Liquidity Effects in Options Markets: Premium or Discount? PRACHI DEUSKAR1 2 ANURAG GUPTA MARTI G. SUBRAHMANYAM3 March 2007 ABSTRACT This paper examines the effects of liquidity on interest rate option prices. Using daily bid and ask prices of euro (€) interest rate caps and floors, we find that illiquid options trade at higher prices relative to liquid options, controlling for other effects, implying a liquidity discount. This effect is opposite to that found in all studies on other assets such as equities and bonds, but is consistent with the structure of this over-the-counter market and the nature of the demand and supply forces. We also identify a systematic factor that drives changes in the liquidity across option maturities and strike rates. This common liquidity factor is associated with lagged changes in investor perceptions of uncertainty in the equity and fixed income markets. JEL Classification: G10, G12, G13, G15 Keywords: Liquidity, interest rate options, euro interest rate markets, Euribor market, volatility smiles. 1 Department of Finance, College of Business, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 304C David Kinley Hall, 1407 West Gregory Drive, Urbana, IL 61801. Ph: (217) 244-0604, Fax: (217) 244-9867, E-mail:
[email protected]. 2 Department of Banking and Finance, Weatherhead School of Management, Case Western Reserve University, 10900 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland, Ohio 44106-7235. Ph: (216) 368-2938, Fax: (216) 368-6249, E-mail:
[email protected]. 3 Department of Finance, Leonard N. Stern School of Business, New York University, 44 West Fourth Street #9-15, New York, NY 10012-1126. Ph: (212) 998-0348, Fax: (212) 995-4233, E- mail:
[email protected].