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Review of Financial Studies Vol. 30 No. 1 2017

The Anatomy of the CDS Market

Martin Oehmke1; Adam Zawadowski

1 Department of Finance, LSE, Houghton St, London WC2A 2AE,

open access

Abstract

Using novel position and trading data for single-name corporate credit default swaps (CDSs), we provide evidence that CDS markets emerge as “alternative trading venues” serving a standardization and liquidity role. CDS positions and trading volume are larger for firms with bonds fragmented into many separate issues and with heterogeneous contractual terms. Whereas hedging motives are associated with trading volume in the bond and CDS markets, speculative trading concentrates in the CDS. Cross-market arbitrage links the CDS and bond market via the basis trade, compressing the negative CDS-bond basis and reducing price impact in the bond market.

DOI
10.1093/rfs/hhw068
Volume
30
Issue
1
Pages
80-119
Language
en
Sources
bibtex:phds-export.bib openalex crossref

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