IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/arx/papers/0912.4723.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Turnover, account value and diversification of real traders: evidence of collective portfolio optimizing behavior

Author

Listed:
  • David Morton de Lachapelle
  • Damien Challet

Abstract

Despite the availability of very detailed data on financial market, agent-based modeling is hindered by the lack of information about real trader behavior. This makes it impossible to validate agent-based models, which are thus reverse-engineering attempts. This work is a contribution to the building of a set of stylized facts about the traders themselves. Using the client database of Swissquote Bank SA, the largest on-line Swiss broker, we find empirical relationships between turnover, account values and the number of assets in which a trader is invested. A theory based on simple mean-variance portfolio optimization that crucially includes variable transaction costs is able to reproduce faithfully the observed behaviors. We finally argue that our results bring into light the collective ability of a population to construct a mean-variance portfolio that takes into account the structure of transaction costs

Suggested Citation

  • David Morton de Lachapelle & Damien Challet, 2009. "Turnover, account value and diversification of real traders: evidence of collective portfolio optimizing behavior," Papers 0912.4723, arXiv.org, revised Jun 2010.
  • Handle: RePEc:arx:papers:0912.4723
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://arxiv.org/pdf/0912.4723
    File Function: Latest version
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Stefan Thurner & J. Doyne Farmer & John Geanakoplos, 2012. "Leverage causes fat tails and clustered volatility," Quantitative Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 12(5), pages 695-707, February.
    2. Solomon, Sorin & Richmond, Peter, 2001. "Power laws of wealth, market order volumes and market returns," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 299(1), pages 188-197.
    3. Giacomo Raffaelli & Matteo Marsili, 2005. "Dynamic instability in a phenomenological model of correlated assets," Papers physics/0508159, arXiv.org, revised Apr 2006.
    4. Arthur, W Brian, 1994. "Inductive Reasoning and Bounded Rationality," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 84(2), pages 406-411, May.
    5. Thomas Lux & Michele Marchesi, 1999. "Scaling and criticality in a stochastic multi-agent model of a financial market," Nature, Nature, vol. 397(6719), pages 498-500, February.
    6. William A. Brock & Cars H. Hommes, 1997. "A Rational Route to Randomness," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 65(5), pages 1059-1096, September.
    7. D. Challet & A. Chessa & M. Marsili & Y-C. Zhang, 2001. "From Minority Games to real markets," Quantitative Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 1(1), pages 168-176.
    8. Hardle, Wolfgang & Kirman, Alan, 1995. "Nonclassical demand : A model-free examination of price-quantity relations in the Marseille fish market," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 67(1), pages 227-257, May.
    9. Simone Alfarano & Thomas Lux, 2007. "A Minimal Noise Trader Model with Realistic Time Series Properties," Springer Books, in: Gilles Teyssière & Alan P. Kirman (ed.), Long Memory in Economics, pages 345-361, Springer.
    10. William A. Brock & Cars H. Hommes, 2001. "A Rational Route to Randomness," Chapters, in: W. D. Dechert (ed.), Growth Theory, Nonlinear Dynamics and Economic Modelling, chapter 16, pages 402-438, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    11. Damien Challet & Matteo Marsili, 2002. "Criticality and finite size effects in a simple realistic model of stock market," Papers cond-mat/0210549, arXiv.org, revised Dec 2002.
    12. Matteo Marsili & Sergei Maslov & Yi-Cheng Zhang, 1998. "Dynamical Optimization Theory of a Diversified Portfolio," Papers cond-mat/9801239, arXiv.org, revised Jan 1998.
    13. G. Caldarelli & M. Marsili & Y. -C. Zhang, 1997. "A Prototype Model of Stock Exchange," Papers cond-mat/9709118, arXiv.org.
    14. Simone Alfarano & Thomas Lux, 2002. "A minimal noise trader model with realistic time series," Computing in Economics and Finance 2002 317, Society for Computational Economics.
    15. Slanina, František & Zhang, Yi-Cheng, 2001. "Dynamical spin-glass-like behavior in an evolutionary game," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 289(1), pages 290-300.
    16. Jean-Philippe Bouchaud & J. Doyne Farmer & Fabrizio Lillo, 2008. "How markets slowly digest changes in supply and demand," Papers 0809.0822, arXiv.org.
    17. Michael A. Goldstein & Paul Irvine & Eugene Kandel & Zvi Wiener, 2009. "Brokerage Commissions and Institutional Trading Patterns," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 22(12), pages 5175-5212, December.
