Phantom Liquidity and High-Frequency Quoting

2018 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
High Frequency ◽  
Price Level ◽  
Low Frequency ◽  
High Frequency Trading ◽  
Limit Order

This article examines every NASDAQ ITCH feed message for S&P 500 Index stocks for 2012 and identifies clusters of extremely high and extremely low limit-order cancellation activity. The authors find results consistent with the idea that cancel clusters are the result of high-frequency traders jockeying for queue position and reacting to information to establish a new price level. Furthermore, few trades seem to be executed during cancel clusters or even immediately after them. Low cancellation activity seems to be markedly different, with many level changes all caused by executions. The results are consistent with high-frequency trading firms behaving as agents who bring efficiency to the market without the need to have executions at intermediate prices. The authors also discuss the misconception that investors and low-frequency traders are synonymous and its implications for policy given these results.

How Does High-Frequency Trading Affect Low-Frequency Trading?

2017 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 235-248 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kun Li ◽  
Rick Cooper ◽  
Ben Van Vliet
Keyword(s):  
High Frequency ◽  
Low Frequency ◽  
High Frequency Trading

scholarly journals The High-Frequency Trading Arms Race: Frequent Batch Auctions as a Market Design Response *

2015 ◽  
Vol 130 (4) ◽  
pp. 1547-1621 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric Budish ◽  
Peter Cramton ◽  
John Shim
Keyword(s):  
High Frequency ◽  
Market Design ◽  
Limit Order Book ◽  
Theory Model ◽  
Arms Race ◽  
High Frequency Trading ◽  
Continuous Limit ◽  
Order Book ◽  
Limit Order ◽  
Arbitrage Opportunities

Abstract The high-frequency trading arms race is a symptom of flawed market design. Instead of the continuous limit order book market design that is currently predominant, we argue that financial exchanges should use frequent batch auctions: uniform price double auctions conducted, for example, every tenth of a second. That is, time should be treated as discrete instead of continuous, and orders should be processed in a batch auction instead of serially. Our argument has three parts. First, we use millisecond-level direct-feed data from exchanges to document a series of stylized facts about how the continuous market works at high-frequency time horizons: (i) correlations completely break down; which (ii) leads to obvious mechanical arbitrage opportunities; and (iii) competition has not affected the size or frequency of the arbitrage opportunities, it has only raised the bar for how fast one has to be to capture them. Second, we introduce a simple theory model which is motivated by and helps explain the empirical facts. The key insight is that obvious mechanical arbitrage opportunities, like those observed in the data, are built into the market design—continuous-time serial-processing implies that even symmetrically observed public information creates arbitrage rents. These rents harm liquidity provision and induce a never-ending socially wasteful arms race for speed. Last, we show that frequent batch auctions directly address the flaws of the continuous limit order book. Discrete time reduces the value of tiny speed advantages, and the auction transforms competition on speed into competition on price. Consequently, frequent batch auctions eliminate the mechanical arbitrage rents, enhance liquidity for investors, and stop the high-frequency trading arms race.

scholarly journals High-frequency trading in a limit order book

2008 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 217-224 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marco Avellaneda ◽  
Sasha Stoikov
Keyword(s):  
High Frequency ◽  
Limit Order Book ◽  
High Frequency Trading ◽  
Order Book ◽  
Limit Order

scholarly journals Aggressive and Defensive High‑Frequency Trading and its Impact on Liquidity of German Stock Market

2016 ◽  
Vol 64 (6) ◽  
pp. 1911-1918
Author(s):  
Juraj Hruška
Keyword(s):  
High Frequency ◽  
Stock Exchange ◽  
Low Frequency ◽  
Positive Influence ◽  
Market Liquidity ◽  
High Frequency Trading ◽  
Market Manipulation ◽  
Limit Orders ◽  
Market Risks ◽  
German Stock

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.

COMMENTARY: A Retrospective Look: Phantom Liquidity and High-Frequency Quoting

2018 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
High Frequency ◽  
Lower Cost ◽  
Price Discovery ◽  
High Frequency Trading ◽  
Limit Order ◽  
Market Participants ◽  
Liquidity Provision

In this paper we take a retrospective look at our paper “Phantom Liquidity and High-Frequency Quoting” and discuss the context of the research in light of our broader inquiry into the nature of the high-frequency trading industry. The data presented in this paper appear to show that limit order cancellations of high-frequency traders are associated with price discovery and liquidity provision, rather than some manner of systematic taking advantage of other market participants. These firms are acting as rational, profit-seeking businesses, and we believe time has shown this view to be correct. In the years since publication, HFT has matured, and consolidated into fewer, lower-cost providers of efficiency and liquidity services, much like we would expect in any other industry.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document