IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/empfin/v76y2024ics0927539824000112.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Margin-buying, short-selling, and stock valuation: Why is the effect reversed over time in China?

Author

Listed:
  • Wan, Xiaoyuan

Abstract

China launched a pilot program in March 2010 to lift the ban on margin-buying and short-selling. Based on the first two batches of designated stocks, the literature documents that lifting the ban has a negative effect on stock valuation. However, we show that the effect has reversed to positive for the next six batches of designated stocks. We explore several potential explanations. Our analyses show that as short-selling volume grew at a much slower pace or even declined relative to margin-buying volume over our sample period, the positive effect of margin-buying on stock valuation has dominated the negative effect of short-selling. Both time-series and cross-sectional tests show that the imbalance between margin-buying and short-selling is the main driver of the reversal. We further show that the effect of lifting margin-buying and short-selling ban on stock price efficiency and discovery also reversed over time.

Suggested Citation

  • Wan, Xiaoyuan, 2024. "Margin-buying, short-selling, and stock valuation: Why is the effect reversed over time in China?," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:empfin:v:76:y:2024:i:c:s0927539824000112
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jempfin.2024.101476
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0927539824000112
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jempfin.2024.101476?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Meng, Qingbin & Li, Ying & Jiang, Xuanyu & Chan, Kam C., 2017. "Informed or speculative trading? Evidence from short selling before star and non-star analysts’ downgrade announcements in an emerging market," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 240-255.
    2. Kewei Hou & Tobias J. Moskowitz, 2005. "Market Frictions, Price Delay, and the Cross-Section of Expected Returns," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 18(3), pages 981-1020.
    3. Stephen Morris, 1996. "Speculative Investor Behavior and Learning," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 111(4), pages 1111-1133.
    4. Alessandro Beber & Marco Pagano, 2013. "Short-Selling Bans Around the World: Evidence from the 2007–09 Crisis," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 68(1), pages 343-381, February.
    5. Marsh, Ian W. & Payne, Richard, 2012. "Banning short sales and market quality: The UK’s experience," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 36(7), pages 1975-1986.
    6. Berkman, Henk & Dimitrov, Valentin & Jain, Prem C. & Koch, Paul D. & Tice, Sheri, 2009. "Sell on the news: Differences of opinion, short-sales constraints, and returns around earnings announcements," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 92(3), pages 376-399, June.
    7. Adam Ashcraft & Nicolae Gârleanu & Lasse Heje Pedersen, 2011. "Two Monetary Tools: Interest Rates and Haircuts," NBER Chapters, in: NBER Macroeconomics Annual 2010, volume 25, pages 143-180, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    8. Chen, Joseph & Hong, Harrison & Stein, Jeremy C., 2002. "Breadth of ownership and stock returns," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 66(2-3), pages 171-205.
    9. Jegadeesh, Narasimhan & Kim, Woojin, 2006. "Value of analyst recommendations: International evidence," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 9(3), pages 274-309, August.
    10. Nicolae Gârleanu & Lasse Heje Pedersen, 2011. "Margin-based Asset Pricing and Deviations from the Law of One Price," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 24(6), pages 1980-2022.
    11. Wan, Xiaoyuan, 2020. "The impact of short-selling and margin-buying on liquidity: Evidence from the Chinese stock market," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 104-118.
    12. Arturo Bris & William N. Goetzmann & Ning Zhu, 2007. "Efficiency and the Bear: Short Sales and Markets Around the World," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 62(3), pages 1029-1079, June.
    13. Amihud, Yakov & Mendelson, Haim, 1986. "Asset pricing and the bid-ask spread," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 17(2), pages 223-249, December.
    14. O'Hara, Maureen & Ye, Mao, 2011. "Is market fragmentation harming market quality?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 100(3), pages 459-474, June.
    15. Ekkehart Boehmer & Juan (Julie) Wu, 2013. "Short Selling and the Price Discovery Process," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 26(2), pages 287-322.
    16. Shleifer, Andrei & Vishny, Robert W, 1997. "The Limits of Arbitrage," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 52(1), pages 35-55, March.
    17. Miller, Edward M, 1977. "Risk, Uncertainty, and Divergence of Opinion," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 32(4), pages 1151-1168, September.
    18. Chang, Eric C. & Luo, Yan & Ren, Jinjuan, 2014. "Short-selling, margin-trading, and price efficiency: Evidence from the Chinese market," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 411-424.
    19. Figlewski, Stephen, 1981. "The Informational Effects of Restrictions on Short Sales: Some Empirical Evidence," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 16(4), pages 463-476, November.
    20. Jiang, George J. & Lu, Liangliang & Zhu, Dongming, 2014. "The information content of analyst recommendation revisions — Evidence from the Chinese stock market," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 29(C), pages 1-17.
    21. Duffie, Darrell & Garleanu, Nicolae & Pedersen, Lasse Heje, 2002. "Securities lending, shorting, and pricing," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 66(2-3), pages 307-339.
    22. Amihud, Yakov, 2002. "Illiquidity and stock returns: cross-section and time-series effects," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 5(1), pages 31-56, January.
    23. Jones, Charles M. & Lamont, Owen A., 2002. "Short-sale constraints and stock returns," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 66(2-3), pages 207-239.
    24. Pedro A. C. Saffi & Kari Sigurdsson, 2011. "Price Efficiency and Short Selling," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 24(3), pages 821-852.
    25. Diamond, Douglas W. & Verrecchia, Robert E., 1987. "Constraints on short-selling and asset price adjustment to private information," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 18(2), pages 277-311, June.
