hard · Market Microstructure adverse-selection

Consider the PIN (Probability of Informed Trading) model of Easley-O'Hara: information events occur with probability α, are bad news with probability δ, informed traders arrive at rate μ on event days, and uninformed buyers and sellers arrive at rates varepsilon_b and varepsilon_s. A researcher computes PIN = αμ / (αμ + varepsilon_b + varepsilon_s) and uses it as a measure of adverse selection. Two stocks have IDENTICAL estimated PIN, but Stock A has high α with low μ while Stock B has low α with high μ.

Which conclusion about the implied price impact of an unexpected buy order is correct?

  1. Both stocks have the same unconditional PIN but Stock B's order imbalance is more diagnostic on event days, so a single unexpected buy moves Stock B's price more despite equal PIN.
  2. Equal PIN implies strictly equal price impact for any incoming order by mathematical construction, since PIN is the sufficient statistic for adverse-selection price response.
  3. Stock A has the higher price impact overall because its larger event frequency α means any given order is more likely to fall on an actual information event day for that specific stock.
  4. Neither order has price impact because the unconditional buy probability already incorporates the informed component, leaving the posterior unchanged.

Sign up free to see the explanation and track your rank →

More Market Microstructure adverse-selection practice

KomFi Academy — Stop doomscrolling. Get KomFi.

Turn wasted screen time into verifiable competence.

KomFi Academy is a curated training platform with 75,000+ practice questions, 26,500+ flashcards, on-demand video lectures, podcasts, and 4K slide decks across the topics serious professionals study: GMAT, LSAT, MCAT, SAT, Investment Banking, Private Equity (LBOs & PE math), Private Credit, Quantitative Finance, Financial Accounting, Asset- Backed Securities, Volume Profile Analysis, Order Flow Trading, Market Microstructure, Volume Spread Analysis, Elliott Wave Theory, Volume-Price Analysis, and Public Offering Frameworks.

What's inside

Topics

View pricing · Read testimonials