hard · Market Microstructure spread-econ

Amihud's illiquidity ratio is defined as the daily average of |r_t| / V_t, where r_t is the day's return and V_t is dollar volume. An analyst notices that for a thinly traded micro-cap, Amihud illiquidity computed over a month is far HIGHER than the stock's actual round-trip transaction cost (effective spread) would suggest.

Which feature of the Amihud measure best accounts for this overstatement relative to the true price-impact cost?

  1. On near-zero-volume days the ratio |r_t|/V_t explodes even for tiny absolute returns, and averaging these spikes inflates the measure beyond what a marginal trade's price impact would be
  2. Amihud's measure double-counts the bid-ask bounce because it is built from close-to-close returns, which already embed the full round-trip quoted spread on each trading day observed
  3. Dollar volume in the denominator is effectively denominated in raw share counts for this micro-cap, so its low share price understates liquidity and biases the ratio upward across the whole sample
  4. Amihud illiquidity is fundamentally a realized-spread proxy rather than a price-impact measure, so it necessarily exceeds the effective spread by the full adverse-selection component's size

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

More Market Microstructure spread-econ practice

KomFi: Test Prep Made Easy

KomFi: Test Prep Made Easy — free adaptive practice for GMAT, GRE, SAT, ACT, National Real Estate Exam, Investment Banking, and finance with full explanations.

KomFi Academy is free GMAT prep and personalized GMAT help built as a training platform: 89,613+ practice questions, 30,000+ flashcards, on-demand video lectures, podcasts, and 4K slide decks. Flagship tracks: Free GMAT Prep, Free GMAT Resources, National Real Estate Exam Prep, Investment Banking Prep, Finance Prep, GRE, SAT, ACT, LSAT, MCAT, Financial Accounting, Private Equity, Private Credit, and Quantitative Finance.

Free GMAT Prep & Personalized GMAT Help

What's inside

Topics

View pricing · Read testimonials