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The Microstructure of a U.S. Treasury ECN: The Brokertec Platform

Author

Listed:
  • Michael Fleming

    (Federal Reserve Bank of New York)

  • Bruce Mizrach

    (Rutgers University)

Abstract

This paper assesses the microstructure of the U.S. Treasury securities market using tick data from the BrokerTec electronic trading platform. We examine trading activity, bid-ask spreads, and depth for the on-the-run 2-, 3-, 5-, 10- and 30-year securities and find that liquidity is markedly greater than that reported by earlier studies using data from GovPX. We analyze the price impact of trades and find that the effects are overstated if order book changes are ignored, and that order book changes affect prices by themselves. We also explore a novel feature of this platform – the ability to enter "iceberg" orders – and find that such orders are more common when price volatility is higher, as predicted by theory.

Suggested Citation

  • Michael Fleming & Bruce Mizrach, 2008. "The Microstructure of a U.S. Treasury ECN: The Brokertec Platform," Departmental Working Papers 200803, Rutgers University, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:rut:rutres:200803
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    microstructure; Treasury market; bid-ask spread; price impact; hidden orders;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G14 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Information and Market Efficiency; Event Studies; Insider Trading
    • D4 - Microeconomics - - Market Structure, Pricing, and Design
    • C32 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Multiple or Simultaneous Equation Models; Multiple Variables - - - Time-Series Models; Dynamic Quantile Regressions; Dynamic Treatment Effect Models; Diffusion Processes; State Space Models

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