An Empirical Analysis of the Arbitrage Opportunities in the KOSPI200 Futures and Options Markets

We investigate the frequency of arbitrage opportunities and the size of their profits in the options and futures markets of KOSPI200 index. A thread of existing studies shows that these opportunities arise frequently, albeit the frequency is decreasing as the market matures. These studies, however, use transaction data in their analysis. Using the transaction data tends to overestimate both the frequency and the size of arbitrage gains, since it ignores the transactions cost imbedded in the bid-ask spread. In this study, we use the quote data to correctly reflect the transactions cost in executing the trades to take advantage of an arbitrage opportunity. By using the data spanning the period from Sep. 3, 2001 to Mar. 29. 2002, we show that both the frequency and size of arbitrage gains are much smaller than those when transaction data are used instead of Quote data. We also find that the Individual traders are the primary source that provide the arbitrage opportunities.