We investigate competition between traditional stock exchanges and new dark trading venues using an important difference in regulatory treatment. Securities and Exchange Commission required minimum pricing increments constrain some stock spreads, causing large limit order queues. Dark pools...

The study investigates competition in the market for NASDAQ stocks during a recent period in U.S. equity markets history when three major ECNs - Archipelago, Island, and Instinet - are identifiable in TAQ. We show that the ECNs compete with NASDAQ's SuperMontage on the basis of quotes, execution...

This study examines dealer behavior and trading activity for a sample of 3,181 newly issued corporate bonds, focusing on underpricing at issuance and subsequent price dispersion. Unlike the equity market, the measured underpricing is the result of both an ex-ante pricing decision made by the...

The institutional brokerage industry faces ever increasing pressure to lower trading costs, which has already driven down average commissions and shifted volume towards low-cost execution venues. However, traditional full-service brokers that bundle execution with services remain a force and...

This paper reports the results of a unique experiment designed to assess the impact of last-sale trade reporting on the liquidity of BBB corporate bonds. We find that increased transparency has either a neutral or positive effect on market liquidity depending on trade size. Measures of trading...

Using Samp;P 500 monthly returns as a proxy for market conditions, we investigate whether investors prefer dividend-paying stocks to non-dividend-paying stocks in declining markets. We find that dividend-paying firms have higher returns than non-dividend-paying firms, especially in declining...

We use limit order data provided by the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) to investigate the impact of reducing the minimum tick size on the liquidity of the market. Specifically, we analyze both spreads and depths (quoted and on the limit order book) for periods before and after the NYSE's change...

This article reports the results of an experiment designed to assess the impact of last-sale trade reporting on the liquidity of BBB corporate bonds. Overall, adding transparency has either a neutral or a positive effect on liquidity. Increased transparency is not associated with greater trading...

This study examines the liquidity of real estate investment trusts (REITs), as measured by their bid-ask spread. We find that REIT spreads have increased over the period 1986-1990, are inversely related to market capitalization, and are similar in magnitude to spreads on other stocks of...

This paper examines the relations between the number of market makers, trading activity, and price improvement in Nasdaq stocks, using a model motivated by Grossman and Miller (1988). Results indicate a positive relation between the number of market makers and trading frequency, and that...