IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ecofin/v62y2022ics1062940822000997.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Herding behavior in the cryptocurrency market during COVID-19 pandemic: The role of media coverage

Author

Listed:
  • Youssef, Mouna
  • Waked, Sami Sobhi

Abstract

This paper examines herding behavior in the cryptocurrency market during the COVID-19 pandemic using daily data and based on static and regime-switching models. Furthermore, we investigate whether herding behavior is affected by the coronavirus media coverage. Based on a sample of the top-43 cryptocurrencies in terms of market capitalization between 2013 and 2020, we find significant evidence of herding for the entire sample period only during high volatility state. Moreover, during the COVID-19 crisis, results suggest that investors in the cryptocurrency market follow the consensus. Finally, the impact of coronavirus media coverage is significant on herding among investors, explaining such behavior in the cryptocurrency market during the COVID-19 crisis. Our findings explain herding determinants that may help investors avoid such comportment, mainly during the crisis.

Suggested Citation

  • Youssef, Mouna & Waked, Sami Sobhi, 2022. "Herding behavior in the cryptocurrency market during COVID-19 pandemic: The role of media coverage," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecofin:v:62:y:2022:i:c:s1062940822000997
    DOI: 10.1016/j.najef.2022.101752
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1062940822000997
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.najef.2022.101752?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. da Gama Silva, Paulo Vitor Jordão & Klotzle, Marcelo Cabus & Pinto, Antonio Carlos Figueiredo & Gomes, Leonardo Lima, 2019. "Herding behavior and contagion in the cryptocurrency market," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 22(C), pages 41-50.
    2. Chang, Eric C. & Cheng, Joseph W. & Khorana, Ajay, 2000. "An examination of herd behavior in equity markets: An international perspective," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 24(10), pages 1651-1679, October.
    3. Mr. Sunil Sharma & Sushil Bikhchandani, 2000. "Herd Behavior in Financial Markets: A Review," IMF Working Papers 2000/048, International Monetary Fund.
    4. Talat Ulussever & Riza Demirer, 2017. "Investor herds and oil prices evidence in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) equity markets," Central Bank Review, Research and Monetary Policy Department, Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey, vol. 17(3), pages 1-77–89.
    5. Rubbaniy, Ghulame & Polyzos, Stathis & Rizvi, Syed Kumail Abbas & Tessema, Abiot, 2021. "COVID-19, Lockdowns and herding towards a cryptocurrency market-specific implied volatility index," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 207(C).
    6. Bouri, Elie & Gupta, Rangan & Roubaud, David, 2019. "Herding behaviour in cryptocurrencies," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 29(C), pages 216-221.
    7. Hwang, Soosung & Salmon, Mark, 2004. "Market stress and herding," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 11(4), pages 585-616, September.
    8. Bouri, Elie & Gabauer, David & Gupta, Rangan & Tiwari, Aviral Kumar, 2021. "Volatility connectedness of major cryptocurrencies: The role of investor happiness," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 30(C).
    9. Chiang, Thomas C. & Zheng, Dazhi, 2010. "An empirical analysis of herd behavior in global stock markets," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 34(8), pages 1911-1921, August.
    10. Zhang, Dayong & Hu, Min & Ji, Qiang, 2020. "Financial markets under the global pandemic of COVID-19," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 36(C).
    11. Newey, Whitney K & West, Kenneth D, 1987. "Hypothesis Testing with Efficient Method of Moments Estimation," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 28(3), pages 777-787, October.
    12. Mokni, Khaled, 2021. "When, where, and how economic policy uncertainty predicts Bitcoin returns and volatility? A quantiles-based analysis," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 65-73.
    13. Balcılar, Mehmet & Demirer, Rıza & Ulussever, Talat, 2017. "Does speculation in the oil market drive investor herding in emerging stock markets?," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 50-63.
    14. Espinosa-Méndez, Christian & Arias, Jose, 2021. "COVID-19 effect on herding behaviour in European capital markets," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 38(C).
    15. Kizys, Renatas & Tzouvanas, Panagiotis & Donadelli, Michael, 2021. "From COVID-19 herd immunity to investor herding in international stock markets: The role of government and regulatory restrictions," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    16. Conlon, Thomas & McGee, Richard, 2020. "Safe haven or risky hazard? Bitcoin during the Covid-19 bear market," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 35(C).
