A Comparative Analysis on the Volume-Return Relationship of the ETF and Stock Market

Abstract

This paper aims to examine the contemporaneous relationship between trading volume and returns in the ETF market taking the stock market as a contrast. While past research using correlation analysis and OLS method to specify a linear regression model only catches the average relationship between volume and return, this paper applies the quantile regression analysis to provide a more complete description for the volume-return relationship in the ETF and stock markets. The empirical results show that a symmetric volume-return relationship is found in the ETF market and an asymmetric volume-relationship, however, is discovered in the stock market. The volume-return relationship of the stock market has become more symmetric after the exempt for some stock from the short-sale restriction. The results demonstrate that the transaction cost and the short-sale restriction are important factors to influence the patter of volume-return relationship.

Keywords: Trading volume, return, quantile regression

JEL Classification: G12, G14