Persistence of volatility in futures markets

This article examines the characteristics of key measures of volatility for different types of futures contracts to provide a better foundation for modeling volatility behavior and derivative values. Particular attention is focused on analyzing how different measures of volatility affect volatility persistence relationships. Intraday realized measures of volatility are found to be more persistent than daily measures, the type of GARCH procedure used for conditional volatility analysis is critical, and realized volatility persistence is not coherent with conditional volatility persistence. Specifically, although there is a good fit between the realized and conditional volatilities, no coherence exists between their degrees of persistence, a counterintuitive finding that shows realized and conditional volatility measures are not a substitute for one another

Can we explain the dynamics of the UK FTSE 100 stock and stock index futures markets?

If stock and stock index futures markets are functioning properly price movements in these markets should best be described by a first order vector error correction model with the error correction term being the price differential between the two markets (the basis). Recent evidence suggests that there are more dynamics present than should be in effectively functioning markets. Using self-exciting threshold autoregressive (SETAR) models, this study analyses whether such dynamics can be related to different regimes within which the basis can fluctuate in a predictable manner without triggering arbitrage. These findings reveal that the basis shows strong evidence of autoregressive behaviour when its value is between the two thresholds but that the extra dynamics disappear once the basis moves above the upper threshold and their persistence is reduced, although not eradicated, once the basis moves below the lower threshold. This suggests that once nonlinearity associated with transactions costs is accounted for, stock and stock index futures markets function more effectively than is suggested by linear models of the pricing relationship.

An alternative approach to investigating lead-lag relationships between stock and stock index futures markets

In the absence of market frictions, the cost-of-carry model of stock index futures pricing predicts that returns on the underlying stock index and the associated stock index futures contract will be perfectly contemporaneously correlated. Evidence suggests, however, that this prediction is violated with clear evidence that the stock index futures market leads the stock market. It is argued that traditional tests, which assume that the underlying data generating process is constant, might be prone to overstate the lead-lag relationship. Using a new test for lead-lag relationships based on cross correlations and cross bicorrelations it is found that, contrary to results from using the traditional methodology, periods where the futures market leads the cash market are few and far between and when any lead-lag relationship is detected, it does not last long. Overall, the results are consistent with the prediction of the standard cost-of-carry model and market efficiency.

Do long-short speculators destabilize commodity futures markets?

This paper contributes to the debate on the effects of the financialization of commodity futures markets by studying the conditional volatility of long–short commodity portfolios and their conditional correlations with traditional assets (stocks and bonds). Using several groups of trading strategies that hedge fund managers are known to implement, we show that long–short speculators do not cause changes in the volatilities of the portfolios they hold or changes in the conditional correlations between these portfolios and traditional assets. Thus calls for increased regulation of commodity money managers are, at this stage, premature. Additionally, long–short speculators can take comfort in knowing that their trades do not alter the risk and diversification properties of their portfolios.

Are price limits on futures markets that cool? evidence from the brazilian merchantile & futures exchange

This paper investigates the impact of price limits on the Brazil- ian future markets using high frequency data. The aim is to identify whether there is a cool-off or a magnet effect. For that purpose, we examine a tick-by-tick data set that includes all contracts on the São Paulo stock index futures traded on the Brazilian Mercantile and Futures Exchange from January 1997 to December 1999. Our main finding is that price limits drive back prices as they approach the lower limit. There is a strong cool-off effect of the lower limit on the conditional mean, whereas the upper limit seems to entail a weak magnet effect on the conditional variance. We then build a trading strategy that accounts for the cool-off effect so as to demonstrate that the latter has not only statistical, but also economic signifi- cance. The resulting Sharpe ratio indeed is way superior to the buy-and-hold benchmarks we consider.

