This study proposes the dispersion in daily net initiated order flow across brokers as a proxy for the level of noise trading in a stock, and applies this proxy to test some basic implications of market microstructure theory. We use data from the Australian Stock Exchange, a computerized limit order market where price, quantity, and broker identity for each incoming order are shown on broker sc...

We consider Kyle’s market order model of insider trading with multiple informed traders and show: if a linear equilibrium exists for two different numbers of informed traders, asset payoff and noise trading are independent and have finite second moments, then these random variables are normally distributed. Journal of Economic Literature Classification Numbers: C62, D82, G14.

We quantify the pervasiveness of informed trading activity in target companies’ equity options before M&A announcements. About 25% of takeovers have positive abnormal volumes, which are greater for short-dated out-of-the-money calls, consistent with bullish directional trading ahead of the announcement. Over half of this abnormal activity cannot be explained by speculation, news and rumors, tra...

We study the manipulation of prices in a dynamic version Glosten and Milgrom (1985) model with long-lived informed trader. clarify conditions under which unique equilibrium exists show that when is unique, bid ask are monotonically increasing functions market maker’s belief about value asset. also characterize situations this involves by Finally, we describe computational method to find equilib...

Does information asymmetry among traders of a firm’s stock increase its cost of capital? We first show that institutional traders in the Shanghai Stock Exchange have a strong information advantage. We then show that past aggressiveness of institutional trading in a stock is a good predictor of institutions’ current and future information advantage in this stock. Sorting stocks on this predictor...