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When do retail investors pay attention to their trading platforms?

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  • Aharon, David Y.
  • Qadan, Mahmoud

Abstract

Buying and selling securities through online trading platforms has become increasingly popular among U.S. households in recent years. This study tracks U.S. households' attention to their online trading platforms using daily data for 2004 to August 2017. The analysis covers the 10 most popular online trading platforms among U.S. investors. The findings indicate that market shocks, captured by several proxies, as well as macroeconomic announcements attract investors' attention to trading platforms. We also document that the ostrich effect weakens when considering greater changes in the VIX. Our findings do not support the avoidance of information theory, but do support the theoretical argument that risk-averse agents engage in more information gathering when uncertainty prevails in hopes of reducing their risks.

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  • Aharon, David Y. & Qadan, Mahmoud, 2020. "When do retail investors pay attention to their trading platforms?," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 53(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecofin:v:53:y:2020:i:c:s1062940820301066
    DOI: 10.1016/j.najef.2020.101209
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    3. Hu, Yitong & Shen, Dehua & Urquhart, Andrew, 2023. "Attention allocation and cryptocurrency return co-movement: Evidence from the stock market," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 1173-1185.
    4. Outlaw, Dominique, 2023. "Frenzied buyers and sophisticated sellers: How short sellers trade individual investors’ most purchased stocks," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 39(C).
    5. Szczygielski, Jan Jakub & Charteris, Ailie & Obojska, Lidia & Brzeszczyński, Janusz, 2024. "Capturing the timing of crisis evolution: A machine learning and directional wavelet coherence approach to isolating event-specific uncertainty using Google searches with an application to COVID-19," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 205(C).
    6. Paritosh Chandra Sinha, 2021. "Attention to the Election-Economics-Politics (EEP) Nexus in the Indian Stock Markets," The Review of Finance and Banking, Academia de Studii Economice din Bucuresti, Romania / Facultatea de Finante, Asigurari, Banci si Burse de Valori / Catedra de Finante, vol. 13(1), pages 7-32, June.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Investor attention; Online trading; Trading platforms;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G10 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - General (includes Measurement and Data)
    • G02 - Financial Economics - - General - - - Behavioral Finance: Underlying Principles
    • D03 - Microeconomics - - General - - - Behavioral Microeconomics: Underlying Principles
    • D83 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Search; Learning; Information and Knowledge; Communication; Belief; Unawareness

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