Lars L. Norden

How Aggressive are High-Frequency Traders?

We study order aggressiveness of market-making high-frequency traders (MM-HFTs), opportunistic HFTs (Opp-HFTs), and non-HFTs. We find that MM-HFTs follow their own groups previous order submissions more than they follow other traders’ orders. Opp-HFTs and non-HFTs tend to split market orders into small portions submitted in sequence. HFTs submit more (less) aggressive orders when the same-side (opposite-side) depth is large, and supply liquidity when the bid–ask spread is wide. Thus, HFTs adhere strongly to the tradeoff between waiting cost and the cost of immediate execution. Non-HFTs care less about this tradeoff, but react somewhat stronger than HFTs to volatility.

Asymmetric Option Price Distribution and Bid-Ask Quotes: Consequences for Implied Volatility Smiles

This study presents a model for estimating the asymmetry of option values with respect to option bid /ask spreads. The model does not require knowledge of the actual option value to evaluate the asymmetry. Using data from the Swedish equity options market, several interesting results emerge. First, there is evidence of asymmetry in call and put values, where values are closer to bid than to ask quotes. Second, inand out-of-the-money calls and puts show a higher degree of asymmetry than at-the-money options. Third, taking asymmetry into account in the estimation of option-implied volatility, produces a less pronounced volatility smile. # 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. JEL classification: G10; G13; G14

Cyclicality of SME lending and government involvement in banks

Recent regulatory efforts aim at lowering the cyclicality of bank lending because of its potentially detrimental effects on financial stability and the real economy. We investigate the cyclicality of SME lending of local banks with versus without a public mandate, controlling for location, size, loan maturity, capitalization, funding structure, liquidity, profitability, and credit demand-side factors. The public mandate is set by local governments and stipulates a sustainable provision of financial services to local customers and a deviation from strict profit maximization. We find that banks with a public mandate are 25% less cyclical than other local banks. The result is credit supply-side driven and especially strong for public mandate banks with high liquidity and stable deposit funding. Our findings have implications for the bank structure, financial stability and the finance-growth nexus in a local context.

A Brighter Future with Lower Transactions Costs

Recently, the OMX Nordic Exchange reduced the exchange fee for trading the OMXS 30 index futures with more than 22%. The reduction in exchange fees provides this study with a unique opportunity to investigate the effects of a change in fixed transaction costs on futures market liquidity, trading activity, volatility, futures pricing efficiency, and the futures exchange’s revenues. The results show a ceteris paribus increase in futures trading volume with 19%, a 27% decrease in futures bid-ask spread, and a 27% increase in volatility, as a result of the futures exchange fee reduction, whereas the pricing efficiency of the futures contract and the exchange’s revenues are unaffected by the change in transaction costs. The exchange fee reduction has improved futures market liquidity at the cost of higher volatility. Moreover, the attractiveness and competitiveness of the futures exchange has increased relative alternative trading venues, without a loss of revenues in the process.

Individual home bias, portfolio churning and performance

This study investigates economic consequences of individual investors’ home bias and portfolio churning in their personal pension accounts. The empirical analysis is carried out within a Heckman style two-stage framework to account for selection bias with respect to individuals’ investment activity, and to allow for an endogenously determined home bias, portfolio churning and performance. Results indicate that home bias induces a worse risk-adjusted performance. Home-biased individuals’ relatively bad performance originates in insufficient risk-reduction, due to a lack of international diversification. A higher degree of portfolio churning also deteriorates performance, despite the fact that churning is not associated with any direct transaction costs. However, home-biased individuals do not churn portfolios as often as individuals with a larger share of international asset holdings, which diminishes the negative effects of home bias on performance. Overconfidence is driven by a return-chasing behavior, where overconfident individuals favor international assets with high historical returns. Individuals with actual skill are more often men than women, are not tempted by high historical returns, and use international assets for the right reason – diversification.

Hedging of American equity options: do call and put prices always move in the direction as predicted by the movement in the underlying stock price?

Using daily Swedish equity options data, an empirical analysis of some basic textbook properties for American options is performed. Several violations of these properties are found; call and put pr ...

Information in CDS spreads

We investigate how public and private information drives corporate CDS spreads before rating announcements. We find that CDS spreads of firms with higher news intensity move significantly earlier and stronger before rating announcements, which can be explained with public information from daily wire news. We also find that private information of banks matters. CDS spread changes are larger for firms with more banks and days with no news but large abnormal CDS spread changes are more frequent before negative announcements than before positive ones. The evidence highlights the important role of CDS in processing public and private credit information.

Alchemy in the 21st Century: Hedging with Gold Futures

Recently, the Shanghai Futures Exchange (SHFE) introduced gold futures trading in China. This paper is the first to study the SHFE gold futures, and to evaluate the futures hedging effectiveness si ...

Asymmetric Futures Price Distribution and Bid-Ask Quotes

This study presents a model for estimating the asymmetry of the futures price with respect to the futures bid-ask spread. Using data from the Swedish OMXS 30 index futures market, estimation results show clear evidence of futures price asymmetry, where the futures price in general tends to be closer to the bid than to the ask quote. Moreover, in a futures market environment with a relatively low liquidity, the futures price tends to be closer to the bid quote, whereas the futures price is virtually symmetrically located within the futures spread when liquidity is relatively high.

Does Uniqueness in Banking Matter

We investigate whether and how the uniqueness of banking activities affects the performance and systemic risk of U.S. banks. We find that banks performing more unique activities exhibit higher profitability and lower risk, controlling for size, diversification, and other key characteristics. We further find that banks’ sensitivity to systemic risk displays an inversely U-shaped relation with activity uniqueness. We interpret the impact of uniqueness in analogy to recent theories showing that systemic diversity promotes financial stability. Our study highlights the role of uniqueness in banking and has important implications for policy makers and banking regulators.