Does better liquidity for large orders attract institutional investors and analysts? Evidence from the Tick Size Pilot Program

Abstract

Based on the SEC's Tick Size Pilot Program, we adopt a difference-in-differences design and find that the improved liquidity for large orders increases their ownership of the treatment firms with a larger tick size during the program. The effect is concentrated among firms with lower liquidity for large orders ex ante and mainly comes from dedicated investors and quasi-indexers. We also find that analyst coverage and forecast accuracy increase for the treatment firms, plausibly catering to the increased information demand of institutional investors. Consequently, price efficiency increases as well. Overall, we show the bright side of this controversial program.