Impact Of Short Sale Constraints Research Articles

Short Sell Constraints and the Price Premium of Chinese Stock A-shares Over Hong Kong H-shares

I examine the impact of short sale constraints on the price premium of Chinese A-shares over Hong Kong H-shares (AH share premium) using a firm-fixed effect panel regression method. It shows that after controlling for variables related to other documented hypotheses, relaxation of short sale constraints in A-shares explains the narrowing AH share premium. Both the launch of CSI Index Future and the introduction of short sale pilot program in 2010 on mainland China stock markets mitigate short sale constraints, improve market efficiency, and therefore help reduce AH share premium.

Breadth of Ownership and the Cross-Section of Corporate Bond Returns

We investigate the effects of short sale constraints on asset mispricing in the corporate bond market. Consistent with Miller (1977)’s theory that short sale constraints can lead to asset overpricing, we document a significant positive relation between changes in ownership breadth (a proxy for short sale constraints) and the cross-section of future corporate bond returns. The return predicative power of changes in breadth is shown to be relatively short-lived in the corporate bond market, possibly due to the bounded upside payoffs of debt. Further analysis shows that the return predictability of changes in breadth is stronger among bonds with higher credit risk and during periods of high investor sentiment, and is mainly driven by bond overpricing rather than underpricing. Overall, the impact of short sale constraints on bond mispricing appears to be more pronounced when overpricing is more likely.

The dispersion anomaly and analyst recommendations

The main objective of this study is to distinguish whether the forecast dispersion anomaly is due to Miller’s (J Finance 32(4):1151–1168, 1977) overpricing hypothesis or idiosyncratic risk, by conditioning the sample on “buy” and “sell” consensus recommendations. Observations on the long and short possibilities provided to the investors by the analyst stock recommendations can help us infer on the impact of short sale constraints even though they are not directly observed. This study provides strong evidence that the impact of analyst forecast dispersion is more pronounced in the group of stocks that receive the least favorable recommendations in a given period, even after controlling for the idiosyncratic risk, Fama–French factors (J Financ Econ 33(1):3–56, 1993; J Financ Econ 116(1):1–22, 2015) and even short-sale constraints. These results are consistent with Miller’s (1977) hypothesis, according to which if short-sale constraints bind, high opinion divergence stocks become overpriced and hence have low subsequent returns.

Short sale constraints, dispersion of opinion, and stock overvaluation: Evidence from earnings announcements in China

Using a clean setting in China, we test the Miller (1977) hypothesis that stocks are overvalued in the presence of short sale constraints and dispersion of opinion as an extension of Berkman et al. (2009). We find that stocks with short sale constraints have significantly negative abnormal returns during earnings announcement periods, especially when investors have diverse opinions. These results are robust to alternative measures of abnormal returns and endogeneity concern. The findings help to explain the impact of short sale constraints on pricing efficiency and have important policy implications for relaxing restrictions on short selling and improving regular information disclosure in emerging markets.

Migrate or not? The effects of regulation SHO on options trading activities

In this study, we investigate the effects of stock short-sale constraints on options trading by exploiting two US Securities and Exchange Commission rule changes under Regulation SHO: Rule 203 (locate and close-out requirements) and Rule 202T (temporary removal of short-sale price tests). We find that stock short selling activities decrease (increase) significantly after Rule 203 (Rule 202T) implementation, supporting the validity of Rule 203 (Rule 202T) as an exogenous increase (decrease) in short-sale constraints. Options volume increases significantly after Rule 203 went into effect and the result is more pronounced among firms with lower levels of institutional ownership and smaller options bid-ask spreads. Therefore, the evidence from Rule 203 suggests that investors may use options as substitutes for stock short sales when short selling is less feasible or more costly due to the locate and delivery requirements. In contrast, we find no significant change in the options trading volume of pilot stocks during the pilot program of Rule 202T. Overall, our results indicate that the impact of short-sale constraints on options trading varies with the types of constraints affected.

Analyst Downgrades, Short Sale Constraints, And Intra-Day Stock Price Efficiency

This paper studies the impact of short sale constraints on stock price efficiency upon arrival of analyst downgrades. Examining the speed of which stock price response to analyst downgrades for pilot (short sale non-constrained) stocks and control (short sale constrained) stocks in an intra-day setting, I find evidence supporting the hypothesis that short sale constrains hamper intra-day stock price efficiency. For after-hours downgrades, pilot stocks respond quickly, with virtually all of the price response incorporated by the following open, while control stocks take an extra five minutes after opening to fully reflect the new information. For during-hour downgrades, the negative information is partially incorporated into pilot stock prices up to two hours before the recommendation is released, while control stocks take up to an hour and a half after the release to impound the information into stock price, confirming that short sale constraints lower stock price efficiency.

Short sale constraints, disperse pessimistic beliefs and market efficiency — Evidence from the Chinese stock market

In the Chinese stock market, the regulatory agency lists qualified stocks on announcement date and permits investors to sell short on the effective date, a practice that allows us to directly study the impact of short sale constraints. Applying an event study to 511 additions, between February 2010 and August 2013, of individual stocks to the list of securities qualified for short sale, we find that short sale constraints cause individual stocks to be overpriced and that such overvaluation is exclusively related to distortions associated with pessimistic beliefs. In addition, we observe lower volatility, skewness and extreme value frequency of stock returns after short sale constraints are lifted. This implies the emergence of a more appropriate distribution of returns and improved market efficiency at the individual stock level as the range of securities qualified for short selling expands.

