Algorithmic trading, liquidity and volatility: Evidence from Poland

Authors

  • Henryk Gurgul AGH University of Krakow, Department of Applications of Mathematics in Economics, Kraków, Poland https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6192-2995
  • Robert Syrek Jagiellonian University, Faculty of Management and Social Communication, Institute of Economics, Finance and Management, Kraków, Poland https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8212-8248

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18559/ebr.2025.4.2330

Keywords:

algorithmic trading intensity, liquidity, volatility, transfer entropy

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to examine the causality between pairs of measures that describe the intensity of algorithmic trading, market liquidity and volatility for selected blue-chip companies from the Warsaw Stock Exchange, which were permanently included in the WIG20 index from January 1, 2020, to August 31, 2023. In the study, both daily and high-frequency intraday data are used. The research is based on fundamental concepts of information theory, namely entropy and transfer entropy. Additionally, Rényi entropy is used to examine the causal relationships between extreme values of the variables. Our results, based on Shannon’s transfer entropy, suggest that algorithmic trading affects liquidity and volatility. The main finding is that if the frequency increases, the number of companies for which information transfer is significant also grows. However, this relationship is not observed for extreme values, for which Rényi entropy is applied.

JEL Classification

General (G10)
Other (G19)

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

Abdi, F., & Ranaldo, A. (2017). A simple estimation of bid-ask spreads from daily close, high and low prices. The Review of Financial Studies, 30(12), 4437–4480. https://doi.org/10.1093/rfs/hhx084
View in Google Scholar

Aggarwal, N., & Thomas, S. (2014). The causal impact of algorithmic trading on market quality. Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research, Mumbai Working Papers, 2014-023. http://www.igidr.ac.in/pdf/publication/WP-2014-023.pdf
View in Google Scholar

Ao, H., & Li, M. (2024). Exploiting the potential of a directional changes-based trading algorithm in the stock market. Finance Research Letters, 60, 104936. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.frl.2023.104936
View in Google Scholar

Arumugam, D., Prasanna, P. K., & Marathe, R. R. (2023). Do algorithmic traders exploit volatility? Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, 37, 100778. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbef.2022.100778
View in Google Scholar

Banerjee, A., & Nawn, S. (2024). Proprietary algorithmic traders and liquidity supply during the pandemic. Finance Research Letters, 61, 105052. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.frl.2024.105052
View in Google Scholar

Behrendt, S., Dimpfl, T., Peter, F. J., & Zimmermann, D. J. (2019). RTransferentropy— quantifying information flow between different time series using effective transfer entropy. SoftwareX, 10, 100265. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.softx.2019.100265
View in Google Scholar

Będowska-Sójka, B., & Kliber, A. (2021). Information content of liquidity and volatility measures. Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, 563, 125436. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physa.2020.125436
View in Google Scholar

Bińkowski, M., & Lehalle, C.A. (2022). Endogenous dynamics of intraday liquidity. Journal of Portfolio Management Market Microstructure, 48(6), 145–169. https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.1811.03766
View in Google Scholar

Brauneis, A., & Mestel, R. (2018). Price discovery of cryptocurrencies: bitcoin and beyond. Economics Letters, 165, 58–61. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.econlet.2018.02.001
View in Google Scholar

Brogaard, J., Hendershott,T., & Riordan, R. (2014). High frequency trading and price discovery. The Review of Financial Studies, 27(8), 2267–2306. https://doi.org/10.1093/rfs/hhu032
View in Google Scholar

Courdent, A., & McClelland, D. (2022). The impact of algorithmic trading on market quality: Evidence from the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. Investment Analysts Journal, 51(3), 157–171. https://doi.org/10.1080/10293523.2022.2090056
View in Google Scholar

Desagre, C., D’Hondt, C. D., Petitjean, M. (2022). The rise of fast trading: Curse or blessing for liquidity? Finance, 43(3), 119–158. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3192597
View in Google Scholar

Díaz, A., & Escribano, A. (2020). Measuring the multi-faceted dimension of liquidity in financial markets: A literature review. Finance Research in International Business and Finance, 51, 101079. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ribaf.2019.101079
View in Google Scholar

Diebold, F. X., & Yilmaz, K. (2012). Better to give than to receive: Predictive directional measurement of volatility spillovers. International Journal of Forecasting, 28(1), 57–66. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijforecast.2011.02.006
View in Google Scholar

Diebold, F. X., & Yilmaz, K. (2014). On the network topology of variance decompositions: Measuring the connectedness of financial firms. Journal of Econometrics, 182(1), 119–134. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeconom.2014.04.012
View in Google Scholar

Dionisio, A., Menezes, R., & Mendes, D. A. (2004). Mutual information: A measure of dependency for nonlinear time series. Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, 344(1), 326–329. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physa.2004.06.144
View in Google Scholar

