Tick-Size Reduction and Spread Components on the Taiwanese Stock Market

Abstract

This paper investigates the effect of the decrease in tick size that occurred in the Taiwanese stock market in 2005 on spread components. Employing a methodology proposed by Lin, Sanger and Booth (1995) and using rigorous investigation techniques, this study provides a better understanding of emerging order-driven markets. The empirical results show that information asymmetry costs and order processing costs have indeed decreased after the tick-size reduction. We further find that stocks with greater binding-constraint probability experience larger declines in information asymmetry. Besides, stocks traded frequently experience large declines in information asymmetry and order processing costs.