We characterize the dynamic fragmentation of U.S. equity markets using a unique dataset that disaggregates dark transactions by venue types. The 'pecking order' hypothesis of trading venues states that investors 'sort' various venue types, putting low-cost-low-immediacy venues on top and...

A breakdown of cross-market arbitrage activity makes markets more fragile, and could result in price crashes. We provide supportive evidence for this novel channel based on a high-frequency analysis of the most salient crash in recent history: The Flash Crash. We further show that such event can...

We study how derivatives (with nonlinear payoffs) affect the liquidity of the underlying asset. In a rational expectations equilibrium, informed investors expect low conditional volatility and sell derivatives to the others. These derivative trades affect investors’ utility differently,...

Speed is a salient feature of modern financial markets. This paper studies investors' speed acquisition, alongside their information acquisition. Speed heterogeneity arises in equilibrium, fragmenting the information aggregation process temporally and affecting price informativeness...

This paper studies simultaneous multilateral search (SMS) in over-the-counter (OTC) markets: when searching, an investor contacts several potential counterparties and then trades with the one offering the best quote. Search intensity (how frequently one can search) and search capacity (how many...

A number of recent theoretical studies have explored trading in fragmented markets, e.g. Biais etal. (2000), a phenomenon increasingly witnessed in modern markets. The key assumptiongenerating the results is that there is at least one liquidity demander exploiting access to allmarkets by...

Counterparty default risk might hamper trade and trigger a financial crisis. The introduction of a central clearing counterparty (CCP) benefits trading but pushes systemic risk into CCP default. Standard risk management strategies at CCPs currently overlook a risk associated with crowded trades....

This paper links the recent fragmentation in equity trading to high frequency traders (HFTs). It shows how the success of a new market, Chi-X, critically depended on the participation of a large HFT who acts as a modern market-maker. The HFT, in turn, benefits from low fees in the entrant...