Do investors prefer even-eighth prices? Evidence from NYSE limit orders

Using a large sample of limit orders on NYSE stocks, we find that investors submit more limit orders with even-eighth prices than odd-eight prices. However, even though there are a greater number of even-eighth limit orders, the proportion of executing limit orders submitted with even prices is greater than those submitted with odd prices for a large portion of our sample. We find that clustering on even prices is a positive function of stock price and various proxies for the dispersion in investors' reservation prices. The preference for even prices affects stock quotes: Investors are more likely to submit a quote improving limit order if the limit price is even and quoted depth is higher for even quotes than for odd quotes. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.