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Options Trading Costs Are Lower than You Think

Author

Listed:
  • Dmitriy Muravyev
  • Neil D Pearson
  • Stijn Van Nieuwerburgh

Abstract

Conventional estimates of the costs of taking liquidity in options markets are large. Nonetheless, options trading volume is high. We resolve this puzzle by showing that options price changes are predictable at high frequency, and many traders time executions by buying (selling) when the option fair value is close to the ask (bid). Effective spreads of traders who time executions are less than 40% of the size of conventional measures, and the overall average effective spread is one-quarter smaller than conventional estimates. Price impact measures are also affected. These findings alter conclusions about the after-cost profitability of options trading strategies.

Suggested Citation

  • Dmitriy Muravyev & Neil D Pearson & Stijn Van Nieuwerburgh, 2020. "Options Trading Costs Are Lower than You Think," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 33(11), pages 4973-5014.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:rfinst:v:33:y:2020:i:11:p:4973-5014.
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/rfs/hhaa010
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    2. Brendan K. Beare & Juwon Seo & Zhongxi Zheng, 2022. "Stochastic arbitrage with market index options," Papers 2207.00949, arXiv.org, revised May 2024.
    3. Ian Dew-Becker, 2024. "Real-time forward-looking skewness over the business cycle," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 54, October.
    4. Thierry Post & Iňaki Rodríguez Longarela, 2021. "Risk Arbitrage Opportunities for Stock Index Options," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 69(1), pages 100-113, January.
    5. Fullwood, Jonathan & James, Jessica & Marsh, Ian W., 2021. "Volatility and the cross-section of returns on FX options," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 141(3), pages 1262-1284.
    6. Jianfeng Hu, 2020. "Is the synthetic stock price really lower than actual price?," Journal of Futures Markets, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 40(12), pages 1809-1824, December.
    7. Amit Goyal & Alessio Saretto, 2022. "Are Equity Option Returns Abnormal? IPCA Says No," Working Papers 2214, Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas.
    8. Gurdip Bakshi & John Crosby & Xiaohui Gao, 2023. "Dark Matter in (Volatility and) Equity Option Risk Premiums," Papers 2303.16371, arXiv.org.
    9. David Weinbaum & Andrew Fodor & Dmitriy Muravyev & Martijn Cremers, 2023. "Option Trading Activity, News Releases, and Stock Return Predictability," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 69(8), pages 4810-4827, August.
    10. Borochin, Paul & Wu, Zekun & Zhao, Yanhui, 2021. "The effect of option-implied skewness on delta- and vega-hedged option returns," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    11. Gurdal Ertek & Aysha Al-Kaabi & Aktham Issa Maghyereh, 2022. "Analytical Modeling and Empirical Analysis of Binary Options Strategies," Future Internet, MDPI, vol. 14(7), pages 1-23, July.
    12. Nimalendran, Mahendrarajah & Rzayev, Khaladdin & Sagade, Satchit, 2024. "High-frequency trading in the stock market and the costs of options market making," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 124228, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    13. Xuejun Jin & Jingyu Zhao & Xingguo Luo, 2022. "Why are the prices of European‐style derivatives greater than the prices of American‐style derivatives?," Journal of Futures Markets, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 42(9), pages 1772-1793, September.
    14. Antonio Figueiredo & Pankaj Jain & Suchismita Mishra, 2023. "The role of fleeting orders on option expiration days," Quantitative Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(10), pages 1511-1529, October.
    15. Mohrschladt, Hannes & Schneider, Judith C., 2021. "Option-implied skewness: Insights from ITM-options," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 131(C).
    16. Kaeck, Andreas & van Kervel, Vincent & Seeger, Norman J., 2022. "Price impact versus bid–ask spreads in the index option market," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 59(PA).
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    18. (Grace) Qing Hao & Keming Li, 2021. "Informed options trading prior to insider trades," The Financial Review, Eastern Finance Association, vol. 56(3), pages 459-480, August.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • G13 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Contingent Pricing; Futures Pricing
    • G14 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Information and Market Efficiency; Event Studies; Insider Trading

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