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Marketmaker Behavior in an Auction Market: An Analysis of Scalpers in Futures Markets
Author(s) -
SILBER WILLIAM L.
Publication year - 1984
Publication title -
the journal of finance
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 18.151
H-Index - 299
eISSN - 1540-6261
pISSN - 0022-1082
DOI - 10.1111/j.1540-6261.1984.tb03886.x
Subject(s) - futures contract , futures market , earnings , market liquidity , business , position (finance) , financial economics , economics , monetary economics , finance
This paper focuses on the role of scalpers as marketmakers in the competitive auction of futures exchanges. We use transactions data of a representative scalper to identify the source of scalper earnings. We find that scalpers provide liquidity services to incoming market orders, thereby facilitating commercial hedging. Scalper earnings are positively related to the bid‐asked spread and negatively related to the length of time a position is held.