Title

Impact of Algorithmic Trading in a Simulated Asset Market

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2019

Comments

Initially published in Journal of Risk and Financial Management, 2019, Vol. 12(2), pp.1-11

© 2019 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

DOI: 10.3390/jrfm12020068

https://doi.org/10.3390/jrfm12020068

Abstract

In this work we simulate algorithmic trading (AT) in asset markets to clarify its impact. Our markets consist of human and algorithmic counterparts of traders that trade based on technical and fundamental analysis, and statistical arbitrage strategies. Our specific contributions are: (1) directly analyze AT behavior to connect AT trading strategies to specific outcomes in the market; (2) measure the impact of AT on market quality; and (3) test the sensitivity of our findings to variations in market conditions and possible future events of interest. Examples of such variations and future events are the level of market uncertainty and the degree of algorithmic versus human trading. Our results show that liquidity increases initially as AT rises to about 10% share of the market; beyond this point, liquidity increases only marginally. Statistical arbitrage appears to lead to significant deviation from fundamentals. Our results can facilitate market oversight and provide hypotheses for future empirical work charting the path for developing countries where AT is still at a nascent stage.

1

Link to Full Text

Share

COinS
 

The views expressed in this paper are solely those of the author.