IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/pacfin/v74y2022ics0927538x22000737.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Price limit and stock market quality: Evidence from a quasi-natural experiment in the Chinese stock market

Author

Listed:
  • Zhang, Xiaotao
  • Wang, Ziqiao
  • Hao, Jing
  • He, Feng

Abstract

The daily price limit changed from 10% to 20% in the ChiNext market in 2020. This event can be considered a quasi-natural experiment of change in market trading mechanisms. We employ the difference-in-difference (DID) approach to test the effect of this price limit change on the firm-level market quality indicator. We find that the implementation of the new price limit range significantly improves market liquidity and increases market volatility and the probability of informed trading. Our findings remain robust to a parallel trends test, a placebo test, alternative matching, a regression-discontinuity design, and alternative measures.

Suggested Citation

  • Zhang, Xiaotao & Wang, Ziqiao & Hao, Jing & He, Feng, 2022. "Price limit and stock market quality: Evidence from a quasi-natural experiment in the Chinese stock market," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:pacfin:v:74:y:2022:i:c:s0927538x22000737
    DOI: 10.1016/j.pacfin.2022.101778
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0927538X22000737
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.pacfin.2022.101778?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. Kim, Yong H. & Yagüe, José & Yang, J. Jimmy, 2008. "Relative performance of trading halts and price limits: Evidence from the Spanish Stock Exchange," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 17(2), pages 197-215.
    2. Tarun Chordia & Richard Roll & Avanidhar Subrahmanyam, 2001. "Market Liquidity and Trading Activity," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 56(2), pages 501-530, April.
    3. Keqiang Hou & Xing Li & Wei Zhong, 2020. "Price Limits and Asymmetry of Price Dynamics—High Frequency Evidence from the Chinese Stock Market," Emerging Markets Finance and Trade, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 56(7), pages 1447-1461, May.
    4. Ron Kaniel & Gideon Saar & Sheridan Titman, 2008. "Individual Investor Trading and Stock Returns," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 63(1), pages 273-310, February.
    5. Ackert, Lucy F. & Church, Bryan & Jayaraman, Narayanan, 2001. "An experimental study of circuit breakers: The effects of mandated market closures and temporary halts on market behavior," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 4(2), pages 185-208, April.
    6. Kim, Kenneth A., 2001. "Price limits and stock market volatility," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 71(1), pages 131-136, April.
    7. Cho, David D. & Russell, Jeffrey & Tiao, George C. & Tsay, Ruey, 2003. "The magnet effect of price limits: evidence from high-frequency data on Taiwan Stock Exchange," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 10(1-2), pages 133-168, February.
    8. Wonse Kim & Sungjae Jun, 2019. "Effects of a price limit change on market stability at the intraday horizon in the Korean stock market," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 26(7), pages 582-586, April.
    9. Ma, Yu & Qian, Wenyu & Luan, Zhiqian, 2021. "Could increasing price limits reduce up limit herding? Evidence from China's capital market reform," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 42(C).
    10. Chiou-Fa Lin & Cheng-Huei Chiao, 2020. "Widening price limit effects: evidence from an emerging stock market," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 52(13), pages 1476-1486, March.
    11. Ackert, Lucy F. & Hunter, William C., 1994. "Rational price limits in futures markets: tests of a simple optimizing model," Review of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 4(1), pages 93-108.
    12. 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.
    13. Chen, Gong-Meng & Kim, Kenneth A. & Rui, Oliver M., 2005. "A note on price limit performance: The case of illiquid stocks," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 13(1), pages 81-92, January.
    14. Berkman, Henk & Lee, John Byong Tek, 2002. "The effectiveness of price limits in an emerging market: Evidence from the Korean Stock Exchange," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 10(5), pages 517-530, November.
    15. Farag, Hisham, 2013. "Price limit bands, asymmetric volatility and stock market anomalies: Evidence from emerging markets," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 24(1), pages 85-97.
    16. Aslan, Hadiye & Easley, David & Hvidkjaer, Soeren & O'Hara, Maureen, 2011. "The characteristics of informed trading: Implications for asset pricing," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 18(5), pages 782-801.
    17. Ke Xu & Xinwei Zheng & Deng Pan & Li Xing & Xuekui Zhang, 2020. "Stock Market Openness And Market Quality: Evidence From The Shanghai–Hong Kong Stock Connect Program," Journal of Financial Research, Southern Finance Association;Southwestern Finance Association, vol. 43(2), pages 373-406, May.
    18. Sankaraguruswamy, Srinivasan & Shen, Jianfeng & Yamada, Takeshi, 2013. "The relationship between the frequency of news release and the information asymmetry: The role of uninformed trading," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(11), pages 4134-4143.
    19. Chopra, Navin & Lakonishok, Josef & Ritter, Jay R., 1992. "Measuring abnormal performance : Do stocks overreact?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(2), pages 235-268, April.
