Are Order Imbalances Indicative of Private Information?

Abstract

Trading imbalances are often interpreted to be the result of informed trading. Yet imbalances may simply reflect random shocks or the results of liquidity trading. If trading imbalances reflect informed trading, they should anticipate major news events. Using announcements of earnings, acquisition targets, and seasoned equity offerings as our information events, we examine whether prior trading imbalances are related to the subsequent news. We conclude that imbalances do not well reflect the information held by informed traders. Trading imbalances do have price effects, but they are contemporaneous and are not significantly correlated with the forthcoming announcements.