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(Un)skilled leveraged trading of retail investors

Author

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  • Stephan Meyer
  • Sebastian Schroff
  • Christof Weinhardt

Abstract

We study the trading behavior of retail investors in the market of leveraged bank-issued retail derivatives, which are designed to encourage excessive trading and speculation. We investigate whether retail investors have private information and benefit disproportionately or whether they gamble without private information. We answer this question along three dimensions: (i) profitability, (ii) news trading, and (iii) transaction costs. We distinguish between derivatives by the type of underlying (index vs. individual stocks). We find that raw returns are negative for derivatives with stocks as the underlying, and only partially positive for those with index as the underlying. Nevertheless, risk-adjusted returns show poor performance, with Sharpe ratios below 0.30. We show that retail investors are attracted by news, but do not have private information prior to news events. Copyright Swiss Society for Financial Market Research 2014

Suggested Citation

  • Stephan Meyer & Sebastian Schroff & Christof Weinhardt, 2014. "(Un)skilled leveraged trading of retail investors," Financial Markets and Portfolio Management, Springer;Swiss Society for Financial Market Research, vol. 28(2), pages 111-138, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:fmktpm:v:28:y:2014:i:2:p:111-138
    DOI: 10.1007/s11408-014-0225-1
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    2. Baller, Stefanie & Entrop, Oliver & McKenzie, Michael & Wilkens, Marco, 2016. "Market makers’ optimal price-setting policy for exchange-traded certificates," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 206-226.
    3. Weiss-Cohen, Leonardo & Newall, Philip Warren Stirling & Ranyard, Rob & Ayton, Peter & Clacher, Iain, 2023. "Revalidating Fernandes et al.’s 2014 financial literacy scale in response to ongoing legislative and behavioral changes," OSF Preprints 493x7, Center for Open Science.
    4. Schertler, Andrea, 2016. "Pricing effects when competitors arrive: The case of discount certificates in Germany," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 84-99.
    5. Baller, Stefanie & Entrop, Oliver & Schober, Alexander & Wilkens, Marco, 2017. "What drives performance in the speculative market of short-term exchange-traded retail products?," Passauer Diskussionspapiere, Betriebswirtschaftliche Reihe B-26-17, University of Passau, Faculty of Business and Economics.
    6. Hřebačka, Viktor, 2022. "The impact of provider-specific factors on the profitability of contract for difference traders," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 45(C).
    7. Tian, Geran & Wang, Xiaowen & Wu, Weixing, 2021. "Borrow low, lend high: Credit arbitrage by sophisticated investors," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Retail investors; Gambling; Speculation; Trading costs; Bank-issued derivatives; G10; G14;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G10 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - General (includes Measurement and Data)
    • G14 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Information and Market Efficiency; Event Studies; Insider Trading

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