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Retail trader sophistication and stock market quality: Evidence from brokerage outages

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  • Eaton, Gregory W.
  • Green, T. Clifton
  • Roseman, Brian S.
  • Wu, Yanbin

Abstract

We study brokerage platform outages to examine the impact of retail investors on financial markets. We contrast outages at Robinhood, which caters to inexperienced investors, with outages at traditional retail brokers. For stocks with high retail interest, we find that negative shocks to Robinhood investor participation are associated with reduced market order imbalances, increased market liquidity, and lower return volatility, whereas the opposite relations hold following outages at traditional retail brokerages. The findings suggest that herding by inexperienced investors can create inventory risks that harm liquidity in stocks with high retail interest, while other retail trading improves market quality.

Suggested Citation

  • Eaton, Gregory W. & Green, T. Clifton & Roseman, Brian S. & Wu, Yanbin, 2022. "Retail trader sophistication and stock market quality: Evidence from brokerage outages," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 146(2), pages 502-528.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jfinec:v:146:y:2022:i:2:p:502-528
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jfineco.2022.08.002
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    Cited by:

    1. Clancey-Shang, Danjue, 2023. "COVID lockdown, Robinhood traders, and liquidity in stock and option markets," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    2. Baig, Ahmed S. & Blau, Benjamin M. & Butt, Hassan A. & Yasin, Awaid, 2022. "Do retail traders destabilize financial markets? An investigation surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 144(C).
    3. Bazrafshan, Ebrahim, 2023. "The role of ESG ranking in retail and institutional investors' attention and trading behavior," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 58(PC).
    4. Liang Ma, 2024. "What drives closed‐end fund discounts? Evidence from COVID‐19," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 53(1), pages 119-143, March.
    5. Justin Cox & Kathleen P. Fuller & Robert Van Ness, 2024. "Where does ex‐dividend trading occur: An examination of trading venues around dividends," The Financial Review, Eastern Finance Association, vol. 59(1), pages 31-55, February.
    6. Brice Corgnet & Mark DeSantis & Christoph Siemroth, 2023. "Algorithmic Trading, Price Efficiency and Welfare: An Experimental Approach," Working Papers 2313, Groupe d'Analyse et de Théorie Economique Lyon St-Étienne (GATE Lyon St-Étienne), Université de Lyon.
    7. Nobanee, Haitham & Ellili, Nejla Ould Daoud, 2023. "What do we know about meme stocks? A bibliometric and systematic review, current streams, developments, and directions for future research," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 589-602.
    8. Hoffmann, Peter & Jank, Stephan, 2024. "What is the value of retail order flow?," Discussion Papers 33/2024, Deutsche Bundesbank.
    9. Arnold, Lutz & Russ, David, 2024. "Listening to the noise: On price efficiency with dynamic trading," Discussion Papers 19/2024, Deutsche Bundesbank.
    10. Baldauf, Markus & Mollner, Joshua & Yueshen, Bart Zhou, 2024. "Siphoned apart: A portfolio perspective on order flow segmentation," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 154(C).
    11. Ingar Haaland & Ole-Andreas Elvik Næss & Ingar K. Haaland, 2023. "Misperceived Returns to Active Investing," CESifo Working Paper Series 10257, CESifo.
    12. 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.
    13. Baig, Ahmed S. & Blau, Benjamin M. & Butt, Hassan A. & Yasin, Awaid, 2023. "Reprint of: Do retail traders destabilize financial markets? An investigation surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 147(C).
    14. Chen, Zhongdong & Craig, Karen Ann, 2023. "Active attention, retail investor base, and stock returns," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 39(C).
    15. Du, Zhihui & Zheng, Xiaojia & Zhang, Chenye & Zhou, Rongxi, 2023. "Does the online interaction between retail investors and firm management affect capital structure?," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 55(PA).
    16. Daniel Bradley & Jan Hanousek & Russell Jame & Zicheng Xiao, 2024. "Place Your Bets? The Value of Investment Research on Reddit’s Wallstreetbets," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 37(5), pages 1409-1459.
    17. Martineau, Charles & Zoican, Marius, 2023. "Retail trading and analyst coverage," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Retail investors; High frequency trading; Market quality; WallStreetBets;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G11 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Portfolio Choice; Investment Decisions
    • G12 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Asset Pricing; Trading Volume; Bond Interest Rates
    • G14 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Information and Market Efficiency; Event Studies; Insider Trading

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