Discrete Pricing and Market Fragmentation: A Tale of Two-Sided Markets

S-Tier
Journal: American Economic Review
Year: 2017
Volume: 107
Issue: 5
Pages: 196-99

Authors (3)

Yong Chao (University of Southern Califor...) Chen Yao (not in RePEc) Mao Ye (not in RePEc)

Score contribution per author:

2.691 = (α=2.02 / 3 authors) × 4.0x S-tier

α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count

Abstract

Security trading now fragments into more than ten almost identical stock exchanges in the United States. We show that discrete pricing is one economic force that prevents the consolidation of trading volume. The uniform one-cent tick size (minimum price variation), imposed by the SEC's Rule 612, leads to more dispersed trading for lower priced securities. When a security reverse splits, its price increases and relative tick size (one cent divided by the price) decreases. We find that reverse splits consolidate trading of securities, using securities with identical underlying fundamentals that do not reverse split as the control group.

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:aea:aecrev:v:107:y:2017:i:5:p:196-99
Journal Field
General
Author Count
3
Added to Database
2026-01-25