{"title":"The information content of delayed block trades in cryptocurrency markets","authors":"Luca Galati , Riccardo De Blasis","doi":"10.1016/j.bar.2024.101513","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This paper examines the price impact of large block trades in cryptocurrency markets by using a natural experiment in Bitcoin provided by the Gemini exchange. The exchange introduced a block trading facility in 2018, but in December 2019, it changed the minimum size threshold that allows market participants to trade a block and report it with a delay. Consistent with theoretical predictions and earlier empirical findings, we largely confirm that the information content of large trades is significantly lower in the upstairs market than in the downstairs. In contrast with prior research in traditional markets, we find that delaying the reporting of a block traded away from the continuous book discourages informed trading and potentially decreases the informativeness of trading and, therefore, information efficiency. Further, we find that the newly implemented size requirement for upstairs trades increases the total market impact, thereby not working as the intended introduction of a block trading facility.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47996,"journal":{"name":"British Accounting Review","volume":"58 3","pages":"Article 101513"},"PeriodicalIF":9.4000,"publicationDate":"2026-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"British Accounting Review","FirstCategoryId":"91","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0890838924002932","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2024/10/28 0:00:00","PubModel":"Epub","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"BUSINESS, FINANCE","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
This paper examines the price impact of large block trades in cryptocurrency markets by using a natural experiment in Bitcoin provided by the Gemini exchange. The exchange introduced a block trading facility in 2018, but in December 2019, it changed the minimum size threshold that allows market participants to trade a block and report it with a delay. Consistent with theoretical predictions and earlier empirical findings, we largely confirm that the information content of large trades is significantly lower in the upstairs market than in the downstairs. In contrast with prior research in traditional markets, we find that delaying the reporting of a block traded away from the continuous book discourages informed trading and potentially decreases the informativeness of trading and, therefore, information efficiency. Further, we find that the newly implemented size requirement for upstairs trades increases the total market impact, thereby not working as the intended introduction of a block trading facility.
期刊介绍:
The British Accounting Review*is pleased to publish original scholarly papers across the whole spectrum of accounting and finance. The journal is eclectic and pluralistic and contributions are welcomed across a wide range of research methodologies (e.g. analytical, archival, experimental, survey and qualitative case methods) and topics (e.g. financial accounting, management accounting, finance and financial management, auditing, public sector accounting, social and environmental accounting; accounting education and accounting history), evidence from UK and non-UK sources are equally acceptable.