IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/plo/pone00/0219243.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Some comments on Bitcoin market (in)efficiency

Author

Listed:
  • V Dimitrova
  • M Fernández-Martínez
  • M A Sánchez-Granero
  • J E Trinidad Segovia

Abstract

In this paper, we explore the (in)efficiency of the continuum Bitcoin-USD market in the period ranging from mid 2010 to early 2019. To deal with, we dynamically analyse the evolution of the self-similarity exponent of Bitcoin-USD daily returns via accurate FD4 approach by a 512 day sliding window with overlapping data. Further, we define the memory indicator by the difference between the self-similarity exponent of Bitcoin-USD series and the self-similarity index of its shuffled series. We also carry out additional analyses via FD4 approach by sliding windows of sizes equal to 64, 128, 256, and 1024 days, and also via FD algorithm for values of q equal to 1 and 2 (and sliding windows equal to 512 days). Moreover, we explored the evolution of the self-similarity exponent of actual S&P500 series via FD4 algorithm by sliding windows of sizes equal to 256 and 512 days. In all the cases, the obtained results were found to be similar to our first analysis. We conclude that the self-similarity exponent of the BTC-USD (resp., S&P500) series stands above 0.5. However, this is not due to the presence of significant memory in the series but to its underlying distribution. In fact, it holds that the self-similarity exponent of BTC-USD (resp., S&P500) series is similar or lower than the self-similarity index of a random series with the same distribution. As such, several periods with significant antipersistent memory in BTC-USD (resp., S&P500) series are distinguished.

