Price duration, returns, and volatility estimation: Evidence from China's stock index futures market

This study estimates the returns and volatility in the China's stock index futures market. Our approach introduces a novel consideration of price duration, a factor that we integrate into our models to enhance the estimation of volatility. We construct a stochastic conditional duration (SCD) model to investigate the price duration and extend the classical generalized autoregressive conditional heteroskedastic (GARCH) model by taking into account price duration and more microstructure variables to investigate their influence on returns and volatility. We investigate in detail the moderating effect of the limiting trade rule, an exogenous policy shock, on returns and volatility. We find that significant clustering exists in price duration and that during the midday break in trading, subsequent price duration and returns decline, whereas volatility increases. Price duration and open interest both have a negative effect on returns and volatility, whereas trading volume has a positive effect on them.