    26. Autore, Don M. & Billingsley, Randall S. & Kovacs, Tunde, 2011. "The 2008 short sale ban: Liquidity, dispersion of opinion, and the cross-section of returns of US financial stocks," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 35(9), pages 2252-2266, September.
    27. Saqib Sharif & Hamish D. Anderson & Ben R. Marshall & Henk Berkman, 2014. "Against the tide: the commencement of short selling and margin trading in mainland China," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 54(4), pages 1319-1355, December.
    28. Ackert, Lucy F. & Athanassakos, George, 2005. "The relationship between short interest and stock returns in the Canadian market," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 29(7), pages 1729-1749, July.
    29. Jegadeesh, Narasimhan & Titman, Sheridan, 1993. "Returns to Buying Winners and Selling Losers: Implications for Stock Market Efficiency," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 48(1), pages 65-91, March.
    30. Boehmer, Ekkehart & Jones, Charles M. & Zhang, Xiaoyan, 2020. "Potential pilot problems: Treatment spillovers in financial regulatory experiments," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 135(1), pages 68-87.
    31. J. Michael Harrison & David M. Kreps, 1978. "Speculative Investor Behavior in a Stock Market with Heterogeneous Expectations," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 92(2), pages 323-336.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Wang, Shujing & Yan, Hongjun & Zhong, Ninghua & Tang, Yizhou, 2024. "Indirect effects of trading restrictions," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Alves, Carlos & Mendes, Victor & Silva, Paulo Pereira da, 2016. "Analysis of market quality before and during short-selling bans," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 252-268.
    2. Hu, Ting & Chi, Yanzhe, 2019. "Can short selling activity predict the future returns of non-shortable peer firms?," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 165-185.
    3. Shyu, Yih-Wen & Chan, Kam C. & Liang, Hsin-Yu, 2018. "Spillovers of price efficiency and informed trading from short sales to margin purchases in absence of uptick rule," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 163-183.
    4. Wang, Yuchen & Wang, Xiaoming, 2023. "Economic policy uncertainty and information intermediary: The case of short seller," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 120(C).
    5. Nishiotis, George P. & Rompolis, Leonidas S., 2019. "Put-call parity violations and return predictability: Evidence from the 2008 short sale ban," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 106(C), pages 276-297.
    6. Wan, Xiaoyuan, 2020. "The impact of short-selling and margin-buying on liquidity: Evidence from the Chinese stock market," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 104-118.
    7. He, Meng & Bai, Xuelian & Zhang, Junrui, 2024. "Does short selling reduce classification shifting?—— Exploration of market-oriented governance mechanism," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    8. Jank, Stephan & Roling, Christoph & Smajlbegovic, Esad, 2021. "Flying under the radar: The effects of short-sale disclosure rules on investor behavior and stock prices," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 139(1), pages 209-233.
    9. Markus K. Brunnermeier & Martin Oehmke, 2014. "Predatory Short Selling," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 18(6), pages 2153-2195.
    10. Chang, Eric C. & Cheng, Joseph W. & Pinegar, J. Michael & Yu, Yinghui, 2012. "Short-sale constraints: Reductions in costs of capital or overvaluation? Evidence from Hong Kong," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 20(3), pages 506-520.
    11. Oscar Bernal Diaz & Astrid Herinckx & Ariane Szafarz, 2014. "Which short-selling regulation is the least damaging to market efficiency? Evidence from Europe," Post-Print CEB, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles, vol. 37, pages 244-256, March.
    12. Antonio Gargano & Juan Sotes-Paladino & Patrick Verwijmeren, 2022. "Out of Sync: Dispersed Short Selling and the Correction of Mispricing," Working Papers 108, Red Nacional de Investigadores en Economía (RedNIE).
    13. Boulton, Thomas J. & Smart, Scott B. & Zutter, Chad J., 2020. "Worldwide short selling regulations and IPO underpricing," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    14. Charles M. Jones & Adam V. Reed & William Waller, 2016. "Revealing Shorts An Examination of Large Short Position Disclosures," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 29(12), pages 3278-3320.
    15. Tsai, Chia-Fen & Chang, Jung-Hsien & Tsai, Feng-Tse, 2021. "Lottery preferences and retail short selling," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    16. Bohl, Martin T. & Klein, Arne C. & Siklos, Pierre L., 2014. "Short-selling bans and institutional investors' herding behaviour: Evidence from the global financial crisis," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 262-269.
    17. Beneish, M.D. & Lee, C.M.C. & Nichols, D.C., 2015. "In short supply: Short-sellers and stock returns," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 60(2), pages 33-57.
    18. Zhao, Zhongkuang & Li, Shuqi & Xiong, Heping, 2014. "Short sale constraints, disperse pessimistic beliefs and market efficiency — Evidence from the Chinese stock market," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 333-342.
    19. Chen, Haiqiang & Gu, Ming & Ni, Bo, 2023. "How price limit affects the market efficiency in a short-sale constrained market? Evidence from a quasi-natural experiment," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 22-39.
    20. Stephen L. Lenkey, 2021. "Informed Trading with a Short-Sale Prohibition," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 67(3), pages 1803-1824, March.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Margin-buying; Short-selling; Stock valuation; Price efficiency; Price discovery;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G12 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Asset Pricing; Trading Volume; Bond Interest Rates
    • G14 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Information and Market Efficiency; Event Studies; Insider Trading
    • G15 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - International Financial Markets
    • G18 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Government Policy and Regulation

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:empfin:v:76:y:2024:i:c:s0927539824000112. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/jempfin .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.