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Piecing together the extent of retail fractional trading

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  • Gempesaw, David
  • Henry, Joseph J.
  • Velthuis, Raisa

Abstract

We examine the introduction of fractional trading and its impact on retail security ownership. Fractional trading aims to increase investor access to securities with high prices. Over the initial months of Robinhood’s fractional trading program, the number of unique owners increases approximately 53 percentage points more for stocks priced above $100 versus those priced below $50. Intraday, high-price stocks exhibit incremental ownership growth specifically during periods when fractional trading is permitted. Our results show that Robinhood investors make ample use of fractional trading to acquire previously inaccessible securities, indicating a substantial reduction in price-based investing frictions and carrying implications for retail portfolio management. In addition, we show that potential market impacts of fractional trading appear negligible based on share volume data from multiple brokers with fractional trading programs.

Suggested Citation

  • Gempesaw, David & Henry, Joseph J. & Velthuis, Raisa, 2022. "Piecing together the extent of retail fractional trading," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 54(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:glofin:v:54:y:2022:i:c:s104402832200059x
    DOI: 10.1016/j.gfj.2022.100757
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. David Ardia & Cl'ement Aymard & Tolga Cenesizoglu, 2023. "Fast and Furious: A High-Frequency Analysis of Robinhood Users' Trading Behavior," Papers 2307.11012, arXiv.org.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Fractional shares; Retail investors; Nominal share price; Market frictions; Robinhood;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G11 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Portfolio Choice; Investment Decisions
    • G24 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Investment Banking; Venture Capital; Brokerage
    • G32 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Financing Policy; Financial Risk and Risk Management; Capital and Ownership Structure; Value of Firms; Goodwill

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