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Can Individual Investors Beat the Market?

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  • Joshua D Coval
  • David Hirshleifer
  • Tyler Shumway

Abstract

We document persistent superior trading performance among a subset of individual investors. Investors classified in the top performance decile in the first half of our sample subsequently earn risk-adjusted returns of about 6% per year. These returns are not confined to stocks in which the investors are likely to have inside information, nor are they driven by illiquid stocks. Our results suggest that skilled individual investors exploit market inefficiencies (or perhaps conditional risk premiums) to earn abnormal profits, above and beyond any profits available from well-known strategies based on size, value, momentum, or earnings announcements. (JEL G11, G14, G40, G51)Received: October 11, 2020 Editorial decision: January 4, 2021 Editor: Jeffrey Pontiff

Suggested Citation

  • Joshua D Coval & David Hirshleifer & Tyler Shumway, 2021. "Can Individual Investors Beat the Market?," The Review of Asset Pricing Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 11(3), pages 552-579.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:rasset:v:11:y:2021:i:3:p:552-579.
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/rapstu/raab017
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    Cited by:

    1. Ladley, Daniel, 2020. "The high frequency trade off between speed and sophistication," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 116(C).
    2. Nicolosi, Gina & Peng, Liang & Zhu, Ning, 2009. "Do individual investors learn from their trading experience?," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 12(2), pages 317-336, May.
    3. Glaser, Markus & Weber, Martin, 2009. "Which past returns affect trading volume?," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 12(1), pages 1-31, February.
    4. Doron Sonsino & Tal Shavit, 2014. "Short-Run Arbitrage In Crisis Markets — Experimental Evidence," Annals of Financial Economics (AFE), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 9(01), pages 1-60.
    5. 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.
    6. David Hirshleifer & James N. Myers & Linda A. Myers & Siew Hong Teoh, 2004. "Do Individual Investors Drive Post-Earnings Announcement Drift? Direct Evidence from Personal Trades," Finance 0412003, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    7. Fung, Scott & Obaid, Khaled & Tsai, Shih-Chuan, 2024. "Information acquisition and processing skills of institutions and retail investors around information shocks," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    8. HAMADI, Malika & RENGIFO, Erick & SALZMAN, Diego, 2005. "Illusionary finance and trading behavior," LIDAM Discussion Papers CORE 2005004, Université catholique de Louvain, Center for Operations Research and Econometrics (CORE).
    9. Ivković, Zoran & Sialm, Clemens & Weisbenner, Scott, 2008. "Portfolio Concentration and the Performance of Individual Investors," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 43(3), pages 613-655, September.
    10. Andersson, Patric, 2004. "How well do financial experts perform? A review of empirical research on performance of analysts, day-traders, forecasters, fund managers, investors, and stockbrokers," SSE/EFI Working Paper Series in Business Administration 2004:9, Stockholm School of Economics.
    11. Dorn, Daniel & Strobl, Günter, 2023. "Rational disposition effects: Theory and evidence," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 153(C).
    12. Stephen Foerster, 2011. "Double then Nothing: Why Stock Investments Relying on Simple Heuristics May Disappoint," Review of Behavioral Finance, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 3(2), pages 115-140, September.
    13. Malika, HAMADI & Erick, RENGIFO & Diego SALZMAN, 2004. "Illusionary Finance and Trading Behavior," Discussion Papers (ECON - Département des Sciences Economiques) 2005012, Université catholique de Louvain, Département des Sciences Economiques, revised 15 Jan 2005.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • G11 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Portfolio Choice; Investment Decisions
    • G14 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Information and Market Efficiency; Event Studies; Insider Trading
    • G40 - Financial Economics - - Behavioral Finance - - - General
    • G51 - Financial Economics - - Household Finance - - - Household Savings, Borrowing, Debt, and Wealth

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