Short-sale constraints and short-selling strategies: the case of SEC’s revocation of the uptick rule in 2007

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) revoked the uptick rule in July 2007. The revocation of the uptick rule provides us with a unique setting to investigate the impact of short-sale constraints on various short-selling strategies in a controlled environment. It shows that contrarian short selling and voluntary-liquidity short selling are more profound in uptick-rule-restricted stocks than in unrestricted stock. Market trend chasing short selling is less profound in restricted stocks than in unrestricted stocks. No evidence shows that the uptick rule has material impact on risk-bearing short-selling strategies.

The uptick rule and stock returns: an analysis of Regulation SHO on the NYSE

This article investigates the impact of short sale constraints on stock returns in a powerful setting in which the uptick rule on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) was suspended for a given set of stocks (pilot stocks) by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in 2005. Comparing future stock returns for pilot stocks and control stocks, I show that the suspension of the uptick rule on average mitigates stock overvaluation by 3.5% of the stock value during a 1-year time period. This effect is profound in stocks with no options, small stocks, and value stocks. Findings in this article are consistent with Miller's (1977) overpricing hypothesis and suggest that removing the uptick rule help improve market efficiency by bringing stock prices closer to their fundamental values.

An Analysis of Market Efficiency in Response to Short Sale Information

We investigate the effect of expected short sales and short sales surprises on abnormal securities returns. We then examine the impact of short sales constraints on the informational efficiency of the equity market based on a major hypothesis of Diamond and Verrecchia (1987). We conduct a series of tests using data from a natural experiment created by an SEC-initiated pilot program under the Regulation SHO reform. We have four major fi ndings: (1) unexpected bad news, speci fically, unexpected short sales, cause signifi cant price adjustment when those unexpected short sales are revealed, (2) surprisingly, expected short sales demand also causes price adjustments after short sales information revelation, (3) short sales surprises have a linear relationship with subsequent abnormal returns, i.e., investors react to different levels of short sales surprises with equal sensitivity, and (4) price tests do not increase short sales constraints in the markets.

The Impact of Short-Sales Constraints on Liquidity and the Liquidity–Return Relations

Baker and Stein's (2004) model predicts that individual stock liquidity, commonality in liquidity across stocks, the contemporaneous correlation between stock returns and liquidity, and the degree of high liquidity associated with low subsequent stock returns decrease in the absence of short-sales constraints relative to in the presence. To test these theoretical predictions, we examine both the component stocks of the Taiwan 50 index and other nonindex stocks for the sample period before and after the removal of short-sales constraints on the former and use trading turnover and Amihud's (2002) illiquidity ratio as the measure of liquidity to proxy for investor sentiment. Overall, our empirical results are consistent with these theoretical predictions and therefore provide evidence in support of Baker and Stein's (2004) model.

The good news in short interest

Stocks with relatively high short interest subsequently experience negative abnormal returns, but the effect can be transient and of debatable economic significance. In contrast, relatively heavily traded stocks with low short interest experience both statistically and economically significant positive abnormal returns. These positive returns are often larger (in absolute value) than the negative returns observed for heavily shorted stocks. Thus, the positive information associated with low short interest, which is publicly available, is only slowly incorporated into prices, which raises a broader market efficiency issue. Our results also cast doubt on existing theories of the impact of short sale constraints.

The Good News in Short Interest

We study the information content in monthly short interest using NYSE-, AMEX-, and NASDAQ-listed stocks from 1988 to 2005. We show that stocks with relatively high short interest subsequently experience negative abnormal returns, but the effect can be transient and of debatable economic significance. In contrast, we find that relatively heavily traded stocks with low short interest experience both statistically and economically significant positive abnormal returns. These positive returns are often larger (in absolute value) than the negative returns observed for heavily shorted stocks. Because stocks with greater short interest are priced more accurately, our results suggest that short selling promotes market efficiency. However, we show that positive information associated with low short interest, which is publicly available, is only slowly incorporated into prices, which raises a broader market efficiency issue. Our results also cast doubt on existing theories of the impact of short sale constraints.

The Tick Test Rule, Investors' Opinions Dispersion, and Stock Returns: The Daily Evidence on the NYSE

This paper investigates the impact of short sale constraints on stock returns associated with the tick-test rule in the NYSE using REG SHO daily short selling data. The results suggest removing the tick-test rule for so called 'pilot' stocks mitigates short-term stock overvaluation by approximately 2% annually. It is surprising that for large pilot stocks, lifting the tick-test rule goes beyond correcting stock overvaluation and is associated with stock undervaluation, suggesting that the SEC's recent decision of removing tick-test restrictions for all U.S. exchange-traded securities may not be considered as an optimal policy if such undervaluation is driven by predatory short sellers' price manipulation. It also shows here that a high level of daily short sale activity signals a short-term stock return reversal during the sample period. On average, a daily rebalanced portfolio consisting of a long position in stocks with the highest shorting activities and a short position of stocks with the lowest shorting activities generates an annual rate of return of more than 150%, before adjusting for trading costs. The returns of these hedge portfolios are short lived; they diminish quickly as the number of days in the holding period increases.

The Impact of Short Sales Constraints on Stock Index futures Prices

The Impact of Short Sales Constraints on Stock Index futures Prices