    20. Kim, Yong H. & Yang, J. Jimmy, 2008. "The effect of price limits on intraday volatility and information asymmetry," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 16(5), pages 522-538, November.
    21. Kenneth A. Kim & Haixiao Liu & J. Jimmy Yang, 2013. "Reconsidering Price Limit Effectiveness," Journal of Financial Research, Southern Finance Association;Southwestern Finance Association, vol. 36(4), pages 493-518, December.
    22. Kim, Jeong-Bon & Zhang, Eliza Xia & Zhong, Kai, 2021. "Does unionization affect the manager–shareholder conflict? Evidence from firm-specific stock price crash risk," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).
    23. Lien, Donald & Hung, Pi-Hsia & Zhu, Jia-De & Chen, Yi-Hsuan, 2019. "Price limit changes and market quality in the Taiwan Stock Exchange," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 239-258.
    24. Aktas, Osman Ulas & Kryzanowski, Lawrence & Zhang, Jie, 2021. "Volatility spillover around price limits in an emerging market," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 39(C).
    25. Garman, Mark B & Klass, Michael J, 1980. "On the Estimation of Security Price Volatilities from Historical Data," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 53(1), pages 67-78, January.
    26. Michael L. Anderson, 2014. "Subways, Strikes, and Slowdowns: The Impacts of Public Transit on Traffic Congestion," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 104(9), pages 2763-2796, September.
    27. Kwanghee Cho & Kyoung-min Kwon & Han Yi & Yongsuk Yun, 2015. "The Effect of International Financial Reporting Standards Adoption on the Relation Between Earnings Quality and Information Asymmetry in Korea," Emerging Markets Finance and Trade, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 51(S3), pages 95-117, May.
    28. Wenbin Tang & Hoang Nguyen & Van Nguyen, 2013. "The effects of listing changes between NASDAQ market segments," Journal of Economics and Finance, Springer;Academy of Economics and Finance, vol. 37(4), pages 584-605, October.
    29. Dang, Viet Anh & Michayluk, David & Pham, Thu Phuong, 2018. "The curious case of changes in trading dynamics: When firms switch from NYSE to NASDAQ," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 17-35.
    30. Huang, Yen-Sheng & Fu, Tze-Wei & Ke, Mei-Chu, 2001. "Daily price limits and stock price behavior: evidence from the Taiwan stock exchange," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 10(3), pages 263-288, July.
    31. Gaoxiu Qiao & Pengfei Zhao & Weiping Li, 2019. "Time varying price discovery of the New Third Board market in China: does the market-making system help?," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 51(45), pages 4902-4919, September.
    32. Kim, Kenneth & Rhee, S Ghon, 1997. "Price Limit Performance: Evidence from the Tokyo Stock Exchange," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 52(2), pages 885-899, June.
    33. Subrahmanyam, Avanidhar, 1994. "Circuit Breakers and Market Volatility: A Theoretical Perspective," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 49(1), pages 237-254, March.
    34. Qianwei Ying & Dongmin Kong & Danglun Luo, 2015. "Investor Attention, Institutional Ownership, and Stock Return: Empirical Evidence from China," Emerging Markets Finance and Trade, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 51(3), pages 672-685, May.
    35. Ma, C.K. & Rao, R.P. & Sears, R.S., 1989. "Volatility, Price Resolution, And The Effectiveness Of Price Limits," Papers t7, Columbia - Center for Futures Markets.
    36. David Easley & Marcos M. López de Prado & Maureen O'Hara, 2012. "Flow Toxicity and Liquidity in a High-frequency World," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 25(5), pages 1457-1493.
    37. Qiang Liang & Xinchun Li & Xueru Yang & Danming Lin & Danhui Zheng, 2013. "How does family involvement affect innovation in China?," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 30(3), pages 677-695, September.
    38. Datar, Vinay T. & Y. Naik, Narayan & Radcliffe, Robert, 1998. "Liquidity and stock returns: An alternative test," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 1(2), pages 203-219, August.
    39. Hadiye Aslan & Praveen Kumar, 2012. "Strategic Ownership Structure and the Cost of Debt," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 25(7), pages 2257-2299.
    40. Chan, Soon Huat & Kim, Kenneth A. & Rhee, S. Ghon, 2005. "Price limit performance: evidence from transactions data and the limit order book," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 12(2), pages 269-290, March.
    41. Veld-Merkoulova, Yulia V., 2003. "Price limits in futures markets: effects on the price discovery process and volatility," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 12(3), pages 311-328.
    42. Xianming Fang & Yu Jiang & Zhijun Qian, 2014. "The Effects of Individual Investors' Attention on Stock Returns: Evidence from the ChiNext Market," Emerging Markets Finance and Trade, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 50(03), pages 158-168, May.
    43. Xianming Fang & Yu Jiang & Zhijun Qian, 2014. "The Effects of Individual Investors' Attention on Stock Returns: Evidence from the ChiNext Market," Emerging Markets Finance and Trade, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 50(S3), pages 158-168.
    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. Sun, Ping-Wen & Cai, Yingying, 2024. "Influence of a wider trading range on stock price efficiency: Evidence from ChiNext stocks in China," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    2. Zhang, Xiaotao & Zhao, Yuepeng & Wang, Ziqiao, 2024. "Do loosened trading rules restore the stock index futures price discovery ability in China?," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 93(PB), pages 389-397.
