• Impact cost measures a security's liquidity by reflecting the cost incurred for buying or selling a certain quantity based on the current market liquidity.
• Market impact costs are typically influenced by factors like trade size, market depth, market liquidity, and market volatility.
• Traders can minimise market impact costs by trading in smaller increments, employing TWAP or VWAP algorithms for efficient execution, trading during periods of higher liquidity, and using advanced risk management techniques and analytics.

Large financial institutions often assess market impact costs to determine the viability of a security purchase. Understanding what is impact cost is essential for evaluating how these expenses influence trading decisions.

Impact cost measures the liquidity of a security by reflecting the expense incurred when buying or selling a certain quantity at a specified time based on the current market liquidity. The presence of numerous buyers and sellers essentially ensures quicker transactions, suggesting a liquid security. On the other hand, the presence of fewer participants leads to slower trade execution, suggesting illiquidity. Hence, impact cost serves as an effective gauge of liquidity, wherein higher impact costs reflect lower liquidity.

Impact costs affect trading by influencing the overall cost of executing trades. With high impact costs, large trades can significantly affect a security’s price, minimising potential profits. Traders must consider these costs when planning trades, especially in less liquid markets with higher impact costs. As such, effective management of impact costs proves to be essential for optimising trade execution and maintaining profitability.

• Trade size: Larger trades generally impact the market more as they require more liquidity to execute without significantly altering the price. As trade size relative to market volume increases, so does the potential for higher market impact costs.
• Market liquidity: Liquidity measures how easily a security can be bought or sold without affecting its price significantly. Highly liquid securities have lower market impact costs due to more buyers and sellers, while illiquid securities face greater price changes with large trades.
• Market depth: Market depth, or the volume of buy and sell orders at various price levels, affects impact costs. Deeper markets with more orders can absorb large trades with less price movement, whereas shallower markets experience greater price changes.
• Volatility: Market volatility influences impact costs. Higher volatility can lead to larger price movements for big trades, increasing impact costs. Meanwhile, lower volatility generally results in lower costs.

Impact cost is calculated using the following formula:

Impact cost = (Actual buy / Sell price – Ideal price) ÷ Ideal price x 100

Ideal price = (Best buy price + Best sell price) ÷ 2

Actual buy / Sell price = Sum of (Quantity x Execution price) ÷ Total quantity

Let us take an example. Let us assume stock ‘Z’ has the following order book at a certain period.

Example 1: A trader decides to sell 3,000 shares of Z:
Ideal Sell Price = (Rs. 14 + Rs. 13.5) / 2 = Rs. 13.75
Actual Sell Price = (13.5 x 1,000 + 13.4 x 1,000 +13.1 x 1,000) / 3,000 = Rs. 13.3
Impact cost = (13.3 – 13.75) / 13.75 = 0.0303 x 100 = 3.03%
The impact cost for selling 3,000 shares of Z is 3.03% less than the ideal transaction price.

Example 2: A trader decides to purchase 3,000 shares of Z:
Ideal Buy Price = (Rs. 13.5 + Rs. 14) / 2 = Rs. 13.75
Actual Buy Price = (14 x 1,000 + 14.5 x 1,500 + 13.7 x 7,500) / 3,000 = Rs. 14.2
Impact cost = (14.2 – 13.75) / 13.75 = 0.0327 x 100 = 3.27%
The impact cost for buying 3,000 shares of Z is 3.27% more than the ideal transaction price.

Reducing market impact costs is essential for investors and traders, especially when dealing with large trades that can significantly influence market prices. They can use several strategies to mitigate these costs and enhance trade execution efficiency:

• Trade in small increments: Rather than placing a large trade in a single transaction, divide it into smaller orders and execute them progressively. This strategy, called "splitting the order," helps minimise the immediate effect on market prices and provides traders with the opportunity to capitalise on price fluctuations across several trades.
• Use TWAP or VWAP algorithms: Time-Weighted Average Price (TWAP) and Volume-Weighted Average Price (VWAP) algorithms help to efficiently execute trades while minimising market impact. These algorithms split large orders into smaller parts and execute them dynamically based on time or volume to reach prices close to the average market price.
• Use limit orders: Instead of market orders, which execute at the best available price, utilise limit orders to specify a minimum price for selling or a maximum price for buying. Limit orders can help manage execution prices and minimise the risk of adverse price fluctuations.
• Risk management tools: Employing advanced risk management strategy and analytics tools can help effectively assess, monitor, and manage market impact costs. You can also benefit from data-driven insights and real-time market updates to make informed decisions and mitigate risks.

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