    17. Fotini Economou & Christis Hassapis & Nikolaos Philippas, 2018. "Investors’ fear and herding in the stock market," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 50(34-35), pages 3654-3663, July.
    18. BenMabrouk, Houda & Litimi, Houda, 2018. "Cross herding between American industries and the oil market," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 196-205.
    19. Kallinterakis, Vasileios & Wang, Ying, 2019. "Do investors herd in cryptocurrencies – and why?," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 240-245.
    20. BenSaïda, Ahmed, 2017. "Herding effect on idiosyncratic volatility in U.S. industries," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 23(C), pages 121-132.
    21. Coskun, Esra Alp & Lau, Chi Keung Marco & Kahyaoglu, Hakan, 2020. "Uncertainty and herding behavior: evidence from cryptocurrencies," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 54(C).
    22. Haroon, Omair & Rizvi, Syed Aun R., 2020. "COVID-19: Media coverage and financial markets behavior—A sectoral inquiry," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 27(C).
    23. Ali, Mohsin & Alam, Nafis & Rizvi, Syed Aun R., 2020. "Coronavirus (COVID-19) — An epidemic or pandemic for financial markets," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 27(C).
    24. Balcilar, Mehmet & Demirer, Rıza & Hammoudeh, Shawkat, 2014. "What drives herding in oil-rich, developing stock markets? Relative roles of own volatility and global factors," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 29(C), pages 418-440.
    25. Bouri, Elie & Shahzad, Syed Jawad Hussain & Roubaud, David, 2019. "Co-explosivity in the cryptocurrency market," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 29(C), pages 178-183.
    26. Mokni, Khaled & Ajmi, Ahdi Noomen & Bouri, Elie & Vo, Xuan Vinh, 2020. "Economic policy uncertainty and the Bitcoin-US stock nexus," Journal of Multinational Financial Management, Elsevier, vol. 57.
    27. Shehzad, Khurram & Xiaoxing, Liu & Kazouz, Hayfa, 2020. "COVID-19’s disasters are perilous than Global Financial Crisis: A rumor or fact?," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 36(C).
    28. Ballis, Antonis & Drakos, Konstantinos, 2020. "Testing for herding in the cryptocurrency market," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 33(C).
    29. Kaiser, Lars & Stöckl, Sebastian, 2020. "Cryptocurrencies: Herding and the transfer currency," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 33(C).
    30. Balcilar, Mehmet & Demirer, Rıza & Hammoudeh, Shawkat, 2013. "Investor herds and regime-switching: Evidence from Gulf Arab stock markets," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 23(C), pages 295-321.
    31. Demirer, Rıza & Lee, Hsiang-Tai & Lien, Donald, 2015. "Does the stock market drive herd behavior in commodity futures markets?," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 32-44.
    32. Corbet, Shaen & Larkin, Charles & Lucey, Brian, 2020. "The contagion effects of the COVID-19 pandemic: Evidence from gold and cryptocurrencies," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 35(C).
    33. Youssef, Mouna & Mokni, Khaled, 2018. "On the effect of herding behavior on dependence structure between stock markets: Evidence from GCC countries," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 20(C), pages 52-63.
    34. Adrian (Wai-Kong) Cheung & Eduardo Roca & Jen-Je Su, 2015. "Crypto-currency bubbles: an application of the Phillips-Shi-Yu (2013) methodology on Mt. Gox bitcoin prices," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 47(23), pages 2348-2358, May.
    35. Philippas, Dionisis & Philippas, Nikolaos & Tziogkidis, Panagiotis & Rjiba, Hatem, 2020. "Signal-herding in cryptocurrencies," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    36. Corbet, Shaen & Larkin, Charles & Lucey, Brian & Meegan, Andrew & Yarovaya, Larisa, 2020. "Cryptocurrency reaction to FOMC Announcements: Evidence of heterogeneity based on blockchain stack position," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 46(C).
    37. Stavroyiannis, Stavros & Babalos, Vassilios, 2019. "Herding behavior in cryptocurrencies revisited: Novel evidence from a TVP model," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 22(C), pages 57-63.
    38. Urquhart, Andrew & Zhang, Hanxiong, 2019. "Is Bitcoin a hedge or safe haven for currencies? An intraday analysis," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 49-57.
    39. Vidal-Tomás, David & Ibañez, Ana, 2018. "Semi-strong efficiency of Bitcoin," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 27(C), pages 259-265.
