We compare the accuracy of the Bulk Volume classification (BVC) to that of the conventional rules: the tick rule (TR) and the Lee-Ready algorithm (LR) for a large sample of equities. TR and LR produce significantly better classifications than does BVC. This result applies to stocks of all sizes,...

Much of the liquidity supply in modern markets comes from algorithmic traders (ATs). Prompted by concerns of fragility induced by such voluntary market making, we examine ATs’ liquidity-provision role during the COVID-19 crisis. We find that amidst the turmoil as market liquidity declined ATs...

We identify a new channel ndash; market makers' attention constraints ndash; through which earnings announcements for one stock affect the liquidity of other stocks. When some stocks handled by a designated market maker have earnings announcements, liquidity is lower for non-announcement stocks...

Using a database of daily institutional trades, we document that a majority of short-term institutional trades lose money. In aggregate, over 23% of round-trip trades are held for less than three months, and the returns on these trades average -3.91% (non-annualized). These losses are pervasive...

Asquith, Oman, and Safaya (2010) conclude that short sales are often misclassified by the Lee-Ready algorithm. The algorithm identifies most short sales as buyer-initiated, whereas the authors posit that short sales should be overwhelmingly seller-initiated. Using order data to identify true...

This paper analyzes the price discovery process of securities that trade at multiple markets with trading sessions that totally or partially overlap. Building on Hasbrouck (1995) information share approach, we introduce a methodology that distinguishes two sources of information asymmetries...

For both the Spanish Stock Exchange (SSE) and the NYSE, we provide robust evidence of daily asymmetries in the contribution of ask and bid quotes to price discovery. These asymmetries are non-negligible, in the sense that they are not driven by noise. Asymmetries happen in 47.7% (62.8%) of the...

This paper evaluates the informational content of the open limit order book by studying its role in explaining the volatility of the efficient price. We separate liquidity-driven (transitory) volatility from information-driven (efficient) volatility using a dynamic state-space co-integration...

Variations in overall liquidity can be measured by simultaneous changes in both immediacy costs and depth. Liquidity changes, however, are ambiguous whenever both liquidity dimensions do not reinforce each other. In this paper, we characterize ambiguity using an instantaneous time-varying...