We characterize the price-transparency role of benchmarks in over-the-counter markets. A benchmark can, under conditions, raise social surplus by increasing the volume of beneficial trade, facilitating more efficient matching between dealers and customers, and reducing search costs. Although the...

Regulators, exchanges, and politicians are considering reining in maker-taker pricing, which is used as a competitive tool by trading venues to acquire order flow. Examining the 2013 reduction in trading fees operated by BATS on its European venues, we document significant effects on market...

We model an order book with liquidity rebates (make fees) and trading fees (take fees) that faces intermarket competition, and use the models insights to explain changes in market quality and market shares following changes in make-take fees. As predicted by our model, we document that fee...

This paper studies the price discovery dynamics in an order-driven market. Based on the transaction data on individual stocks, the paper focuses on the study of the monthly evolution of normalized volatility ratios on Euronext Paris for the CAC40 stocks before and after the implementation of the...

Speed hierarchy not only motivates fast trading competition on less precise information but also renders slower traders more informative. As a result, endogenous speed acquisition in equilibrium affects how information is produced and spread. When information diffusion is characterized by its...

Traders differ in speed and their speed differences matter. I model strategic interactions induced when high frequency traders (HFTs) have different speeds in an extended Kyle (1985) framework. HFTs are assumed to anticipate incoming orders and trade rapidly to exploit normal-speed traders'...

We use recent European restrictions to evaluate how traders substitute across available dark pools. Our findings suggest that restricting dark trading at the most prominent platform has a detrimental effect on dark trading activity. Annual dark trading in a restricted stock decreases by more...

Despite the availability of low-cost exchanges, over-the-counter (OTC) trading is pervasive for most assets. We explain the prevalence of OTC trading using a model of adverse selection, in which informed and uninformed investors choose to trade over-the-counter or on an exchange. OTC dealers'...

We study the consequences of high-frequency trading (HFT) — and potential policy responses — via the tradeoff between liquidity and information production. Faster speeds facilitate HFT with consequences for this tradeoff: information production diminishes because informed traders have less...

We study how transparency, modeled as information about one's counterparty liquidity needs, affects the functioning of an over-the-counter market. In our model, investors hedge endowment risk by trading bilaterally in a search-and-matching environment. We construct a bargaining procedure that...