SWITCHING TO A TEMPORARY CALL AUCTION IN TIMES OF HIGH UNCERTAINTY

<heading id="h1" level="1" implicit="yes" format="display">Abstract</heading>We evaluate a stock-specific circuit breaker implemented in several European stock exchanges, which consists of a short-lived call auction triggered by intraday stock-specific price limits. It differs from U.S. trading halts in that it is short-lived and nondiscretionary, and a trading mechanism (continuous or discrete) is always going. It differs from daily price limits in that trade prices are not restricted once the limit is hit. Intraday price ranges are smaller and adjusted to the recent volatility, so that limit hits are more frequent. We contribute to the debate about circuit breakers by enlarging the span of these mechanisms studied. Copyright (c) 2010 The Southern Finance Association and the Southwestern Finance Association.