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Short selling meets hedge fund 13F: An anatomy of informed demand

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  • Jiao, Yawen
  • Massa, Massimo
  • Zhang, Hong

Abstract

The existing literature treats the short side (i.e., short selling) and the long side of hedge fund trading (i.e., fund holdings) independently. The two sides, however, complement each other: opposite changes in the two are likely to be driven by information, whereas simultaneous increases (decreases) of the two may be motivated by hedging (unwinding) considerations. We use this intuition to identify informed demand and document that it exhibits highly significant predictive power over returns (approximately 10% per year). We also find that informed demand forecasts future firm fundamentals, suggesting that hedge funds play an important role in information discovery.

Suggested Citation

  • Jiao, Yawen & Massa, Massimo & Zhang, Hong, 2016. "Short selling meets hedge fund 13F: An anatomy of informed demand," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 122(3), pages 544-567.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jfinec:v:122:y:2016:i:3:p:544-567
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jfineco.2016.09.001
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    4. Adrian W. K. Cheung & Hung Wan Kot & Eric F. Y. Lam & Harry K. M. Leung, 2020. "Toward understanding short‐selling activity: demand and supply," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 60(3), pages 2203-2230, September.
    5. Jungmu Kim & Youngkyung Ok & Yuen Jung Park, 2020. "Institutional Investors’ Trading Response to Stock Market Anomalies: Evidence from Korea," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(4), pages 1-17, February.
    6. Avramov, Doron & Cheng, Si & Lioui, Abraham & Tarelli, Andrea, 2022. "Sustainable investing with ESG rating uncertainty," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 145(2), pages 642-664.
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    8. Jiao, Yawen, 2022. "Decision-based trades: An analysis of institutional investors’ information advantages," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 104-115.
    9. Cashman, George D. & Harrison, David M. & Sheng, Hainan, 2022. "Short sales, short risk, and return predictability in Asia-Pacific real estate markets," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    10. Mustafa Onur Caglayan & Umut Celiker & Edward R. Lawrence, 2021. "Sell‐side analyst recommendation revisions and hedge fund trading before and after regulation fair disclosure," The Financial Review, Eastern Finance Association, vol. 56(3), pages 563-590, August.
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Short selling; Hedge funds; 13F; Informed demand; Hedging;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G20 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - General
    • G14 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Information and Market Efficiency; Event Studies; Insider Trading

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