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Speculative trading in the gold market

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  • Baur, Dirk G.
  • Glover, Kristoffer J.

Abstract

In this paper we use a recently developed econometric test to identify bubble-like price behaviour in the gold market. We find that the price of gold followed an explosive price process between 2002 and 2012 and exhibited super-exponential growth between 2002 and 2008, indicating excessive speculative trading and exuberance in the gold market. We also provide a theoretical foundation for such bubble tests based on a behavioural model in which chartists can cause episodes of explosive price dynamics.The identification strategy yields economically intuitive results and is a simple alternative to using more complex estimation techniques commonly used in the heterogeneous agents literature.

Suggested Citation

  • Baur, Dirk G. & Glover, Kristoffer J., 2015. "Speculative trading in the gold market," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 63-71.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:finana:v:39:y:2015:i:c:p:63-71
    DOI: 10.1016/j.irfa.2015.02.004
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    Cited by:

    1. Michael Murach, 2019. "Global Determinants of the Gold Price: A Multivariate Cointegration Analysis," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 66(1), pages 198-214, February.
    2. Hoang, Thi Hong Van & Lahiani, Amine & Heller, David, 2016. "Is gold a hedge against inflation? New evidence from a nonlinear ARDL approach," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 54-66.
    3. Ding, Qian & Huang, Jianbai & Gao, Wang & Zhang, Hongwei, 2022. "Does political risk matter for gold market fluctuations? A structural VAR analysis," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).
    4. Thi Hong Van Hoang & Amine Lahiani & David Heller, 2016. "Is gold a hedge against inflation? New evidence from a nonlinear ARDL approach," Post-Print hal-02012307, HAL.
    5. Bariviera, Aurelio F. & Font-Ferrer, Alejandro & Sorrosal-Forradellas, M. Teresa & Rosso, Osvaldo A., 2019. "An information theory perspective on the informational efficiency of gold price," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 50(C).
    6. Algieri, Bernardina & Leccadito, Arturo, 2019. "Price volatility and speculative activities in futures commodity markets: A combination of combinations of p-values test," Journal of Commodity Markets, Elsevier, vol. 13(C), pages 40-54.
    7. Yingyi Hu, 2019. "Short-horizon market efficiency, order imbalance, and speculative trading: evidence from the Chinese stock market," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 281(1), pages 253-274, October.
    8. Junttila, Juha & Pesonen, Juho & Raatikainen, Juhani, 2018. "Commodity market based hedging against stock market risk in times of financial crisis: The case of crude oil and gold," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 255-280.
    9. Pierdzioch, Christian & Risse, Marian & Rohloff, Sebastian, 2015. "Cointegration of the prices of gold and silver: RALS-based evidence," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 15(C), pages 133-137.
    10. Giulio Cifarelli and Paolo Paesani, 2021. "Navigating the Oil Bubble: A Non-linear Heterogeneous-agent Dynamic Model of Futures Oil Pricing," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 5).
    11. O'Connor, Fergal A. & Lucey, Brian M. & Batten, Jonathan A. & Baur, Dirk G., 2015. "The financial economics of gold — A survey," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 186-205.
    12. Chien-Hung Chen & Nicholas Lee & Fu-Min Chang & Li-Peng Lan, 2021. "Are global gold futures returns volatilities and trading activities threshold cointegrated?," Journal of Financial Economic Policy, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 13(5), pages 525-538, May.
    13. Figuerola-Ferretti, Isabel & McCrorie, J. Roderick, 2016. "The shine of precious metals around the global financial crisis," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 38(PB), pages 717-738.
    14. Baur, Dirk G. & Dichtl, Hubert & Drobetz, Wolfgang & Wendt, Viktoria-Sophie, 2020. "Investing in gold – Market timing or buy-and-hold?," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    15. Memet Agustiar & Fariastuti Djafar & Afrizal, 2017. "Construction of an Optimum Currency Area Index Anchored to the Gold Dinar: The Case of Selected Islamic Countries," International Journal of Economics and Financial Issues, Econjournals, vol. 7(3), pages 51-56.
    16. Jinsha Zhao, 2022. "Do economic crises cause trading in Bitcoin?," Review of Behavioral Finance, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 14(4), pages 465-490, April.
    17. He, Qing & Guo, Yongxiu & Yu, Jishuang, 2020. "Nonlinear dynamics of gold and the dollar," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 52(C).
    18. Charteris, Ailie & Kallinterakis, Vasileios, 2021. "Feedback trading in retail-dominated assets: Evidence from the gold bullion coin market," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    19. Tolhurst, Tor N., 2018. "A Model-Free Bubble Detection Method: Application to the World Market for Superstar Wines," 2018 Annual Meeting, August 5-7, Washington, D.C. 274387, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    20. Andrew Urquhart, 2017. "How predictable are precious metal returns?," The European Journal of Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(14), pages 1390-1413, November.
    21. Yang, Lu & Cui, Xue & Yang, Lei & Hamori, Shigeyuki & Cai, Xiaojing, 2023. "Risk spillover from international financial markets and China's macro-economy: A MIDAS-CoVaR-QR model," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 55-69.
    22. Schmidbauer, Harald & Rösch, Angi, 2018. "The impact of festivities on gold price expectation and volatility," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 117-131.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Speculation; Gold; Bubble; Heterogeneous agents; Chartists; Explosive process;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C22 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Time-Series Models; Dynamic Quantile Regressions; Dynamic Treatment Effect Models; Diffusion Processes
    • C51 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric Modeling - - - Model Construction and Estimation
    • G02 - Financial Economics - - General - - - Behavioral Finance: Underlying Principles

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