This study examines the quality of derivatives pricing in the market in which liquidity is dominated by an alternative market. We use US interest rate futures from the side-by-side open outcry and electronic markets, in which electronic markets dominate liquidity. We find that the bid-ask spreads in illiquid open outcry markets have increased substantially since electronic markets became a major part of the market liquidity. Accordingly, the implicit trading costs in open outcry markets have significantly increased. We also show that the volatility of bid-ask spreads in illiquid open outcry markets has increased, which is consistent with a decrease in the depth of the market. In addition, we find that the fast rate of price discovery in electronic markets instabilizes the bid-ask spread in open outcry market. Our results are particularly important for practitioners in that the performance of their portfolio and risk managements critically depends on which market dominates liquidity.
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/janghyung_cho/8/