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Abstract
This study compares liquidity costs of electronic and open-outcry wheat futures contracts
traded side-by-side on the Kansas City Board of Trade. Liquidity costs are considerably
lower in the electronic market. Liquidity costs in the electronic market are still considerably
lower after eliminating the bias created by splitting orders in the electronic market.
Price volatility and transaction size are positively related to liquidity costs, while a negative
relation is found between daily volume and liquidity costs. Price clustering at whole cent
prices occurs in the open-outcry market which helps explain its higher liquidity costs.
Daily volumes were distinctively higher during the Goldman-Sachs roll, but not enough
to explain the higher liquidity costs in the open-outcry market. Trade size is larger in the
open-outcry market, which suggests large traders prefer open-outcry trading.