Hello!
I am an assistant professor of finance at the University of Mannheim.
My research focuses on technological innovations in modern financial markets and the challenges they induce. Some buzzwords that appear in my research are: high-frequency trading, cryptocurrencies, liquidity, market microstructure, blockchains, regulation, price efficiency, tokenization, ...
While my teaching focuses on financial technology and the empirical analysis of financial markets, I also broadly teach in the areas of investment management and corporate finance. I currently teach at the University of Mannheim, at Mannheim Business School, and at the Frankfurt School of Finance and Management.
News and Upcoming Talks
October 26, 2024: Presenting "Behavior on Blockchains: Trading Activity in Tokenized Financial Assets" at the 8th Shanghai-London-Edinburgh Fintech Conference.
October 17, 2024: Presenting "Behavior on Blockchains: Trading Activity in Tokenized Financial Assets" at the Research in Behavioral Finance Conference in Amsterdam.
October 15, 2024: Presenting "A Tale of Two Cities – Inter-Market Latency and Fast-Trader Competition" at The Microstructure Exchange.
September 28, 2024: Discussing a paper at the WBS Gillmore Fintech Conference in London.
Academic Positions
University of Mannheim, Assistant Professor / Postdoctoral Researcher (since 2020)
Frankfurt School of Finance and Management, Adjunct Lecturer (since 2022)
Previous Positions
University of Mannheim, Research and Teaching Assistant (2014 - 2020)
Research Center SAFE, Goethe University Frankfurt, Research Assistant (2016 - 2018)
Visiting and External Positions
Cardiff Business School, Visiting Academic (2023/05-06)
University of Technology Sydney, Visiting Researcher (2019/04)
European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), External Researcher (2018/10-12)
Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration (NHH), Visiting Student (2010/08-12)
Education
Ph.D. in Finance (University of Mannheim, 2020)
M.Sc. Business Administration, concentration in Finance (University of Mannheim, 2014)
B.Sc. Economics, concentration in Econometrics (University of Mannheim, 2011)
Research
Publications
Dark Web Traffic, Privacy Coins, and Cryptocurrency Trading Activity. Finance Research Letters (2024)
Intraday Herding and Attention Around the Clock (with Y. Shi). Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance (2024)
Non-Standard Errors (with A. Menkveld, A. Dreber, and many more. I contributed as a member of a research team). Journal of Finance (2024)
Fan Tokens: Sports and Speculation on the Blockchain (with M. Scharnowski and L. Zimmermann). Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money (2023)
Central Bank Speeches and Digital Currency Competition. Finance Research Letters (2022)
Understanding Bitcoin Liquidity. Finance Research Letters (2021)
Liquidity in the German Stock Market (with T. Johann, E. Theissen, C. Westheide, and L. Zimmermann). Schmalenbach Business Review (2019)
Media Coverage: Institutional Money
Working Papers
Broker Colocation and the Execution Costs of Customer and Proprietary Orders (with S. Sagade and C. Westheide). SAFE Working Paper No. 366
A Tale of Two Cities – Inter-Market Latency and Fast-Trader Competition (with S. Sagade, E. Theissen and C. Westheide). SAFE Working Paper No. 430
The Effects of Post-Trade Transparency in Equity Markets: Evidence from MiFID Large Trade Disclosure Rules (with C. Westheide)
Bitcoin Blackout - Proof-of-Work and the Risks of Mining Centralization (with Y. Shi)
Social Media, High-frequency Trading, and Market Making After-hours
The Economics of Liquid Staking Derivatives: Basis Determinants and Price Discovery (with H. Jahanshahloo)
Behavior on Blockchains: Trading Activity in Tokenized Financial Assets
Conference and Seminar Presentations
[2025] University of Graz [2024] Research in Behavioral Finance Conference (Amsterdam), The Microstructure Exchange, WBS Gillmore FinTech Conference° (London), IFZ FinTech Colloquium (Rotkreuz), Crypto Asset Lab Conference (Milan) [2023] Australasian Finance & Banking Conference, Cardiff Fintech Conference, Conference on Behavioral Research in Finance and Governance and Accounting, The Microstructure Exchange*, Cryptocurrency Research Conference (Monaco), Ghent Workshop on Fintech [2022] Bonn Workshop on Digital Currencies°, UWA Blockchain and Cryptocurrency Conference, Cardiff Fintech Conference, Cryptocurrency Research Conference (Durham), Financial Engineering and Banking Society Conference (Portsmouth), QMUL Behavioural Finance Working Group Annual Conference*, French Finance Association (Saint-Malo, 2x), Spring Meeting of Young Economists* (Orleans), Economics of Financial Technology Conference (Edinburgh, 2x), CryptoAssets and Digital Asset Investment Conference (Rennes, 3x) [2021] UWA Blockchain and Cryptocurrency Conference, Crypto Asset Lab Conference (Milan), Annual Financial Market Liquidity Conference (Budapest), German Finance Association (Innsbruck), Cryptocurrency Research