IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/gamebe/v118y2019icp7-28.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Tick size, price grids and market performance: Stable matches as a model of market dynamics and equilibrium

Author

Listed:
  • Plott, Charles
  • Roll, Richard
  • Seo, Han
  • Zhao, Hao

Abstract

The tick size in a financial market is the minimum allowable difference between ask and bid prices. By the rules of each exchange, no transactions can occur within the tick interval. The impact of tick size is an ongoing controversy which we study by experimental methods, whose simplicity helps distinguish among competing models of complex real-world securities markets. We observe patterns predicted by a matching (cooperative game) model. Because a price grid interferes with a competitive equilibrium and restrictions on order flow interfere with information aggregation, the matching model provides predictions when the competitive model cannot, although their predictions are the same when a competitive equilibrium does exist. Our experiments examine stable allocations, average prices, timing of order flow, information flow and price dynamics. Larger tick size invites more speculation, which in turn increases liquidity. However, increased speculation leads to inefficient trades that otherwise would not have occurred.

Suggested Citation

  • Plott, Charles & Roll, Richard & Seo, Han & Zhao, Hao, 2019. "Tick size, price grids and market performance: Stable matches as a model of market dynamics and equilibrium," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 7-28.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:gamebe:v:118:y:2019:i:c:p:7-28
    DOI: 10.1016/j.geb.2019.08.004
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0899825619301150
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.geb.2019.08.004?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. John William Hatfield & Scott Duke Kominers & Alexandru Nichifor & Michael Ostrovsky & Alexander Westkamp, 2013. "Stability and Competitive Equilibrium in Trading Networks," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 121(5), pages 966-1005.
    2. Gibson, Scott & Singh, Rajdeep & Yerramilli, Vijay, 2003. "The effect of decimalization on the components of the bid-ask spread," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 12(2), pages 121-148, April.
    3. Charles N. Noussair & Charles R. Plott & Raymond G. Riezman, 2013. "An Experimental Investigation of the Patterns of International Trade," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Raymond Riezman (ed.), International Trade Agreements and Political Economy, chapter 17, pages 299-328, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    4. Xin Zhao & Kee H. Chung, 2006. "Decimal Pricing and Information‐Based Trading: Tick Size and Informational Efficiency of Asset Price," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(5‐6), pages 753-766, June.
    5. Chen Yao & Mao Ye, 2018. "Why Trading Speed Matters: A Tale of Queue Rationing under Price Controls," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 31(6), pages 2157-2183.
    6. Isaac, R Mark & Plott, Charles R, 1981. "Price Controls and the Behavior of Auction Markets: An Experimental Examination," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 71(3), pages 448-459, June.
    7. Garman, Mark B., 1976. "Market microstructure," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 3(3), pages 257-275, June.
    8. Chung, Kee H. & Charoenwong, Charlie & Ding, David K., 2004. "Penny pricing and the components of spread and depth changes," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 28(12), pages 2981-3007, December.
    9. Bacidore, Jeffrey & Battalio, Robert H. & Jennings, Robert H., 2003. "Order submission strategies, liquidity supply, and trading in pennies on the New York Stock Exchange," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 6(3), pages 337-362, May.
    10. Xin Zhao & Kee H. Chung, 2006. "Decimal Pricing and Information-Based Trading: Tick Size and Informational Efficiency of Asset Price," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(5-6), pages 753-766.
    11. Kyle, Albert S, 1985. "Continuous Auctions and Insider Trading," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 53(6), pages 1315-1335, November.
    12. Gao, Xiaohui & Ritter, Jay R. & Zhu, Zhongyan, 2013. "Where Have All the IPOs Gone?," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 48(6), pages 1663-1692, December.
    13. Kelso, Alexander S, Jr & Crawford, Vincent P, 1982. "Job Matching, Coalition Formation, and Gross Substitutes," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 50(6), pages 1483-1504, November.
    14. Hatfield, John William & Plott, Charles R. & Tanaka, Tomomi, 2016. "Price controls, non-price quality competition, and the nonexistence of competitive equilibrium," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 99(C), pages 134-163.
    15. John William Hatfield & Charles R. Plott & Tomomi Tanaka, 2012. "Understanding Price Controls and Nonprice Competition with Matching Theory," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 102(3), pages 371-375, May.
    16. Harris, Lawrence E, 1994. "Minimum Price Variations, Discrete Bid-Ask Spreads, and Quotation Sizes," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 7(1), pages 149-178.
    17. Anshuman, V. Ravi & Kalay, Avner, 2002. "Can splits create market liquidity? Theory and evidence," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 5(1), pages 83-125, January.
    18. Sugato Chakravarty & Robert A. Wood & Robert A. Van Ness, 2004. "Decimals And Liquidity: A Study Of The Nyse," Journal of Financial Research, Southern Finance Association;Southwestern Finance Association, vol. 27(1), pages 75-94, March.
    19. Harold Demsetz, 1968. "The Cost of Transacting," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 82(1), pages 33-53.
    20. Bessembinder, Hendrik, 2003. "Trade Execution Costs and Market Quality after Decimalization," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 38(4), pages 747-777, December.
