For a semi-martingale Xt, which forms a stochastic boundary, a rate-optimal estimator for its quadratic variation (X;X)t is constructed based on observations in the vicinity of Xt. The problem is embedded in a Poisson point process framework, which reveals an interesting connection to the theory...

Speeding up the exchange does not necessarily improve liquidity. The price quotes of high-frequency market makers are more likely to meet speculative high-frequency "bandits", thus less likely to meet liquidity traders. The bid-ask spread is raised in response. The recursive dynamic model...

Garbade and Silber (1979) demonstrate that an asset will be liquid if it has (1) low price volatility and (2) a large number of public investors who trade it. Although these results match nicely with common notions of liquidity, one key element is missing: liquidity also depends on (3) an asset...