Conference (2x), World Finance Conference (2x) [2020] Goethe University Frankfurt Finance Brownbag [2019] FIRN Microstructure Meeting (Sydney), University of Technology Sydney Finance Brownbag, Future of Financial Information Conference* (Stockholm), University of Vienna Finance Brownbag*, German Finance Association (Essen, 2x), Paris December Finance Meeting [2018] RGS Doctoral Conference in Economics, Goethe University Frankfurt Finance Brownbag [2017] Augustin Cournot Doctoral Days (Strasbourg) [2016] Annual Financial Market Liquidity Conference (Budapest), Doctoral Meeting of Montpellier, German Finance Association (Bonn), Goethe University Frankfurt Finance Brownbag, SAFE Microstructure Workshop [2015] University of Bonn*, HVB Doctoral Meeting Südwest
Includes scheduled, presentations by co-authors (*), and discussion-only (°)
Datasets
Market Microstructure Database Xetra (with T. Johann, E. Theissen, C. Westheide, and L. Zimmermann)
One problem faced by researchers interested in liquidity is that measuring it oftentimes requires intraday high-frequency data. Such datasets are expensive and, because of their size, hard to work with. We address this problem for the German equity market by providing a database that contains various daily market-microstructure measures of liquidity on the stock level for all stocks contained in the CDAX index from 1999 to 2013 traded on Xetra. The database is available free of charge to qualifying researchers. Find out more here: https://www.ifk-cfs.de/research/databases/market-microstructure-database-xetra.html
(We gratefully acknowledge financial support from the German Science Foundation (DGF) under grant TH 724/6-1. “Xetra” and “CDAX” are registered trademarks of Deutsche Börse AG.)
Service to the Profession
Refereeing for Journals
Applied Economics Letters; Economics Letters; Finance Research Letters; Financial Innovation; International Review of Economics and Finance; International Review of Financial Analysis; Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance; Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money; Journal of Sports Economics; Research in International Business and Finance
Refereeing for Conferences
Spring Meeting of Young Economists; Annual Meeting of the European Association of Young Economists; Crypto Asset Lab Conference
Other Activities
Member of the Jury at the German Startup Cup for FinTechs during Seasons 2021/2022 and 2023
In the Media
Mannheimer Morgen asked for my opinion regarding cryptocurrency retail payments (2024/05)
Institutional Money covered our paper on Liquidity in the German Stock Market (2019/04)
Teaching
Graduate Teaching
FinTech (Lecture, since 2021, U Mannheim)
This course covers recent technological innovations and the emergence of new players in the financial services industry. A special focus is on blockchains and their application to cryptocurrencies and DeFi. Other introduced innovations include alternative payment systems, crowd finance, InsurTech, and robo advising, while also presenting associated risks and regulatory approaches.Corporate Finance (Lecture, since 2023, Mannheim Business School)
I teach this course at MBS in the accounting and taxation master programs. It covers the basics of corporate finance including capital structure and payout policies, project analysis, working capital management, and credit risk.Financial Management (Lecture, since 2022, Frankfurt School)
This course is taught in the Master of Applied Data Science at FS and provides a graduate-level introduction to finance. Topics covered include investment decisions under uncertainty, portfolio optimization, asset pricing, and corporate finance.Stata in Finance (Lecture, since 2016, U Mannheim)
This course provides in introduction to scientific work in Stata with a particular focus on analyzing financial datasets.Investments (Lecture, 2020, U Mannheim)
Empirical Finance (Exercise sessions, since 2018, U Mannheim)
Decision Analysis (Exercise sessions, 2014 - 2015, U Mannheim)
Seminar on Empirical Finance (since 2016, U Mannheim)
Seminar on Climate Finance (2021, U Mannheim)
Seminar on Market Microstructure (2017, U Mannheim)
Undergraduate Teaching
Financial Mathematics (Tutorial sessions, 2009 – 2012, U Mannheim)
Investments and Asset Pricing (Tutorial sessions, 2013, U Mannheim)
Thesis Supervision
Recent Examples Graduate: Privacy Coins; Tokenized Stocks; Price Discovery on Decentralized Exchanges; Volatility Patterns in Cryptocurrencies; Understanding Asymmetric FX Volatility around the World; OTC Trading Around Large Institutional Orders; Order Flow Toxicity, Informed Trading, and Transparency
Recent Examples Undergraduate: Blockchain Applications in Finance; Meme Numbers and Cryptocurrency Trading; InsurTech; Crowd Finance and Social Trading; Central Bank Digital Currencies; RegTech; Liquidity and Efficiency of Carbon Emissions Trading; Social Media and Financial Markets; Sports Events and Financial Markets; International Commonality in Liquidity; Transaction Costs of Institutional Investors