Suggested Citation

  • V Dimitrova & M Fernández-Martínez & M A Sánchez-Granero & J E Trinidad Segovia, 2019. "Some comments on Bitcoin market (in)efficiency," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(7), pages 1-14, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0219243
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0219243
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0219243
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0219243&type=printable
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1371/journal.pone.0219243?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
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Caporale, Guglielmo Maria & Gil-Alana, Luis & Plastun, Alex, 2018. "Persistence in the cryptocurrency market," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 141-148.
    2. Ladislav Kristoufek & Miloslav Vosvrda, 2014. "Measuring capital market efficiency: long-term memory, fractal dimension and approximate entropy," The European Physical Journal B: Condensed Matter and Complex Systems, Springer;EDP Sciences, vol. 87(7), pages 1-9, July.
    3. Tiwari, Aviral Kumar & Jana, R.K. & Das, Debojyoti & Roubaud, David, 2018. "Informational efficiency of Bitcoin—An extension," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 163(C), pages 106-109.
    4. Cheah, Eng-Tuck & Mishra, Tapas & Parhi, Mamata & Zhang, Zhuang, 2018. "Long Memory Interdependency and Inefficiency in Bitcoin Markets," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 167(C), pages 18-25.
    5. Bariviera, Aurelio F. & Basgall, María José & Hasperué, Waldo & Naiouf, Marcelo, 2017. "Some stylized facts of the Bitcoin market," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 484(C), pages 82-90.
    6. Sensoy, Ahmet & Hacihasanoglu, Erk, 2014. "Time-varying long range dependence in energy futures markets," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 318-327.
    7. Zunino, Luciano & Zanin, Massimiliano & Tabak, Benjamin M. & Pérez, Darío G. & Rosso, Osvaldo A., 2010. "Complexity-entropy causality plane: A useful approach to quantify the stock market inefficiency," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 389(9), pages 1891-1901.
    8. Alvarez-Ramirez, J. & Rodriguez, E. & Ibarra-Valdez, C., 2018. "Long-range correlations and asymmetry in the Bitcoin market," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 492(C), pages 948-955.
    9. Lo, Andrew W, 1991. "Long-Term Memory in Stock Market Prices," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 59(5), pages 1279-1313, September.
    10. Matteo, T. Di & Aste, T. & Dacorogna, Michel M., 2005. "Long-term memories of developed and emerging markets: Using the scaling analysis to characterize their stage of development," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 29(4), pages 827-851, April.
    11. Nadarajah, Saralees & Chu, Jeffrey, 2017. "On the inefficiency of Bitcoin," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 150(C), pages 6-9.
    12. Brauneis, Alexander & Mestel, Roland, 2018. "Price discovery of cryptocurrencies: Bitcoin and beyond," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 165(C), pages 58-61.
    13. Lillo Fabrizio & Farmer J. Doyne, 2004. "The Long Memory of the Efficient Market," Studies in Nonlinear Dynamics & Econometrics, De Gruyter, vol. 8(3), pages 1-35, September.
    14. Trinidad Segovia, J.E. & Fernández-Martínez, M. & Sánchez-Granero, M.A., 2012. "A note on geometric method-based procedures to calculate the Hurst exponent," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 391(6), pages 2209-2214.
    15. Greene, Myron T. & Fielitz, Bruce D., 1977. "Long-term dependence in common stock returns," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 4(3), pages 339-349, May.
    16. Khuntia, Sashikanta & Pattanayak, J.K., 2018. "Adaptive market hypothesis and evolving predictability of bitcoin," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 167(C), pages 26-28.
    17. Barkoulas, John T. & Baum, Christopher F., 1996. "Long-term dependence in stock returns," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 53(3), pages 253-259, December.
    18. Urquhart, Andrew, 2016. "The inefficiency of Bitcoin," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 148(C), pages 80-82.
    19. Bariviera, Aurelio F., 2017. "The inefficiency of Bitcoin revisited: A dynamic approach," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 161(C), pages 1-4.
    20. Miguel Ángel Sánchez & Juan E Trinidad & José García & Manuel Fernández, 2015. "The Effect of the Underlying Distribution in Hurst Exponent Estimation," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(5), pages 1-17, May.
    21. Yutaka Kurihara & Akio Fukushima, 2017. "The Market Efficiency of Bitcoin: A Weekly Anomaly Perspective," Journal of Applied Finance & Banking, SCIENPRESS Ltd, vol. 7(3), pages 1-4.
    22. Ponta, Linda & Carbone, Anna, 2018. "Information measure for financial time series: Quantifying short-term market heterogeneity," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 510(C), pages 132-144.
    23. Sánchez Granero, M.A. & Trinidad Segovia, J.E. & García Pérez, J., 2008. "Some comments on Hurst exponent and the long memory processes on capital markets," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 387(22), pages 5543-5551.
    24. Vidal-Tomás, David & Ibañez, Ana, 2018. "Semi-strong efficiency of Bitcoin," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 27(C), pages 259-265.
    25. Carbone, Anna & Stanley, H. Eugene, 2007. "Scaling properties and entropy of long-range correlated time series," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 384(1), pages 21-24.
    26. Benoit Mandelbrot, 2015. "The Variation of Certain Speculative Prices," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Anastasios G Malliaris & William T Ziemba (ed.), THE WORLD SCIENTIFIC HANDBOOK OF FUTURES MARKETS, chapter 3, pages 39-78, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    27. Saadet Kasman & Evrim Turgutlu & A. Duygu Ayhan, 2009. "Long memory in stock returns: evidence from the major emerging Central European stock markets," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 16(17), pages 1763-1768.
    28. Jakub Bartos, 2015. "Does Bitcoin follow the hypothesis of efficient market?," International Journal of Economic Sciences, International Institute of Social and Economic Sciences, vol. 4(2), pages 10-23, June.
    29. Linda Ponta & Anna Carbone, 2017. "Information measure for financial time series: quantifying short-term market heterogeneity," Papers 1710.07331, arXiv.org, revised Feb 2018.
    30. Lim, Kian-Ping, 2007. "Ranking market efficiency for stock markets: A nonlinear perspective," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 376(C), pages 445-454.
    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. Puertas, Antonio M. & Clara-Rahola, Joaquim & Sánchez-Granero, Miguel A. & de las Nieves, F. Javier & Trinidad-Segovia, Juan E., 2023. "A new look at financial markets efficiency from linear response theory," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 51(C).
    2. Giorgio Canarella & Luis A. Gil-Alana & Rangan Gupta & Stephen M. Miller, 2022. "Globalization, long memory, and real interest rate convergence: a historical perspective," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 63(5), pages 2331-2355, November.
    3. Blau, Benjamin M. & Griffith, Todd G. & Whitby, Ryan J., 2021. "Inflation and Bitcoin: A descriptive time-series analysis," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 203(C).
    4. Kristjanpoller, Werner & Bouri, Elie & Takaishi, Tetsuya, 2020. "Cryptocurrencies and equity funds: Evidence from an asymmetric multifractal analysis," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 545(C).
    5. Miklesh Prasad Yadav & Atul Kumar & Vidhi Tyagi, 2023. "Adaptive Market Hypothesis and Cointegration: An Evidence of the Cryptocurrency Market," Contemporary Studies in Economic and Financial Analysis, in: Smart Analytics, Artificial Intelligence and Sustainable Performance Management in a Global Digitalised Economy, volume 110, pages 27-43, Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
    6. Cornelia Pop & Ingrid-Emanuela Colonescu, 2021. "Cryptocurrencies’ Puzzle," JOURNAL STUDIA UNIVERSITATIS BABES-BOLYAI NEGOTIA, Babes-Bolyai University, Faculty of Business.
    7. Marc Gronwald & Sania Wadud & Kingsley Dogah, 2024. "Informational Efficiency of World Oil Markets: One Great Pool, but with Varying Depth," CESifo Working Paper Series 11017, CESifo.
    8. Sun, Wei & Dedahanov, Alisher Tohirovich & Shin, Ho Young & Li, Wei Ping, 2021. "Factors affecting institutional investors to add crypto-currency to asset portfolios," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 58(C).
    9. Ponta, Linda & Murialdo, Pietro & Carbone, Anna, 2021. "Information measure for long-range correlated time series: Quantifying horizon dependence in financial markets," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 570(C).
    10. Qadan, Mahmoud & Aharon, David Y. & Eichel, Ron, 2022. "Seasonal and Calendar Effects and the Price Efficiency of Cryptocurrencies," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 46(PA).
    11. Marc Gronwald & Sania Wadud & Kingsley Dogah, 2024. "Oil Market Efficiency, Quantity of Information, and Oil Market Turbulence," CESifo Working Paper Series 10995, CESifo.
    12. Abakah, Emmanuel Joel Aikins & Gil-Alana, Luis Alberiko & Madigu, Godfrey & Romero-Rojo, Fatima, 2020. "Volatility persistence in cryptocurrency markets under structural breaks," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 680-691.
    13. Aslam, Faheem & Memon, Bilal Ahmed & Hunjra, Ahmed Imran & Bouri, Elie, 2023. "The dynamics of market efficiency of major cryptocurrencies," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 58(C).
    14. Giorgio Canarella & Luis A. Gil‐Alana & Rangan Gupta & Stephen M. Miller, 2022. "The behaviour of real interest rates: New evidence from a 'suprasecular' perspective," International Finance, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(1), pages 46-64, April.