    3. Jia, Shaoqing & An, Yunbi & Yang, Liuyong & Zhou, Fangzhao, 2024. "Price limit relaxation and stock price crash risk: Evidence from China," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 59(C).
    4. Meng, Chen & Du, Qingjie & Shu, Haibing, 2024. "Return seasonalities in the Chinese stock market," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).
    5. Li, Jianhua & Xu, Jianxiang, 2023. "Does the introduction of market maker improve market quality? Evidence from China's Sci-Tech innovation board," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 55(PA).
    6. Zhang, Xiaotao & Li, Xinxian & Hao, Jing & Li, Peigong, 2023. "Price limit change and magnet effect: The role of investor attention," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 53(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. Tang, Siyuan, 2023. "Price limit performance: New evidence from a quasi-natural experiment in China's ChiNext market," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    2. Imtiaz Mohammad Sifat & Azhar Mohamad, 2019. "Circuit breakers as market stability levers: A survey of research, praxis, and challenges," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 24(3), pages 1130-1169, July.
    3. Bing, Tao & Cui, Yian & Min, Ying & Xiong, Xiong, 2022. "Price limit changes and market quality: Evidence from China," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 48(C).
    4. Daphne Yan Du & Qianqiu Liu & S. Ghon Rhee, 2009. "An Analysis of the Magnet Effect under Price Limits," International Review of Finance, International Review of Finance Ltd., vol. 9(1‐2), pages 83-110, March.
    5. Deb, Saikat Sovan & Kalev, Petko S & Marisetty, Vijaya B, 2017. "Price limits and volatility," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 142-156.
    6. Donald Lien & Pi-Hsia Hung & Chiu-Ting Pan, 2020. "Price limit changes, order decisions, and stock price movements: an empirical analysis of the Taiwan Stock Exchange," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 55(1), pages 239-268, July.
    7. Hao Li & Zhisheng Li, 2022. "The effect of daily price limits on stock liquidity: Evidence from the Chinese stock market," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 62(5), pages 4885-4917, December.
    8. Sifat, Imtiaz Mohammad & Mohamad, Azhar, 2020. "A survey on the magnet effect of circuit breakers in financial markets," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 138-151.
    9. Kenneth A. Kim & Haixiao Liu & J. Jimmy Yang, 2013. "Reconsidering Price Limit Effectiveness," Journal of Financial Research, Southern Finance Association;Southwestern Finance Association, vol. 36(4), pages 493-518, December.
    10. Zhang, Xiaotao & Li, Xinxian & Hao, Jing & Li, Peigong, 2023. "Price limit change and magnet effect: The role of investor attention," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 53(C).
    11. James Brugler & Oliver Linton, 2014. "Circuit Breakers on the London Stock Exchange: Do they improve subsequent market quality?," Cambridge Working Papers in Economics 1453, Faculty of Economics, University of Cambridge.
    12. Clapham, Benjamin & Gomber, Peter & Haferkorn, Martin & Panz, Sven, 2017. "Managing excess volatility: Design and effectiveness of circuit breakers," SAFE Working Paper Series 195, Leibniz Institute for Financial Research SAFE.
    13. Jin, Liwei & Yuan, Xianghui & Li, Xiang & Ma, Huanglong & Lian, Feng, 2022. "Would widening price limits improve the efficiency of price discovery?," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 50(C).
    14. James Brugler & Oliver Linton, 2014. "Single stock circuit breakers on the London Stock Exchange: do they improve subsequent market quality?," CeMMAP working papers CWP07/14, Centre for Microdata Methods and Practice, Institute for Fiscal Studies.
    15. Seza Danışoğlu & Z. Nuray Güner, 2018. "Do price limits help control stock price volatility?," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 260(1), pages 129-157, January.
    16. Yong H. Kim & J. Jimmy Yang, 2009. "Effect of Price Limits: Initial Public Offerings versus Seasoned Equities," International Review of Finance, International Review of Finance Ltd., vol. 9(3), pages 295-318, September.
    17. Farag, Hisham, 2013. "Price limit bands, asymmetric volatility and stock market anomalies: Evidence from emerging markets," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 24(1), pages 85-97.
    18. Du, Yan & Liu, Qianqiu & Rhee, S. Ghon, 2006. "An Anatomy of the Magnet Effect: Evidence from the Korea Stock Exchange High-Frequency Data," CEI Working Paper Series 2005-17, Center for Economic Institutions, Institute of Economic Research, Hitotsubashi University.
    19. Anchor Lin & Peggy Swanson, 2010. "Contrarian strategies and investor overreaction under price limits," Journal of Economics and Finance, Springer;Academy of Economics and Finance, vol. 34(4), pages 430-454, October.
    20. Wong, Woon K. & Chang, Matthew C. & Tu, Anthony H., 2009. "Are magnet effects caused by uninformed traders? Evidence from Taiwan Stock Exchange," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 17(1), pages 28-40, January.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Price limit; Trading rule; Microstructure; Market quality;
    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

    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:pacfin:v:74:y:2022:i:c:s0927538x22000737. 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/pacfin .

    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.