Maureen O'Hara

Maureen O'Hara is a professor at the Johnson Graduate School of Management at Cornell University and has been one of the most influential researchers in market microstructure for over three decades. Her book "Market Microstructure Theory" is the standard graduate reference on how bid-ask spreads are set, how information is incorporated into prices, and how different market structures affect liquidity and price discovery. O'Hara has also contributed research on HFT, dark pools, and the impact of algorithmic trading on market quality, informing policy debates at the SEC and CFTC. Her more recent research has examined the microstructure of cryptocurrency markets, extending the analytical frameworks developed for equity markets to the novel institutional features of decentralized exchanges, fragmented liquidity across multiple venues, and the informational role of on-chain transaction data — work that is increasingly relevant as digital asset markets grow in size and institutional participation.