    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. Brice Corgnet & Cary Deck & Mark DeSantis & Kyle Hampton & Erik O. Kimbrough, 2023. "When Do Security Markets Aggregate Dispersed Information?," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 69(6), pages 3697-3729, June.
    2. repec:ris:msuecw:2021_002 is not listed on IDEAS
    3. Herings, P. Jean-Jacques, 2020. "Expectational Equilibria in Many-to-one Matching Models with Contracts - A Reformulation of Competitive Equilibrium," Research Memorandum 018, Maastricht University, Graduate School of Business and Economics (GSBE).
    4. Herings, P. Jean-Jacques, 2024. "Expectational equilibria in many-to-one matching models with contracts," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 216(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. Thanos Verousis & Pietro Perotti & Georgios Sermpinis, 2018. "One size fits all? High frequency trading, tick size changes and the implications for exchanges: market quality and market structure considerations," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 50(2), pages 353-392, February.
    2. Murphy Jun Jie Lee, 2013. "The Microstructure of Trading Processes on the Singapore Exchange," PhD Thesis, Finance Discipline Group, UTS Business School, University of Technology, Sydney, number 4, July-Dece.
    3. Albuquerque, Rui & Song, Shiyun & Yao, Chen, 2020. "The price effects of liquidity shocks: A study of the SEC’s tick size experiment," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 138(3), pages 700-724.
    4. Murphy Jun Jie Lee, 2013. "The Microstructure of Trading Processes on the Singapore Exchange," PhD Thesis, Finance Discipline Group, UTS Business School, University of Technology, Sydney, number 2-2013, January-A.
    5. Michael Fleming & Giang Nguyen & Francisco Ruela, 2024. "Tick Size, Competition for Liquidity Provision, and Price Discovery: Evidence from the U.S. Treasury Market," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 70(1), pages 332-354, January.
    6. Vuorenmaa, Tommi A., 2008. "Decimalization, Realized Volatility, and Market Microstructure Noise," MPRA Paper 8692, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    7. Albuquerque, Rui & Song, Shiyun & Yao, Chen, 2017. "The Price Effects of Liquidity Shocks: A Study of SEC’s Tick-Size Experiment," CEPR Discussion Papers 12486, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    8. Biais, Bruno & Glosten, Larry & Spatt, Chester, 2005. "Market microstructure: A survey of microfoundations, empirical results, and policy implications," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 8(2), pages 217-264, May.
    9. Chen, Yong & Eaton, Gregory W. & Paye, Bradley S., 2018. "Micro(structure) before macro? The predictive power of aggregate illiquidity for stock returns and economic activity," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 130(1), pages 48-73.
    10. Xin Zhao & Kee H. Chung, 2006. "Decimal Pricing and Information‐Based Trading: Tick Size and Informational Efficiency of Asset Price," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(5‐6), pages 753-766, June.
    11. Herings, P. Jean-Jacques, 2018. "Equilibrium and matching under price controls," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 177(C), pages 222-244.
    12. Tamás Fleiner & Ravi Jagadeesan & Zsuzsanna Jankó & Alexander Teytelboym, 2019. "Trading Networks With Frictions," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 87(5), pages 1633-1661, September.
    13. Siegmann, Arjen & Stefanova, Denitsa, 2017. "The evolving beta-liquidity relationship of hedge funds," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 286-303.
    14. Mahmoodzadeh, Soheil & Gençay, Ramazan, 2017. "Human vs. high-frequency traders, penny jumping, and tick size," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 69-82.
    15. Bollen, Nicolas P. B. & Smith, Tom & Whaley, Robert E., 2004. "Modeling the bid/ask spread: measuring the inventory-holding premium," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 72(1), pages 97-141, April.
    16. Chung, Kee H. & Chuwonganant, Chairat, 2007. "Quote-based competition, market share, and execution quality in NASDAQ-listed securities," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 31(9), pages 2770-2795, September.
    17. Griffith, Todd G. & Roseman, Brian S., 2019. "Making cents of tick sizes: The effect of the 2016 U.S. SEC tick size pilot on limit order book liquidity," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 104-121.
    18. Pantisa Pavabutr & Sukanya Prangwattananon, 2009. "Tick size change on the Stock Exchange of Thailand," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 32(4), pages 351-371, May.
    19. Herings, P. Jean-Jacques, 2024. "Expectational equilibria in many-to-one matching models with contracts," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 216(C).
    20. repec:ris:msuecw:2021_002 is not listed on IDEAS
    21. Eric Budish & Peter Cramton & Albert S. Kyle & Jeongmin Lee & David Malec, 2022. "Flow Trading," ECONtribute Discussion Papers Series 146, University of Bonn and University of Cologne, Germany.
      • Eric Budish & Peter Cramton & Albert S. Kyle & Jeongmin Lee & David Malec, 2023. "Flow Trading," NBER Working Papers 31098, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Price grid; Experiment; Matching; Assignment; Equilibration; Efficiency;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G12 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Asset Pricing; Trading Volume; Bond Interest Rates
    • L1 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance
    • C7 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Game Theory and Bargaining Theory
    • C9 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments
    • C78 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Game Theory and Bargaining Theory - - - Bargaining Theory; Matching Theory
    • D02 - Microeconomics - - General - - - Institutions: Design, Formation, Operations, and Impact

    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:gamebe:v:118:y:2019:i:c:p:7-28. 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/inca/622836 .

    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.