    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. Nikolaos A. Kyriazis, 2019. "A Survey on Efficiency and Profitable Trading Opportunities in Cryptocurrency Markets," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 12(2), pages 1-17, April.
    2. Nils Bundi & Marc Wildi, 2019. "Bitcoin and market-(in)efficiency: a systematic time series approach," Digital Finance, Springer, vol. 1(1), pages 47-65, November.
    3. Carmen López-Martín & Sonia Benito Muela & Raquel Arguedas, 2021. "Efficiency in cryptocurrency markets: new evidence," Eurasian Economic Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 11(3), pages 403-431, September.
    4. Corbet, Shaen & Lucey, Brian & Urquhart, Andrew & Yarovaya, Larisa, 2019. "Cryptocurrencies as a financial asset: A systematic analysis," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 182-199.
    5. Flori, Andrea, 2019. "News and subjective beliefs: A Bayesian approach to Bitcoin investments," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 336-356.
    6. Abakah, Emmanuel Joel Aikins & Gil-Alana, Luis Alberiko & Madigu, Godfrey & Romero-Rojo, Fatima, 2020. "Volatility persistence in cryptocurrency markets under structural breaks," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 680-691.
    7. F. N. M. de Sousa Filho & J. N. Silva & M. A. Bertella & E. Brigatti, 2020. "The leverage effect and other stylized facts displayed by Bitcoin returns," Papers 2004.05870, arXiv.org, revised Jan 2021.
    8. Corbet, Shaen & Katsiampa, Paraskevi, 2020. "Asymmetric mean reversion of Bitcoin price returns," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    9. Andrea Flori, 2019. "Cryptocurrencies In Finance: Review And Applications," International Journal of Theoretical and Applied Finance (IJTAF), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 22(05), pages 1-22, August.
    10. Natália Costa & César Silva & Paulo Ferreira, 2019. "Long-Range Behaviour and Correlation in DFA and DCCA Analysis of Cryptocurrencies," IJFS, MDPI, vol. 7(3), pages 1-12, September.
    11. Yi, Eojin & Ahn, Kwangwon & Choi, M.Y., 2022. "Cryptocurrency: Not far from equilibrium," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 177(C).
    12. Miguel Ángel Sánchez & Juan E Trinidad & José García & Manuel Fernández, 2015. "The Effect of the Underlying Distribution in Hurst Exponent Estimation," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(5), pages 1-17, May.
    13. Aurelio F. Bariviera & Ignasi Merediz‐Solà, 2021. "Where Do We Stand In Cryptocurrencies Economic Research? A Survey Based On Hybrid Analysis," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 35(2), pages 377-407, April.
    14. Omane-Adjepong, Maurice & Alagidede, Paul & Akosah, Nana Kwame, 2019. "Wavelet time-scale persistence analysis of cryptocurrency market returns and volatility," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 514(C), pages 105-120.
    15. Aggarwal, Divya & Chandrasekaran, Shabana & Annamalai, Balamurugan, 2020. "A complete empirical ensemble mode decomposition and support vector machine-based approach to predict Bitcoin prices," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 27(C).
    16. Köchling, Gerrit & Müller, Janis & Posch, Peter N., 2019. "Does the introduction of futures improve the efficiency of Bitcoin?," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 367-370.
    17. Shimeng Shi & Jia Zhai & Yingying Wu, 2024. "Informational inefficiency on bitcoin futures," The European Journal of Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 30(6), pages 642-667, April.
    18. Chu, Jeffrey & Zhang, Yuanyuan & Chan, Stephen, 2019. "The adaptive market hypothesis in the high frequency cryptocurrency market," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 221-231.
    19. Ferreira, Paulo & Kristoufek, Ladislav & Pereira, Eder Johnson de Area Leão, 2020. "DCCA and DMCA correlations of cryptocurrency markets," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 545(C).
    20. Pal, Debdatta & Mitra, Subrata K., 2019. "Hedging bitcoin with other financial assets," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 30-36.

    More about this item

    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:plo:pone00:0219243. 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: plosone (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/ .

    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.