How is Futures Trading Affected by the Move to a Computerized Trading System?
Author InfoChristopher L. Gilbert Herbert A. Rijken Abstract We consider the impact of the May 1999 move to screen trading of the LIFFE FTSE 100 index futures contract. This resulted in a narrowing of the effective spread. Spread determinants are broadly similar in the two regimes. The narrowing of the spread appears due to increased competition among traders and a decline in tick-level volatility rather than to the way these or other variables affect the spread. Market depth appears largely unaffected. Under screen trading, realized spreads widen as more limit orders are taken up rather than in relation to order size “per se”. Copyright 2006 The Authors Journal compilation (c) 2006 Blackwell Publishing Ltd. Download InfoTo download: If you experience problems downloading a file, check if you have the proper application to view it first. Information about this may be contained in the File-Format links below. In case of further problems read the IDEAS help page. Note that these files ar
