IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jfinec/v136y2020i3p879-899.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Tick size, liquidity for small and large orders, and price informativeness: Evidence from the Tick Size Pilot Program

Author

Listed:
  • Chung, Kee H.
  • Lee, Albert J.
  • Rösch, Dominik

Abstract

Using limit order books across all US exchanges, we show that while liquidity for small orders (e.g., the quoted and effective spreads) decreases, liquidity for large orders (e.g., the cumulative depth and the price impact of multiple trades) improves after the implementation of the Tick Size Pilot Program. We find significant spillover effects on liquidity for small and large orders that extend beyond the top of the book. Finally, we show that the pilot program results in an improvement in pricing efficiency, an increase in trade size, and a decrease in the number of trades.

Suggested Citation

  • Chung, Kee H. & Lee, Albert J. & Rösch, Dominik, 2020. "Tick size, liquidity for small and large orders, and price informativeness: Evidence from the Tick Size Pilot Program," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 136(3), pages 879-899.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jfinec:v:136:y:2020:i:3:p:879-899
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jfineco.2019.11.004
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0304405X19302831
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jfineco.2019.11.004?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. Fama, Eugene F & French, Kenneth R, 1992. "The Cross-Section of Expected Stock Returns," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 47(2), pages 427-465, June.
    2. Sie Ting Lau & Lilian Ng & Bohui Zhang, 2012. "Information Environment and Equity Risk Premium Volatility Around the World," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 58(7), pages 1322-1340, July.
    3. Kwan, Amy & Masulis, Ronald & McInish, Thomas H., 2015. "Trading rules, competition for order flow and market fragmentation," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 115(2), pages 330-348.
    4. Doidge, Craig & Karolyi, G. Andrew & Stulz, René M., 2017. "The U.S. listing gap," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 123(3), pages 464-487.
    5. Lee, Charles M. C. & Watts, Edward M., 2018. "Tick Size Tolls: Can a Trading Slowdown Improve Price Discovery?," Research Papers 3732, Stanford University, Graduate School of Business.
    6. Craig W. Holden & Stacey Jacobsen, 2014. "Liquidity Measurement Problems in Fast, Competitive Markets: Expensive and Cheap Solutions," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 69(4), pages 1747-1785, August.
    7. Anshuman, V Ravi & Kalay, Avner, 1998. "Market Making with Discrete Prices," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 11(1), pages 81-109.
    8. Bige Kahraman & Heather E. Tookes, 2017. "Trader Leverage and Liquidity," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 72(4), pages 1567-1610, August.
    9. Bruno Biais & David Martimort & Jean-Charles Rochet, 2000. "Competing Mechanisms in a Common Value Environment," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 68(4), pages 799-838, July.
    10. Blau, Benjamin & Whitby, Ryan, 2018. "Rethinking Decimalization: The Impact of Increased Tick Sizes on Trading Activity and Volatility," Working Papers 07740, George Mason University, Mercatus Center.
    11. Chung, Kee H. & Chuwonganant, Chairat & McCormick, D. Timothy, 2004. "Order preferencing and market quality on NASDAQ before and after decimalization," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 71(3), pages 581-612, March.
    12. George P. Gao & Xiaomeng Lu & Zhaogang Song, 2019. "Tail Risk Concerns Everywhere," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 65(7), pages 3111-3130, July.
    13. Domowitz, Ian & Hansch, Oliver & Wang, Xiaoxin, 2005. "Liquidity commonality and return co-movement," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 8(4), pages 351-376, November.
    14. Qi Chen & Itay Goldstein & Wei Jiang, 2007. "Price Informativeness and Investment Sensitivity to Stock Price," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 20(3), pages 619-650.
    15. Glosten, Lawrence R. & Milgrom, Paul R., 1985. "Bid, ask and transaction prices in a specialist market with heterogeneously informed traders," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 14(1), pages 71-100, March.
    16. Glosten, Lawrence R, 1994. "Is the Electronic Open Limit Order Book Inevitable?," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 49(4), pages 1127-1161, 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. 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.
    19. Vincent van Kervel, 2015. "Competition for Order Flow with Fast and Slow Traders," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 28(7), pages 2094-2127.
    20. Lai, Sandy & Ng, Lilian & Zhang, Bohui, 2014. "Does PIN affect equity prices around the world?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 114(1), pages 178-195.
    21. Chordia, Tarun & Roll, Richard & Subrahmanyam, Avanidhar, 2008. "Liquidity and market efficiency," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(2), pages 249-268, February.
    22. Cordella, Tito & Foucault, Thierry, 1999. "Minimum Price Variations, Time Priority, and Quote Dynamics," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 8(3), pages 141-173, July.
    23. Chordia, Tarun & Roll, Richard & Subrahmanyam, Avanidhar, 2005. "Evidence on the speed of convergence to market efficiency," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 76(2), pages 271-292, May.
    24. Seppi, Duane J, 1997. "Liquidity Provision with Limit Orders and a Strategic Specialist," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 10(1), pages 103-150.
    25. Hasbrouck, Joel & Saar, Gideon, 2013. "Low-latency trading," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 16(4), pages 646-679.
    26. Goldstein, Michael A. & A. Kavajecz, Kenneth, 2000. "Eighths, sixteenths, and market depth: changes in tick size and liquidity provision on the NYSE," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 56(1), pages 125-149, April.
    27. Portniaguina, Evgenia & Bernhardt, Dan & Hughson, Eric, 2006. "Hybrid markets, tick size and investor trading costs," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 9(4), pages 433-447, November.
    28. Ronald L. Goettler & Christine A. Parlour & Uday Rajan, 2005. "Equilibrium in a Dynamic Limit Order Market," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 60(5), pages 2149-2192, October.