Directive 2014/65/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 May 2014 on markets in financial instruments and amending Directive 2002/92/EC and Directive 2011/61/EU (recast). OJ L 173, 12.6.2014, p. 349. https://data.europa.eu/eli/dir/2014/65/oj
View in Google Scholar

Dubey, R. K., Babu, A. S., Jha, R. R., & Varma, U. (2021). Algorithmic trading efficiency and its impact on market-quality. Asia-Pacific Financial Markets, 29, 381–409. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10690-021-09353-5
View in Google Scholar

Ekinci, C., & Ersan, O. (2022). High-frequency trading and market quality: The case of a “slightly exposed” market. International Review of Financial Analysis, 79, 102004. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.irfa.2021.102004
View in Google Scholar

Garman, M., & Klass, M. (1980). On the estimation of security price volatilities from historical data. Journal of Business, 53(1), 67–78. https://doi.org/10.1086/296072
View in Google Scholar

Gurgul, H., & Lach, Ł. (2012). The electricity consumption versus economic growth of the Polish economy. Energy Economics, 34(2), 500–510. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eneco.2011.10.017
View in Google Scholar

Gurgul, H., Lach, Ł., & Mestel, R. (2012). The relationship between budgetary expenditure and economic growth in Poland. Central European Journal of Operations Research, 20(1), 161–182. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10100-010-0186-z
View in Google Scholar

Gurgul, H., & Machno, A. (2017). The impact of asynchronous trading on Epps effect on Warsaw Stock Exchange. Central European Journal of Operations Research, 25, 287–301. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10100-016-0442-y
View in Google Scholar

Gurgul, H., & Syrek, R. (2023). Contagion between selected European indexes during the COVID-19 pandemic, Operations Research and Decisions, 33(1), 47–59. https://doi.org/10.37190/ord230104
View in Google Scholar

He, J., & Shang, P. (2017). Comparison of transfer entropy methods for financial time series. Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, 482, 772–785. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physa.2017.04.089
View in Google Scholar

Hendershott, T., Jones, C. M., & Menkveld, A. J. (2011). Does algorithmic trading improve liquidity? The Journal of Finance, 66(1), 1–33. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-6261.2010.01624.x
View in Google Scholar

Hendershott, T., & Riordan, R. (2013). Algorithmic trading and the market for liquidity. Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, 48(4), 1001–1024. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022109013000471
View in Google Scholar

Hlaváčková-Schindler, K., Paluš, M., Vejmelka, M., & Bhattacharya, J. (2007). Causality detection based on information-theoretic approaches in time series analysis. Physics Reports, 441(1), 1–46. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physrep.2006.12.004
View in Google Scholar

Jain, A., Jain, C., & Khanapure, R.B. (2021). Do algorithmic traders improve liquidity when information asymmetry is high? Quarterly Journal of Finance, 11(1), 2050015. https://doi.org/10.1142/S2010139220500159
View in Google Scholar

Lacava, D., Ranaldo, A., & Santucci de Magistris, P. (2023). Realized illiquidity. Swiss Finance Institute Research Paper, 22–90. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4282541
View in Google Scholar

Leone, V., & Kwabi, F. (2019). High frequency trading, price discovery and market efficiency in the FTSE100. Economics Letters, 181, 174–177. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.econlet.2019.05.022
View in Google Scholar

Lesmond, D.A. (2005). Liquidity of emerging markets. Journal of Financial Economics, 77(2), 411–452. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jfineco.2004.01.005
View in Google Scholar

Mestel, R., Murg, M., & Theissen, E. (2018). Algorithmic trading and liquidity: Long term evidence from Austria. Finance Research Letters, 26, 198–203. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.frl.2018.01.004
View in Google Scholar

Mestel R., Steffen V., & Theissen E. (2024). Algorithmic trading and mini flash crashes: Evidence from Austria. Economics Letters, 244, 111982. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.econlet.2024.111982
View in Google Scholar

Ramos, H. P., & Perlin, M. S. (2020). Does algorithmic trading harm liquidity? Evidence from Brazil. North American Journal of Economics and Finance, 54, 101243. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.najef.2020.101243
View in Google Scholar

Shimotsu, K., & Phillips, P. C. B. (2005). Exact local whittle estimation of fractional integration. The Annals of Statistics, 33(4), 1890–1933. https://doi.org/10.1214/009053605000000309
View in Google Scholar

Syczewska, E., & Struzik, Z. (2015). Granger causality and transfer entropy for financial returns. Acta Physica Polonica A, 127(3A), 129–135. https://doi.org/10.12693/APhysPolA.127.A-129
View in Google Scholar

Downloads

Published

2025-12-05

Issue

Section

Research article- regular issue

How to Cite

Gurgul, H., & Syrek, R. (2025). Algorithmic trading, liquidity and volatility: Evidence from Poland. Economics and Business Review, 11(4). https://doi.org/10.18559/ebr.2025.4.2330

Similar Articles

31-40 of 53

You may also start an advanced similarity search for this article.