Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Law Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Series

Faculty Publications

2018

SEC

Santa Clara Law

Articles 1 - 1 of 1

Full-Text Articles in Law

Are The Stock Markets "Rigged"? An Empirical Analysis Of Regulatory Change, Stephen Diamond Jun 2018

Are The Stock Markets "Rigged"? An Empirical Analysis Of Regulatory Change, Stephen Diamond

Faculty Publications

Are the stock markets "rigged"? An empirical analysis of regulatory change: Volatile events in the stock market such as the 2010 Flash Crash have sparked concern that financial markets are “rigged” in favor of trading firms that use high frequency trading (“HFT”) systems. We analyze a regulatory change implemented by the SEC in 2007 by examining its effect on a key market metric, the bid-ask spread, an investor cost, and find that the regulatory shift, indeed, disadvantages investors. We link the implementation of this change to a shift in the volume of trades from a low-cost venue to a high-cost …