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Main Author: Kang, Sungwoo
Format: Preprint
Published: 2026
Subjects:
Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2601.11602
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author Kang, Sungwoo
author_facet Kang, Sungwoo
contents How information transmits through prices -- and why this transmission breaks down -- remains poorly understood. We combine regularized deconvolution with Hawkes process analysis to study the impulse response structure of investor flows in the Korean equity market (January 2020 -- February 2025). Three findings emerge: foreign and institutional flows drive permanent price discovery while individual flows provide contrarian liquidity; individual investor surges are predominantly panic-driven and exhibit near-explosive self-excitation; and during herding episodes, institutional price impact deteriorates sharply in small-cap stocks while large-cap stocks maintain resilience. These results reframe market efficiency as a state variable -- conditional on both herding intensity and firm size -- rather than a structural constant.
format Preprint
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institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle The Physics of Price Discovery: Deconvolving Information, Volatility, and the Critical Breakdown of Signal during Retail Herding
Kang, Sungwoo
Statistical Finance
How information transmits through prices -- and why this transmission breaks down -- remains poorly understood. We combine regularized deconvolution with Hawkes process analysis to study the impulse response structure of investor flows in the Korean equity market (January 2020 -- February 2025). Three findings emerge: foreign and institutional flows drive permanent price discovery while individual flows provide contrarian liquidity; individual investor surges are predominantly panic-driven and exhibit near-explosive self-excitation; and during herding episodes, institutional price impact deteriorates sharply in small-cap stocks while large-cap stocks maintain resilience. These results reframe market efficiency as a state variable -- conditional on both herding intensity and firm size -- rather than a structural constant.
title The Physics of Price Discovery: Deconvolving Information, Volatility, and the Critical Breakdown of Signal during Retail Herding
topic Statistical Finance
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2601.11602