IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/arx/papers/cond-mat-0312703.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

What really causes large price changes?

Author

Listed:
  • J. Doyne Farmer
  • Laszlo Gillemot
  • Fabrizio Lillo
  • Szabolcs Mike
  • Anindya Sen

Abstract

We study the cause of large fluctuations in prices in the London Stock Exchange. This is done at the microscopic level of individual events, where an event is the placement or cancellation of an order to buy or sell. We show that price fluctuations caused by individual market orders are essentially independent of the volume of orders. Instead, large price fluctuations are driven by liquidity fluctuations, variations in the market's ability to absorb new orders. Even for the most liquid stocks there can be substantial gaps in the order book, corresponding to a block of adjacent price levels containing no quotes. When such a gap exists next to the best price, a new order can remove the best quote, triggering a large midpoint price change. Thus, the distribution of large price changes merely reflects the distribution of gaps in the limit order book. This is a finite size effect, caused by the granularity of order flow: In a market where participants placed many small orders uniformly across prices, such large price fluctuations would not happen. We show that this explains price fluctuations on longer timescales. In addition, we present results suggesting that the risk profile varies from stock to stock, and is not universal: lightly traded stocks tend to have more extreme risks.

Suggested Citation

  • J. Doyne Farmer & Laszlo Gillemot & Fabrizio Lillo & Szabolcs Mike & Anindya Sen, 2003. "What really causes large price changes?," Papers cond-mat/0312703, arXiv.org, revised Apr 2004.
    • Handle: RePEc:arx:papers:cond-mat/0312703
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://arxiv.org/pdf/cond-mat/0312703
    File Function: Latest version
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. J. Doyne Farmer & Fabrizio Lillo, 2003. "On the origin of power law tails in price fluctuations," Papers cond-mat/0309416, arXiv.org, revised Jan 2004.
    2. Martin D.D. Evans & Richard K. Lyons, 2017. "Order Flow and Exchange Rate Dynamics," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Studies in Foreign Exchange Economics, chapter 6, pages 247-290, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    3. Fabrizio Lillo & Rosario N. Mantegna, 2001. "Power law relaxation in a complex system: Omori law after a financial market crash," Papers cond-mat/0111257, arXiv.org, revised Jun 2003.
    4. Foucault, Thierry, 1998. "Order Flow Composition and Trading Costs in Dynamic Limit Order Markets," CEPR Discussion Papers 1817, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    5. Hasbrouck, Joel, 1991. "Measuring the Information Content of Stock Trades," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 46(1), pages 179-207, March.
    6. Kenneth A. Kavajecz, 1999. "A Specialist's Quoted Depth and the Limit Order Book," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 54(2), pages 747-771, April.
    7. Jean-Philippe Bouchaud & Yuval Gefen & Marc Potters & Matthieu Wyart, 2004. "Fluctuations and response in financial markets: the subtle nature of 'random' price changes," Quantitative Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 4(2), pages 176-190.
    8. Loretan, Mico & Phillips, Peter C. B., 1994. "Testing the covariance stationarity of heavy-tailed time series: An overview of the theory with applications to several financial datasets," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 1(2), pages 211-248, January.
    9. V. Plerou & P. Gopikrishnan & L. A. N. Amaral & M. Meyer & H. E. Stanley, 1999. "Scaling of the distribution of price fluctuations of individual companies," Papers cond-mat/9907161, arXiv.org.
    10. Hausman, Jerry A. & Lo, Andrew W. & MacKinlay, A. Craig, 1992. "An ordered probit analysis of transaction stock prices," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(3), pages 319-379, June.
    11. Biais, Bruno & Hillion, Pierre & Spatt, Chester, 1995. "An Empirical Analysis of the Limit Order Book and the Order Flow in the Paris Bourse," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 50(5), pages 1655-1689, December.
    12. Kempf, Alexander & Korn, Olaf, 1999. "Market depth and order size1," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 2(1), pages 29-48, February.
    13. Longin, Francois M, 1996. "The Asymptotic Distribution of Extreme Stock Market Returns," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 69(3), pages 383-408, July.
    14. Benoit Mandelbrot & Howard M. Taylor, 1967. "On the Distribution of Stock Price Differences," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 15(6), pages 1057-1062, December.
    15. Eric Smith & J Doyne Farmer & Laszlo Gillemot & Supriya Krishnamurthy, 2003. "Statistical theory of the continuous double auction," Quantitative Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 3(6), pages 481-514.
    16. Parlour, Christine A, 1998. "Price Dynamics in Limit Order Markets," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 11(4), pages 789-816.
    17. Goldstein, Michael A. & A. Kavajecz, Kenneth, 2000. "Eighths, sixteenths, and market depth: changes in tick size and liquidity provision on the NYSE," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 56(1), pages 125-149, April.
    18. Mantegna,Rosario N. & Stanley,H. Eugene, 2007. "Introduction to Econophysics," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521039871, September.
    19. Ilija Zovko & J Doyne Farmer, 2002. "The power of patience: a behavioural regularity in limit-order placement," Quantitative Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 2(5), pages 387-392.
    20. Clark, Peter K, 1973. "A Subordinated Stochastic Process Model with Finite Variance for Speculative Prices," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 41(1), pages 135-155, January.
