Market Efficiency and Volatility Spillover in Bitcoin and Ethereum Prices: Comparisons during the Pre-COVID-19 Period and COVID-19 Pandemic

Purpose – This study attempts to establish if the markets for the two most popular cryptocurrencies in the world, Bitcoin and Ethereum, follow weak-form market efficiency across various landmarks in time. Design/Methodology/Approach – Traditional testing for establishing weak-form market efficiency rests on whether the price series exhibits a random walk process, which implies that future prices cannot be predicted. However, not all random walk series automatically imply weak-form market efficiency, since some asset price behaviors may exhibit non-constant variance. In such cases, the GARCH model can be used to test for the presence of market efficiency. Since structural breaks in the prices of both cryptocurrencies are common, tests for market efficiency were carried out using sub-temporal price windows. In both price series, the last time window coincided with the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic period. Findings – Results of the GARCH analyses showed that the volatility and persistence parameters (α and β, respectively) in the Bitcoin and Ethereum models were all statistically significant, implying that prices in their sub-temporal markets were generally weak-form inefficient. The observed market inefficiency in both cryptocurrencies can be attributed to various factors like the price manipulation of crypto whales, security issues, and increased media attention, which led to inflows of information that helped big investors beat and gain from the market by successfully predicting the trend in future prices. During the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic period, both cryptocurrencies’ prices were observed to rise significantly, similar to the case of the 2017 Bitcoin price bubble. A cointegrating regression between Bitcoin and Ethereum prices during this period, however, showed a spurious relationship. Despite the absence of a long run relationship between these two price series, the current price bubbles in the cryptocurrency markets are speculated to be tied together. Research Implications – Players in the cryptocurrency market must always be cautious in making investment decisions regarding this type of asset since the markets are generally price inefficient and risky;any idiosyncratic decision that may be triggered by a price bubble burst in one cryptocurrency market may or may not serve as a signal that the other market will do the same. Since the Bitcoin and Ethereum prices were shown to exhibit volatility spillover and persistence, investors can use this information to make informed decisions as to whether to invest in these cryptocurrencies despite the huge risks that are magnified during the COVID-19 pandemic. © 2021 International Academy of Global Business and Trade. All rights reserved.