    40. Naeem, Muhammad Abubakr & Mbarki, Imen & Shahzad, Syed Jawad Hussain, 2021. "Predictive role of online investor sentiment for cryptocurrency market: Evidence from happiness and fears," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 496-514.
    41. Litimi, Houda & BenSaïda, Ahmed & Bouraoui, Omar, 2016. "Herding and excessive risk in the American stock market: A sectoral analysis," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 6-21.
    42. Vidal-Tomás, David & Ibáñez, Ana M. & Farinós, José E., 2019. "Herding in the cryptocurrency market: CSSD and CSAD approaches," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 181-186.
    43. Zhang, Hongwei & Hong, Huojun & Guo, Yaoqi & Yang, Cai, 2022. "Information spillover effects from media coverage to the crude oil, gold, and Bitcoin markets during the COVID-19 pandemic: Evidence from the time and frequency domains," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 267-285.
    44. Chang, Chia-Lin & McAleer, Michael & Wang, Yu-Ann, 2020. "Herding behaviour in energy stock markets during the Global Financial Crisis, SARS, and ongoing COVID-19," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 134(C).
    45. Ashraf, Badar Nadeem, 2020. "Stock markets’ reaction to COVID-19: Cases or fatalities?," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 54(C).
    46. Mobarek, Asma & Mollah, Sabur & Keasey, Kevin, 2014. "A cross-country analysis of herd behavior in Europe," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 32(C), pages 107-127.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Zhang, Pengcheng & Xu, Kunpeng & Qi, Jiayin, 2023. "The impact of regulation on cryptocurrency market volatility in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic — evidence from China," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 222-246.
    2. Ştefan Cristian Gherghina & Liliana Nicoleta Simionescu, 2023. "Exploring the asymmetric effect of COVID-19 pandemic news on the cryptocurrency market: evidence from nonlinear autoregressive distributed lag approach and frequency domain causality," Financial Innovation, Springer;Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, vol. 9(1), pages 1-58, December.
    3. Nektarios Gavrilakis & Christos Floros, 2023. "ESG performance, herding behavior and stock market returns: evidence from Europe," Operational Research, Springer, vol. 23(1), pages 1-21, March.
    4. Zhang, Pengcheng & Kong, Deli & Xu, Kunpeng & Qi, Jiayin, 2024. "Global economic policy uncertainty and the stability of cryptocurrency returns: The role of liquidity volatility," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 67(PB).
    5. Jinxin Cui & Aktham Maghyereh, 2022. "Time–frequency co-movement and risk connectedness among cryptocurrencies: new evidence from the higher-order moments before and during the COVID-19 pandemic," Financial Innovation, Springer;Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, vol. 8(1), pages 1-56, December.
    6. Susovon Jana & Tarak Nath Sahu, 2024. "Identifying Cryptocurrencies as Diversifying Assets and Safe Haven in the Indian Stock Market," Asia-Pacific Financial Markets, Springer;Japanese Association of Financial Economics and Engineering, vol. 31(4), pages 925-944, December.
    7. Lu, Xunfa & Huang, Nan & Mo, Jianlei, 2024. "Time-varying causalities from the COVID-19 media coverage to the dynamic spillovers among the cryptocurrency, the clean energy, and the crude oil," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 132(C).
    8. An Pham Ngoc Nguyen & Thomas Conlon & Martin Crane & Marija Bezbradica, 2024. "Herding Unmasked: Insights into Cryptocurrencies, Stocks and US ETFs," Papers 2407.08069, arXiv.org.
    9. Aslam, Faheem & Memon, Bilal Ahmed & Hunjra, Ahmed Imran & Bouri, Elie, 2023. "The dynamics of market efficiency of major cryptocurrencies," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 58(C).
    10. José Antonio Núñez-Mora & Mario Iván Contreras-Valdez & Roberto Joaquín Santillán-Salgado, 2023. "Risk Premium of Bitcoin and Ethereum during the COVID-19 and Non-COVID-19 Periods: A High-Frequency Approach," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 11(20), pages 1-20, October.
    11. Scharnowski, Stefan & Shi, Yanghua, 2024. "Intraday herding and attention around the clock," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 41(C).
    12. Chen, Bin-xia & Sun, Yan-lin, 2024. "Risk characteristics and connectedness in cryptocurrency markets: New evidence from a non-linear framework," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 69(PA).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Zhao, Yuan & Liu, Nan & Li, Wanpeng, 2022. "Industry herding in crypto assets," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    2. Yarovaya, Larisa & Matkovskyy, Roman & Jalan, Akanksha, 2021. "The effects of a “black swan” event (COVID-19) on herding behavior in cryptocurrency markets," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    3. Ren, Boru & Lucey, Brian, 2023. "Herding in the Chinese renewable energy market: Evidence from a bootstrapping time-varying coefficient autoregressive model," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 119(C).