    29. Ellis, Katrina & Michaely, Roni & O'Hara, Maureen, 2000. "The Accuracy of Trade Classification Rules: Evidence from Nasdaq," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 35(4), pages 529-551, December.
    30. Joel Hasbrouck, 2009. "Trading Costs and Returns for U.S. Equities: Estimating Effective Costs from Daily Data," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 64(3), pages 1445-1477, June.
    31. Hasbrouck, Joel, 1993. "Assessing the Quality of a Security Market: A New Approach to Transaction-Cost Measurement," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 6(1), pages 191-212.
    32. 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.
    33. Werner, Ingrid M. & Wen, Yuanji & Rindi, Barbara & Consonni, Francesco & Buti, Sabrina, 2015. "Tick Size: Theory and Evidence," Working Paper Series 2015-04, Ohio State University, Charles A. Dice Center for Research in Financial Economics.
    34. Goyenko, Ruslan Y. & Holden, Craig W. & Trzcinka, Charles A., 2009. "Do liquidity measures measure liquidity?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 92(2), pages 153-181, May.
    35. Jørgensen, Kjell & Skjeltorp, Johannes & Ødegaard, Bernt Arne, 2018. "Throttling hyperactive robots – Order-to-trade ratios at the Oslo Stock Exchange," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 1-16.
    36. Rindi, Barbara & Werner, Ingrid M., 2017. "U.S. Tick Size Pilot," Working Paper Series 2017-18, Ohio State University, Charles A. Dice Center for Research in Financial Economics.
    37. 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.
    38. Ekkehart Boehmer & Eric K. Kelley, 2009. "Institutional Investors and the Informational Efficiency of Prices," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 22(9), pages 3563-3594, September.
    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. Chung, Kee H. & Chuwonganant, Chairat, 2023. "COVID-19 pandemic and the stock market: Liquidity, price efficiency, and trading," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    2. Chakrabarty, Bidisha & Cox, Justin & Upson, James E., 2022. "Tick Size Pilot Program and price discovery in U.S. stock markets," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 59(PB).
    3. Mei-Chen Lin & J. Jimmy Yang, 2023. "Do lottery characteristics matter for analysts’ forecast behavior?," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 61(3), pages 1057-1091, October.
    4. Eaton, Gregory W. & Irvine, Paul J. & Liu, Tingting, 2021. "Measuring institutional trading costs and the implications for finance research: The case of tick size reductions," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 139(3), pages 832-851.
    5. Nimalendran, Mahendrarajah & Rzayev, Khaladdin & Sagade, Satchit, 2022. "High-frequency trading in the stock market and the costs of option market making," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 118885, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    6. Sean Foley & Tom G Meling & Bernt Arne Ødegaard, 2023. "Tick Size Wars: The Market Quality Effects of Pricing Grid Competition," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 27(2), pages 659-692.
    7. Yamada, Masahiro, 2022. "Profitability and liquidity provision of HFTs during large price shocks: Does relative tick size matter?," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 46(PA).
    8. Kee H. Chung & Chairat Chuwonganant & Youngsoo Kim, 2022. "Preopening price indications and market quality: Evidence from NYSE Rule 48," Journal of Financial Research, Southern Finance Association;Southwestern Finance Association, vol. 45(2), pages 205-228, June.
    9. Lee, Albert J. & Chung, Kee H., 2022. "Hidden liquidity, market quality, and order submission strategies," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 61(C).
    10. Toloo, Mehdi & Tone, Kaoru & Izadikhah, Mohammad, 2023. "Selecting slacks-based data envelopment analysis models," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 308(3), pages 1302-1318.
    11. Ye, Mao & Zheng, Miles Y. & Zhu, Wei, 2023. "The effect of tick size on managerial learning from stock prices," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 75(1).
    12. Jose S. Penalva & Mikel Tapia, 2021. "Heterogeneity and Competition in Fragmented Markets: Fees Vs Speed," Applied Mathematical Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 28(2), pages 143-177, March.
    13. Xiao, Xijuan & Yamamoto, Ryuichi, 2020. "Price discovery, order submission, and tick size during preopen period," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 63(C).
    14. Kee H. Chung & Chairat Chuwonganant, 2023. "Tick size and price efficiency: Further evidence from the Tick Size Pilot Program," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 52(3), pages 483-511, September.
    15. Zheng, Jiayi & Zhu, Yushu, 2023. "Algorithmic trading and block ownership initiation: An information perspective," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 55(4).
    16. Bogousslavsky, Vincent & Muravyev, Dmitriy, 2023. "Who trades at the close? Implications for price discovery and liquidity," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    17. Jacob Thomas & Frank Zhang & Wei Zhu, 2021. "Dark Trading and Post-Earnings-Announcement Drift," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 67(12), pages 7785-7811, December.
    18. Ibikunle, Gbenga & Li, Youwei & Mare, Davide & Sun, Yuxin, 2021. "Dark matters: The effects of dark trading restrictions on liquidity and informational efficiency," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    19. Kemme, David M. & McInish, Thomas H. & Zhang, Jiang, 2022. "Market fairness and efficiency: Evidence from the Tokyo Stock Exchange," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 134(C).
    20. Dave Cliff, 2024. "Parameterised response zero intelligence traders," Journal of Economic Interaction and Coordination, Springer;Society for Economic Science with Heterogeneous Interacting Agents, vol. 19(3), pages 439-492, July.
    21. Deng, Mengdie & Lin, Tse-Chun & Zhou, Jiayu, 2024. "Does better liquidity for large orders attract institutional investors and analysts? Evidence from the Tick Size Pilot Program," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
    22. Jungjun Choi & Ming Yuan, 2023. "Matrix Completion When Missing Is Not at Random and Its Applications in Causal Panel Data Models," Papers 2308.02364, arXiv.org.
    23. Giuliano Graziani & Barbara Rindi, 2023. "Optimal Tick Size," Working Papers 688, IGIER (Innocenzo Gasparini Institute for Economic Research), Bocconi University.
    24. Anwer S. Ahmed & Yiwen Li & Nina Xu, 2020. "Tick Size and Financial Reporting Quality in Small‐Cap Firms: Evidence from a Natural Experiment," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 58(4), pages 869-914, September.

