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Is Algorithmic Trading the villain? - Evidence from stock markets in Taiwan

As science advances, computer technologies are developing rapidly in the past decades. The previous way of traders¡¦ yelling for orders in the house of exchange has been replaced by the Internet and computers. The trading modes of institutional investors are transforming gradually, particularly the radical changes in the US stock market for the past 5 years. The transaction volume from high frequency trading and algorithmic trading is growing dramatically per year, accounting for at least 70% in the U.S. market. And many researchers find these trading methods based on the computer programs good in increasing liquidity, reducing volatility and facilitating price discovery.
By using intraday data of Taiwan stock market in 2008 to conduct empirical research, this study intends to analyze the effect of this trend on the TW stock market. Empirical results found that the greater the market capitalization, liquidity, stock volatility are, the higher the proportion of algorithmic trading will be, but which only exists in foreign institutional investors. On the other hand, the increase of the proportion of algorithmic trading can improve liquidity, meanwhile raise the volatility. The conclusion remains unchanged when applied to control the effect of financial tsunami. That means algorithmic trader¡¦s behaviors are not always positive. This result could be related to the special transaction mechanism or lower competition of algorithmic trading in Taiwan. As to trading strategy, the result found that foreign institutional investors focus on momentum strategies, whereas particular dealers act for the sake of index arbitrage or hedge.
In summary, the algorithmic trader¡¦s transaction bears positive (liquidity) and negative (volatility) impact on the market at the same time. For individual investors, algorithmic trading¡¦s momentum strategy could appeal to them, but they may not make a profit from these trades, because this strategy could merely want to pull price higher and sell stock or the opposite. About regulators, algorithmic traders¡¦ behavior should be regulated partly; regulatory authorities might also consider adding the circuit mechanism similar to South Koreas¡¦, especially on the program trading.
Keywords: algorithmic trading, high frequency trading, intraday, strategy, liquidity, volatility, market quality

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:NSYSU/oai:NSYSU:etd-1018111-092206
Date18 October 2011
CreatorsLi, Kun-ta
ContributorsMa Tai, Hu Singyang, Lee ChianChiang
PublisherNSYSU
Source SetsNSYSU Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Archive
LanguageCholon
Detected LanguageEnglish
Typetext
Formatapplication/pdf
Sourcehttp://etd.lib.nsysu.edu.tw/ETD-db/ETD-search/view_etd?URN=etd-1018111-092206
Rightsuser_define, Copyright information available at source archive

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