Are price limits on futures markets that cool?: evidence from the Brazilian Mercantile and Futures Exchange

This paper investigates the impact of price limits on the Brazilian futures markets using high frequency data. The aim is to identify whether there is a cool-off or a magnet effect. For that purpose, we examine a tick-by-tick data set that includes all contracts on the S˜ao Paulo stock index futures traded on the Brazilian Mercantile and Futures Exchange from January 1997 to December 1999. The results indicate that the conditional mean features a floor cool-off effect, whereas the conditional variance significantly increases as the price approaches the upper limit. We then build a trading strategy that accounts for the cool-off effect in the conditional mean so as to demonstrate that the latter has not only statistical, but also economic significance. The in-sample Sharpe ratio indeed is way superior to the buy-and-hold benchmarks we consider, whereas out-of-sample results evince similar performances.

Spread trading strategy for intraday short term interest rate futures markets

Neste trabalho analisaram-se estratégias de spread calendário de contratos futuros de taxa de juros de curto prazo (STIR – Short Term Interest Rate) em operações de intraday trade. O spread calendário consiste na compra e venda simultânea de contratos de STIR com diferentes maturidades. Cada um dos contratos individualmente se comporta de forma aleatória e dificilmente previsível. No entanto, no longo prazo, pares de contratos podem apresentar um comportamento comum, com os desvios de curto prazo sendo corrigidos nos períodos seguintes. Se este comportamento comum for empiricamente confirmado, há a possibilidade de desenvolver uma estratégia rentável de trading. Para ser bem sucedida, esta estratégia depende da confirmação da existência de um equilíbrio de longo prazo entre os contratos e a definição do limite de spread mais adequado para a mudança de posições entre os contratos. Neste trabalho, foram estudadas amostras de 1304 observações de 5 diferentes séries de spread, coletadas a cada 10 minutos, durante um período de 1 mês. O equilíbrio de longo prazo entre os pares de contratos foi testado empiricamente por meio de modelos de cointegração. Quatro pares mostraram-se cointegrados. Para cada um destes, uma simulação permitiu a estimação de um limite que dispararia a troca de posições entre os contratos, maximizando os lucros. Uma simulação mostrou que a aplicação deste limite, levando em conta custos de comissão e risco de execução, permitiria obter um fluxo de caixa positivo e estável ao longo do tempo.

Futures markets as a risk management tool for Latin American commodity exports: some pending issues

Includes bibliography

Latin America and commodity futures markets today

Includes bibliography

A handbook on scrap futures markets and futures trading /

Mode of access: Internet.

Performance of futures markets : the case of potatoes /

"January 1981"--P. [i]

Price discovery and volatility spillovers in index futures markets: Some evidence from Mexico

This paper investigates the hypotheses that the recently established Mexican stock index futures market effectively serves the price discovery function, and that the introduction of futures trading has provoked volatility in the underlying spot market. We test both hypotheses simultaneously with daily data from Mexico in the context of a modified EGARCH model that also incorporates possible cointegration between the futures and spot markets. The evidence supports both hypotheses, suggesting that the futures market in Mexico is a useful price discovery vehicle, although futures trading has also been a source of instability for the spot market. Several managerial implications are derived and discussed. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Three essays on market depth in futures markets

Liquidity is an important market characteristic for participants in every financial market. One of the three components of liquidity is market depth. Prior literature lacks a comprehensive analysis of depth in U.S. futures markets due to past limitations on the availability of data. However, recent innovations in data collection and dissemination provide new opportunities to investigate the depth dimension of liquidity. In this dissertation, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) Group proprietary database on depth is employed to study the dynamics of depth in the U.S. futures markets. This database allows for the analysis of depth along the entire limit order book rather than just at the first level. The first essay examines the characteristics of depth within the context of the five-deep limit order book. Results show that a large amount of depth is present in the book beyond the best level. Furthermore, the findings show that the characteristics of five-deep depth between day and night trading vary and that depth is unequal across levels within the limit order book. The second essay examines the link between the five-deep market depth and the bid-ask spread. The results suggest an inverse relation between the spread and the depth after adjusting for control factors. The third essay explores transitory volatility in relation to depth in the limit order book. Evidence supports the relation between an increase in volatility and a subsequent decrease in market depth. Overall, the results of this dissertation are consistent with limit order traders actively managing depth along the limit order book in electronic U.S. futures markets.