The thesis studies aspects of the cost of equity trading in the emerging stock market of Ukraine. The market is quite new (opened in 1997 but started to operate actively only in 2004) and little research on this market has been done so far. The market appears to offer lucrative investment opportunities that attract attention of both Ukrainian and foreign investors but the cost of trading Ukrainian stocks is quite high and can considerably decrease the returns to investors. The empirical part of the thesis is based on the transactions data from the main trade floor in Ukraine, PFTS, for 59 Ukrainian stocks during 2004-2006. The cost of equity trading in Ukraine is found to be quite high compared to many other stock markets, both developed and emerging. An in-depth study has shown that the medium-sized trades are the cheapest to execute, followed by large and then small trades. The reason for the pattern is seen in the price improvement suggested by brokers to the larger, more valued customers in order to keep the business with them and is in line with the findings in other literature for dealership markets (Reiss and Werner (1996), Hansch et. al (1999), and Huang and Stoll (1996)). The average cost of institutional sale trades exceeds the average cost of institutional buy trades at any market condition (falling, neutral, or rising), which is a puzzling result given that sales are often found in the literature to be more expensive in falling market, while purchases are more expensive in rising market. The efficacy of a number of measures of liquidity is studied. In line with findings for other emerging markets, it is shown that the proportion of zero daily returns (Lesmond (1999)) and the proportion of no-trading days are the most reliable liquidity measures for the Ukrainian stock market. Turnover, a measure widely applied in literature for developed stock markets, has a very small power for measuring liquidity in Ukraine. The spread components are estimated by applying three spread decomposition models most frequently referred to in literature: Stoll (1989), Glosten and Harris (1988), and Huang and Stoll (1997). The estimation results show a low importance of the asymmetric information component, which is surprising given that insider trading is considered a serious risk in Ukraine. To present the importance of incorporating the transactions costs into portfolio return analysis, a momentum trading strategy is examined. It is shown that momentum portfolio returns decrease considerably when the cost of trading is taken into account.

This paper explores how the five largest trading venues in the Nordic region compete after theimplementation of MiFID in November 2007. I investigate: (1) if NASDAQ OMX’s market sharehas increased post the introduction of major changes to its market structure, and (2) how anexchange operator can attract equity share order flow in the near future. By applying event studiesto NASDAQ OMX’s market share over time, I find that introducing a faster trading system andadmitting a high frequency trading firm as a member both have a negative impact on NASDAQOMX’s market share. The reductions in market share can be explained by high frequency tradingfirms’ trading behaviour. Introducing central counterparty clearing has a positive effect onNASDAQ OMX’s market share, which highlights market participants’ appreciation of a securetrading environment, and confirms that it is not only posting the best bid and ask quotes thatattracts order flow to an exchange. It can be concluded that NASDAQ OMX in the future needs toaddress an important trade-off between total turnover and market share, as the two are not alwayspositively correlated.

