Scaling Laws of Strategic Behavior and Size Heterogeneity in Agent Dynamics Articles uri icon

authors

  • VAGLICA, GABRIELLA
  • LILLO, FABRIZIO
  • MORO EGIDO, ESTEBAN
  • MANTEGNA, ROSARIO NUNCIO

publication date

  • March 2008

start page

  • 36110

issue

  • 3, parte 2

volume

  • 77

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)

  • 1539-3755

Electronic International Standard Serial Number (EISSN)

  • 1539-3755

abstract

  • We consider the financial market as a model system and study empirically how agents strategically adjust the properties of large orders in order to meet their preference and minimize their impact. We quantify this strategic behavior by detecting scaling relations between the variables characterizing the trading activity of different institutions. We also observe power-law distributions in the investment time horizon, in the number of transactions needed to execute a large order, and in the traded value exchanged by large institutions, and we show that heterogeneity of agents is a key ingredient for the emergence of some aggregate properties characterizing this complex system.