    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. 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.
    2. 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.
    3. Craig W. Holden & Stacey Jacobsen & Avanidhar Subrahmanyam, 2014. "The Empirical Analysis of Liquidity," Foundations and Trends(R) in Finance, now publishers, vol. 8(4), pages 263-365, December.
    4. Buti, Sabrina & Rindi, Barbara & Wen, Yuanji & Werner, Ingrid M., 2013. "Tick Size Regulation and Sub-Penny Trading," Working Paper Series 2013-14, Ohio State University, Charles A. Dice Center for Research in Financial Economics.
    5. Large, Jeremy, 2009. "A market-clearing role for inefficiency on a limit order book," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 91(1), pages 102-117, January.
    6. 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.
    7. Giuliano Graziani & Barbara Rindi, 2023. "Optimal Tick Size," Working Papers 688, IGIER (Innocenzo Gasparini Institute for Economic Research), Bocconi University.
    8. 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.
    9. Suchismita Mishra & Le Zhao, 2021. "Order Routing Decisions for a Fragmented Market: A Review," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 14(11), pages 1-32, November.
    10. Hagströmer, Björn, 2021. "Bias in the effective bid-ask spread," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 142(1), pages 314-337.
    11. Kemme, David M. & McInish, Thomas H. & Zhang, Jiang, 2022. "Market fairness and efficiency: Evidence from the Tokyo Stock Exchange," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 134(C).
    12. Ee, Mong Shan & Hasan, Iftekhar & Huang, He, 2022. "Stock liquidity and corporate labor investment," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    13. 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.
    14. Oliver Linton & Soheil Mahmoodzadeh, 2018. "Implications of High-Frequency Trading for Security Markets," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 10(1), pages 237-259, August.
    15. Jose S. Penalva & Mikel Tapia, 2021. "Heterogeneity and Competition in Fragmented Markets: Fees Vs Speed," Applied Mathematical Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 28(2), pages 143-177, March.
    16. Vayanos, Dimitri & Wang, Jiang, 2013. "Market Liquidity—Theory and Empirical Evidence ," Handbook of the Economics of Finance, in: G.M. Constantinides & M. Harris & R. M. Stulz (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Finance, volume 2, chapter 0, pages 1289-1361, Elsevier.
    17. Rakowski, David & Wang Beardsley, Xiaoxin, 2008. "Decomposing liquidity along the limit order book," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 32(8), pages 1687-1698, August.
    18. Ibikunle, Gbenga & Aquilina, Matteo & Diaz-Rainey, Ivan & Sun, Yuxin, 2021. "City goes dark: Dark trading and adverse selection in aggregate markets," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 1-22.
    19. van Achter, Mark, 2008. "Dynamic limit order market with diversity in trading horizons," CFS Working Paper Series 2008/46, Center for Financial Studies (CFS).
    20. Nikolsko-Rzhevska, Olena & Nikolsko-Rzhevskyy, Alex & Black, Jeffrey R., 2020. "The life of U’s: Order revisions on NASDAQ," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 111(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Liquidity; Tick size; Pilot program; Pricing efficiency; Liquidity spillover;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G10 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - General (includes Measurement and Data)
    • G14 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Information and Market Efficiency; Event Studies; Insider Trading
    • 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:jfinec:v:136:y:2020:i:3:p:879-899. 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/505576 .

    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.