Submitted by PAULO SÉRGIO COELHO VIEIRA (coelhovieira.paulo@gmail.com) on 2015-04-15T23:04:53Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Paulo Vieira-HFT Industry_final_v1.pdf: 1540808 bytes, checksum: 1a0ee5cd10f415e74d56beb3e4b6f6c9 (MD5) / Rejected by Ana Luiza Holme (ana.holme@fgv.br), reason: Prezado Paulo, Todas as informações da contra capa e folha de aprovação devem ser em português pois a instituição é no Brasil. falta o agradecimento em português e inglês que deve ser depois da dedicatória a dedicatória deve ser em uma única folha em português e inglês e deve ser antes do agradecimento e depois da folha de aprovação e no fim da pagina a direita. no sumário não se coloca por exemplo a pagina da dedicatória, só deve aparecer a partir da introdução. as paginas só são numeradas a partir da introdução mas conta a partir da capa, exemplo introdução e a pagina 10, só aparecerá no trabalho em introdução a pagina 10 não pode ser numeral romano, deve ser numero exemplo 10. Ana Luiza Holme 3799-7760 on 2015-04-16T13:07:33Z (GMT) / Submitted by PAULO SÉRGIO COELHO VIEIRA (coelhovieira.paulo@gmail.com) on 2015-04-17T00:12:53Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Paulo Vieira-HFT Industry_final_v2.pdf: 1539919 bytes, checksum: e6fff3edaed078ed606a551c2ea0bf50 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Ana Luiza Holme (ana.holme@fgv.br) on 2015-04-17T12:19:38Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Paulo Vieira-HFT Industry_final_v2.pdf: 1539919 bytes, checksum: e6fff3edaed078ed606a551c2ea0bf50 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2015-04-17T12:37:49Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Paulo Vieira-HFT Industry_final_v2.pdf: 1539919 bytes, checksum: e6fff3edaed078ed606a551c2ea0bf50 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015 / U. S. Equity Trading Industry has evolved quickly over the last decade. The U.S. equity market became an open architecture in which entrants with innovative technology can compete effectively. Several regulatory changes and technological innovations have enabled profound changes in market structure. These changes, along with improving high-speed technology, have acted as a catalyst, giving rise to a new approach to trading, named High Frequency Trading, hereafter referred as HFT. HFT Firms emerged and took over in large extent the market making business in providing liquidity. Although HFT has been growing massively, over the past four years, HFT firms have been far less profitable, since more firms entered the industry eroding the margins. Within this context, therefore, this thesis sought to provide a brief review of HFT business, followed by the analysis of its industry boundaries and the characteristics of the HFT environment. To this end, the thesis conducted an extensive literature review of previous research, qualitative public documents, such as, newspapers, meeting minutes and official reports. The thesis employed a series of frameworks, Entry Barriers and Mobility Barriers (Porter, 1980); Models of Industry Evolution (McGahan, 2004); Information-Intensive Industry Structure (Sampler, 1998), to analyze the boundaries of the HFT industry. Additionally, it employed Models of Industry Evolution (McGahan, 2004) and PESTEL (JOHNSON, SCHOLES, and WHITTINGTON, 2011) frameworks to analyze the industry and the environment surrounding HFT business. The analysis concluded that the firms employing HFT to compete in the Securities Trading industry compose an independent industry. / O Mercado Acionário Americano evoluiu rapidamente na última década. Este tornou-se uma arquitetura aberta em que participantes com tecnologia inovadora podem competir de forma eficaz. Várias mudanças regulatórias e inovações tecnológicas permitiram mudanças profundas na estrutura do mercado. Essas mudanças, junto com o desenvolvimento tecnológico de redes de alta velocidade, agiu como um catalisador, dando origem a uma nova forma de negociação, denominada Negociação em Alta Frequência (HFT). As empresas de HFT surgiram e se apropriaram em larga escala do negócio de formação de mercado, no fornecimento de liquidez. Embora HFT tem crescido massivamente, ao longo dos últimos quatro anos, HFT perdeu rentabilidade significativamente, uma vez que mais empresas aderiram ao setor reduzindo as margens. Portanto, diante deste contexto, esta tese buscou apresentar uma breve revisão sobre a atividade de HFT, seguida de uma análise dos limites deste setor, bem como, das características do macroambiente do HFT. Para tanto, a tese realizou uma extensa revisão do histórico literário, documentos públicos qualitativos, tais como, jornais, atas de reunião e relatórios oficiais. A tese empregou um ferramental de análise, Barreiras de Entrada e Mobilidade (Porter, 1980); Modelos de Evolução Setorial (McGahan, 2004); Estrutura do Setor de Informação Intensiva (Sampler, 1998), para analisar os limites do setor de HFT. Adicionalmente, empregou as ferramentas de análise, Modelos de Evolução Setorial (McGahan, 2004) e PESTEL (JOHNSON, SCHOLES, and WHITTINGTON, 2011), para analisar o setor e o contexto que envolve o negócio de HFT. A análise concluiu que as empresas que empregam HFT para atuar e competir no mercado acionário, compoem um setor independente.