Bid‐ask Spread and Ownership Structure

In this paper we examine the relation between bid‐ask spread and ownership structure variables based on 1985 data for 1,063 NYSE firms. We document a nonpositive relation between bid‐ask spread and insider ownership and conclude that spread is unrelated to insider trading. We also find a robust significantly negative relation between spread and institutional ownership. Finally, we find a positive but generally insignificant relation between spread and blockholdings. Overall, our evidence does not support the predictions of asymmetric information models in markets with anonymous trading.