We study the levels of lit and dark fragmentation in IPOs. Using a sample of 451 IPOs, we find that measures of dark and lit fragmentation are higher in underpriced issues. We further test the claim that IPO price uncertainty is not fully resolved at the offering and that this ex-post...

In this study we examine intense episodic spikes in quoting activity (frequently referred to as quote stuffing) on market conditions. We find that quote stuffing is pervasive and that over 74% of U.S. exchange-listed securities experienced at least one episode during 2010. We also find that...

We examine the liquidity providing behavior of NASDAQ market makers surrounding two periods of changing dealer obligation. The first change in November, 2007 is the relaxation of Rule 4613, which required NASDAQ market makers to place two-sided quotes “reasonably related” to the current best...

We study odd-lot trades in U.S. Equities. NYSE- and NASDAQ-listed securities trade and report on various markets, and in this paper, we examine odd-lot activity in these venues. We also look at odd-lot trading on December 9, 2013, when odd-lot trades began reporting to the consolidated public...

1-share trades are the most common odd lot trade size, accounting for 9.62% of all odd lot transactions and 3.65% of all trades on NASDAQ in 2012. While 50.41% of 1-share trades result from broken orders, 34.89% of 1-share trades are intentional. We provide evidence that traders use 1-share...

This study directly compares the level and return predictability of short selling for NYSE stocks to a matched sample of NASDAQ stocks. When considering trading that executes on all exchanges, we document that the NASDAQ has greater levels of short selling, relative to total trading activity,...

The NBBO for an average active stock is non-positive (locked or crossed) 10.58% and 4.05% of the time on, respectively, the NASDAQ and the NYSE inter-markets. Locks and crosses are frequent fleeting events that usually accompany significant price changes. Non-positive NBBOs arise because of (i)...

Research documents a U-shaped intraday pattern of returns (Wood et al., 1985, and Harris, 1986). This paper examines which trade sizes drive the U-shaped pattern. We find that intraday price changes from larger trades exhibit a U-shaped pattern while prices changes from smaller trades show a...

Using short-sale transactions data, we examine the relation between short selling and the weekend effect. We do not find that short selling is more abundant on Monday than on Friday, even for stocks that have higher Friday returns. We find that short sellers execute more short sale volume during...

Easley, Hvidkjaer, and O'Hara (2002), building upon the asset pricing model of Fama and French (1992), show that the probability of informed trading (PIN) is a determinant of asset returns for NYSE-listed securities. We extend this work by examining whether the PIN is a predictive factor for...