The working of circuit breakers within percolation models for financial markets

摘要

We use a modified Cont-Bouchaud model to explore the effectiveness of trading breaks. The modifications include that the trading activity of the market participants depends positively on historical volatility and that the orders of the agents are conditioned on the observed mispricing. Trading breaks, also called circuit breakers, interrupt the trading process when prices are about to exceed a pre-specified limit. We find that trading breaks are a useful instrument to stabilize financial markets. In particular, trading breaks may reduce price volatility and deviations from fundamentals.