    21. Cohen, Kalman J & Maier, Steven F & Schwartz, Robert A & Whitcomb, David K, 1981. "Transaction Costs, Order Placement Strategy, and Existence of the Bid-Ask Spread," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 89(2), pages 287-305, April.
    22. Foucault, Thierry, 1999. "Order flow composition and trading costs in a dynamic limit order market1," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 2(2), pages 99-134, May.
    23. Parameswaran Gopikrishnan & Vasiliki Plerou & Xavier Gabaix & H. Eugene Stanley, 2000. "Statistical Properties of Share Volume Traded in Financial Markets," Papers cond-mat/0008113, arXiv.org.
    24. repec:bla:jfinan:v:58:y:2003:i:5:p:1791-1820 is not listed on IDEAS
    25. Knez, Peter J & Ready, Mark J, 1996. "Estimating the Profits from Trading Strategies," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 9(4), pages 1121-1163.
    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. Thomas Lux & Michele Marchesi, 1999. "Scaling and criticality in a stochastic multi-agent model of a financial market," Nature, Nature, vol. 397(6719), pages 498-500, February.
    28. Potters, Marc & Bouchaud, Jean-Philippe, 2003. "More statistical properties of order books and price impact," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 324(1), pages 133-140.
    29. D. Challet & A. Chessa & M. Marsili & Y-C. Zhang, 2001. "From Minority Games to real markets," Quantitative Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 1(1), pages 168-176.
    30. Carol L. Osler, 2003. "Currency Orders and Exchange Rate Dynamics: An Explanation for the Predictive Success of Technical Analysis," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 58(5), pages 1791-1819, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Martin D. Gould & Mason A. Porter & Stacy Williams & Mark McDonald & Daniel J. Fenn & Sam D. Howison, 2010. "Limit Order Books," Papers 1012.0349, arXiv.org, revised Apr 2013.
    2. Philipp Weber & Bernd Rosenow, 2006. "Large stock price changes: volume or liquidity?," Quantitative Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 6(1), pages 7-14.
    3. Biais, Bruno & Glosten, Larry & Spatt, Chester, 2005. "Market microstructure: A survey of microfoundations, empirical results, and policy implications," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 8(2), pages 217-264, May.
    4. Martin D. Gould & Mason A. Porter & Stacy Williams & Mark McDonald & Daniel J. Fenn & Sam D. Howison, 2013. "Limit order books," Quantitative Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 13(11), pages 1709-1742, November.
    5. Jean-Philippe Bouchaud & J. Doyne Farmer & Fabrizio Lillo, 2008. "How markets slowly digest changes in supply and demand," Papers 0809.0822, arXiv.org.
    6. Alessandro Beber & Cecilia Caglio, 2005. "Order Submission Strategies and Information: Empirical Evidence from the NYSE," FAME Research Paper Series rp146, International Center for Financial Asset Management and Engineering.
    7. Jean-Philippe Bouchaud & Julien Kockelkoren & Marc Potters, 2006. "Random walks, liquidity molasses and critical response in financial markets," Quantitative Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 6(2), pages 115-123.
    8. J. Doyne Farmer & Austin Gerig & Fabrizio Lillo & Henri Waelbroeck, 2013. "How efficiency shapes market impact," Quantitative Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 13(11), pages 1743-1758, November.
    9. Mike, Szabolcs & Farmer, J. Doyne, 2008. "An empirical behavioral model of liquidity and volatility," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 32(1), pages 200-234, January.
    10. Ellul, Andrew & Holden, Craig W. & Jain, Pankaj & Jennings, Robert, 2007. "Order dynamics: Recent evidence from the NYSE," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 14(5), pages 636-661, December.
    11. Hans Degryse & Frank Jong & Maarten Ravenswaaij & Gunther Wuyts, 2005. "Aggressive Orders and the Resiliency of a Limit Order Market," Review of Finance, Springer, vol. 9(2), pages 201-242, June.
    12. Large, Jeremy, 2009. "A market-clearing role for inefficiency on a limit order book," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 91(1), pages 102-117, January.
    13. Ladley, Dan & Schenk-Hoppé, Klaus Reiner, 2009. "Do stylised facts of order book markets need strategic behaviour?," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 33(4), pages 817-831, April.
    14. Jovanovic, Franck & Schinckus, Christophe, 2017. "Econophysics and Financial Economics: An Emerging Dialogue," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780190205034.
    15. Szabolcs Mike & J. Doyne Farmer, 2005. "An empirical behavioral model of price formation," Papers physics/0509194, arXiv.org, revised Oct 2005.
    16. Gabaix, Xavier & Gopikrishnan, Parameswaran & Plerou, Vasiliki & Eugene Stanley, H., 2008. "Quantifying and understanding the economics of large financial movements," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 32(1), pages 303-319, January.
    17. Laszlo Gillemot & J. Doyne Farmer & Fabrizio Lillo, 2006. "There's more to volatility than volume," Quantitative Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 6(5), pages 371-384.
    18. Stanley, H.E. & Gopikrishnan, P. & Plerou, V. & Amaral, L.A.N., 2000. "Quantifying fluctuations in economic systems by adapting methods of statistical physics," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 287(3), pages 339-361.
    19. Hall, Anthony D. & Hautsch, Nikolaus, 2007. "Modelling the buy and sell intensity in a limit order book market," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 10(3), pages 249-286, August.
    20. Biondo, Alessio Emanuele, 2017. "Learning to forecast, risk aversion, and microstructural aspects of financial stability," Economics Discussion Papers 2017-104, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).

    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:arx:papers:cond-mat/0312703. 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: arXiv administrators (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://arxiv.org/ .

    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.