    4. Mohamad, Azhar & Stavroyiannis, Stavros, 2022. "Do birds of a feather flock together? Evidence from time-varying herding behaviour of bitcoin and foreign exchange majors during Covid-19," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    5. Rubbaniy, Ghulame & Polyzos, Stathis & Rizvi, Syed Kumail Abbas & Tessema, Abiot, 2021. "COVID-19, Lockdowns and herding towards a cryptocurrency market-specific implied volatility index," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 207(C).
    6. Mouna Youssef & Khaled Mokni, 2023. "Herding behavior in stock markets of oil-importing and oil-exporting countries: the role of oil price," Journal of Asset Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 24(1), pages 44-58, February.
    7. Ozkan Haykir & Ibrahim Yagli, 2022. "Speculative bubbles and herding in cryptocurrencies," Financial Innovation, Springer;Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, vol. 8(1), pages 1-33, December.
    8. Puput Tri Komalasari & Marwan Asri & Bernardinus M. Purwanto & Bowo Setiyono, 2022. "Herding behaviour in the capital market: What do we know and what is next?," Management Review Quarterly, Springer, vol. 72(3), pages 745-787, September.
    9. Alexakis, Christos & Chantziaras, Antonios & Economou, Fotini & Eleftheriou, Konstantinos & Grose, Christos, 2023. "Animal Behavior in Capital markets: Herding formation dynamics, trading volume, and the role of COVID-19 pandemic," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
    10. Almeida, José & Gonçalves, Tiago Cruz, 2023. "A systematic literature review of investor behavior in the cryptocurrency markets," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(C).
    11. Youssef, Mouna & Mokni, Khaled, 2018. "On the effect of herding behavior on dependence structure between stock markets: Evidence from GCC countries," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 20(C), pages 52-63.
    12. Papadamou, Stephanos & Kyriazis, Nikolaos A. & Tzeremes, Panayiotis & Corbet, Shaen, 2021. "Herding behaviour and price convergence clubs in cryptocurrencies during bull and bear markets," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 30(C).
    13. Chang, Chia-Lin & McAleer, Michael & Wang, Yu-Ann, 2020. "Herding behaviour in energy stock markets during the Global Financial Crisis, SARS, and ongoing COVID-19," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 134(C).
    14. Faheem Aslam & Paulo Ferreira & Haider Ali & Sumera Kauser, 2022. "Herding behavior during the Covid-19 pandemic: a comparison between Asian and European stock markets based on intraday multifractality," Eurasian Economic Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 12(2), pages 333-359, June.
    15. N. Blasco & P. Corredor & N. Satrústegui, 2022. "The witching week of herding on bitcoin exchanges," Financial Innovation, Springer;Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, vol. 8(1), pages 1-18, December.
    16. Shi, Guiqiang & Shen, Dehua & Zhu, Zhaobo, 2024. "Herding towards carbon neutrality: The role of investor attention," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    17. Iqbal, Najaf & Fareed, Zeeshan & Wan, Guangcai & Shahzad, Farrukh, 2021. "Asymmetric nexus between COVID-19 outbreak in the world and cryptocurrency market," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    18. Dragomirescu-Gaina, Catalin & Galariotis, Emilios & Philippas, Dionisis, 2021. "Chasing the ‘green bandwagon’ in times of uncertainty," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 151(C).
    19. Dina Gabbori & Basel Awartani & Aktham Maghyereh & Nader Virk, 2021. "OPEC meetings, oil market volatility and herding behaviour in the Saudi Arabia stock market," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(1), pages 870-888, January.
    20. Blasco, Natividad & Casas, Luis & Ferreruela, Sandra, 2024. "Does war spread the herding effect in stock markets? Evidence from emerging and developed markets during the Russia-Ukraine war," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 63(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Herding behaviour; Cryptocurrencies; COVID-19; Media coverage; Regime-switching;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G10 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - General (includes Measurement and Data)
    • G15 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - International Financial Markets
    • G40 - Financial Economics - - Behavioral Finance - - - General

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:ecofin:v:62:y:2022:i:c:s1062940822000997. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/620163 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.