial market – but still without any clear conclusions. Leaving these opinions behind, many adjustments have already been made in the US and Europe - both to regulations and market rules, impacting not only High-Frequency Trading but general electronic trading as well. These rules and regulations are the result of technological developments in electronic trading and more specifically, High-Frequency Trading and the practice of Payments for Order Flow. The question remains as to how deep regulations should go, especially in the case of HFT which can be severely affected by harsh regulatory requirements or procedures. Because two of the most important issues in HFT are time and information, some of the rules and regulations affect aspects such as not only what type of information and how it should be gathered, but also clock synchronisation and time-stamp granularity. Another issue that may be considered controversial in the field of HFT (although it is not a practice limited to HFT) is Payment For Order Flows. Under this mechanism, wholesale market makers pay brokers for their client’s order flow – a practice that performed in great amounts and at high speeds may give a considerable level of “inside” information. Regulations, especially from ESMA (MiFID II). try in great part to thus mitigate the practice of Payments For Order Flows.The aim of this paper is to present technological advancements in the field of trading communications used, not only by HFT firms, but also by exchanges. Additionally, the objective is to underline some challenges regarding regulatory changes that try to adapt to the current level of technology – for example, those related to clock synchronisation and data processing. One last issue brought forward is the possibility of converting markets from continuous-time auctions to discrete-time auctions - a concept that is aimed at liquidating the speed advantage and competition only to price level and hence, eliminating HFT advantages.


Author(s):  
Juraj Hruška

Algorithmic trading and especially high frequency trading is the concern of the current research studies as well as legislative authorities. It is also the subject of criticism mostly from low frequency traders and long-term institutional investors. This is due to several cases of market manipulation and flash crashes in the previous years. Advocates of this trading mechanism claim that it has large positive influence on the market, such as liquidity growth by lowering spreads and others. This paper is focused on testing the relationship between market liquidity of shares traded on Frankfurt Stock Exchange and HFT activity on European stock markets. Author proposes own methodology for measuring dynamics in HFT activity, without knowledge of original market messages. Liquidity is measured by various from of price spreads. Econometrical methods for panel regression are used to determine these relations. Results of this paper will reveal the relevance of the HFT trader’s main argument about creating liquidity and hence reducing market risks related with high spreads and low number of limit orders.


2020 ◽  
Vol 27 (4) ◽  
pp. 51-76
Author(s):  
Panha Heng ◽  
Scott J. Niblock ◽  
Jennifer L. Harrison ◽  
Hansi Hu

2021 ◽  
Vol 118 (26) ◽  
pp. e2015573118
Author(s):  
Federico Musciotto ◽  
Jyrki Piilo ◽  
Rosario N. Mantegna

Financial markets have undergone a deep reorganization during the last 20 y. A mixture of technological innovation and regulatory constraints has promoted the diffusion of market fragmentation and high-frequency trading. The new stock market has changed the traditional ecology of market participants and market professionals, and financial markets have evolved into complex sociotechnical institutions characterized by a great heterogeneity in the time scales of market members’ interactions that cover more than eight orders of magnitude. We analyze three different datasets for two highly studied market venues recorded in 2004 to 2006, 2010 to 2011, and 2018. Using methods of complex network theory, we show that transactions between specific couples of market members are systematically and persistently overexpressed or underexpressed. Contemporary stock markets are therefore networked markets where liquidity provision of market members has statistically detectable preferences or avoidances with respect to some market members over time with a degree of persistence that can cover several months. We show a sizable increase in both the number and persistence of networked relationships between market members in most recent years and how technological and regulatory innovations affect the networked nature of the markets. Our study also shows that the portfolio of strategic trading decisions of high-frequency traders has evolved over the years, adding to the liquidity provision other market activities that consume market liquidity.


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