    18. Challet, D. & Zhang, Y.-C., 1997. "Emergence of cooperation and organization in an evolutionary game," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 246(3), pages 407-418.
    19. J. Doyne Farmer & Fabrizio Lillo, 2003. "On the origin of power law tails in price fluctuations," Papers cond-mat/0309416, arXiv.org, revised Jan 2004.
    20. Veld, Chris & Veld-Merkoulova, Yulia V., 2008. "The risk perceptions of individual investors," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 29(2), pages 226-252, April.
    21. Marsili, Matteo & Maslov, Sergei & Zhang, Yi-Cheng, 1998. "Dynamical optimization theory of a diversified portfolio," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 253(1), pages 403-418.
    22. Xavier Gabaix & Parameswaran Gopikrishnan & Vasiliki Plerou & H. Eugene Stanley, 2003. "A theory of power-law distributions in financial market fluctuations," Nature, Nature, vol. 423(6937), pages 267-270, May.
    23. Brennan, M. J., 1975. "The Optimal Number of Securities in a Risky Asset Portfolio When There Are Fixed Costs of Transacting: Theory and Some Empirical Results," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 10(3), pages 483-496, September.
    24. Van de Venter, Gerhard & Michayluk, David & Davey, Geoff, 2012. "A longitudinal study of financial risk tolerance," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 33(4), pages 794-800.
    25. Gençay, Ramazan & Dacorogna, Michel & Muller, Ulrich A. & Pictet, Olivier & Olsen, Richard, 2001. "An Introduction to High-Frequency Finance," Elsevier Monographs, Elsevier, edition 1, number 9780122796715.
    26. F. Lillo, 2007. "Limit order placement as an utility maximization problem and the origin of power law distribution of limit order prices," The European Physical Journal B: Condensed Matter and Complex Systems, Springer;EDP Sciences, vol. 55(4), pages 453-459, February.
    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. da Gama Batista, João & Massaro, Domenico & Bouchaud, Jean-Philippe & Challet, Damien & Hommes, Cars, 2017. "Do investors trade too much? A laboratory experiment," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 140(C), pages 18-34.
    2. Damien Challet, 2016. "Regrets, learning and wisdom," Papers 1605.01052, arXiv.org.
    3. Kevin Primicerio & Damien Challet & Stanislao Gualdi, 2021. "Collective rationality and functional wisdom of the crowd in far-from-rational institutional investors," Journal of Economic Interaction and Coordination, Springer;Society for Economic Science with Heterogeneous Interacting Agents, vol. 16(1), pages 153-171, January.
    4. Kevin Primicerio & Damien Challet & Stanislao Gualdi, 2017. "Wisdom of the institutional crowd," Papers 1703.01989, arXiv.org, revised Sep 2017.
    5. Musciotto, Federico & Marotta, Luca & Miccichè, Salvatore & Piilo, Jyrki & Mantegna, Rosario N., 2016. "Patterns of trading profiles at the Nordic Stock Exchange. A correlation-based approach," Chaos, Solitons & Fractals, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 267-278.
    6. Takumi Sueshige & Didier Sornette & Hideki Takayasu & Misako Takayasu, 2019. "Classification of position management strategies at the order-book level and their influences on future market-price formation," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(8), pages 1-19, August.
    7. Takumi Sueshige & Kiyoshi Kanazawa & Hideki Takayasu & Misako Takayasu, 2018. "Ecology of trading strategies in a forex market for limit and market orders," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 13(12), pages 1-14, December.
    8. Federico Musciotto & Luca Marotta & Jyrki Piilo & Rosario N. Mantegna, 2018. "Long-term ecology of investors in a financial market," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 4(1), pages 1-12, December.

    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. Challet, Damien, 2008. "Inter-pattern speculation: Beyond minority, majority and $-games," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 32(1), pages 85-100, January.
    2. Troy Tassier, 2013. "Handbook of Research on Complexity, by J. Barkley Rosser, Jr. and Edward Elgar," Eastern Economic Journal, Palgrave Macmillan;Eastern Economic Association, vol. 39(1), pages 132-133.
    3. Daniel Fricke & Thomas Lux, 2015. "The effects of a financial transaction tax in an artificial financial market," Journal of Economic Interaction and Coordination, Springer;Society for Economic Science with Heterogeneous Interacting Agents, vol. 10(1), pages 119-150, April.
    4. Antonio Doria, Francisco, 2011. "J.B. Rosser Jr. , Handbook of Research on Complexity, Edward Elgar, Cheltenham, UK--Northampton, MA, USA (2009) 436 + viii pp., index, ISBN 978 1 84542 089 5 (cased)," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 78(1-2), pages 196-204, April.
    5. Gu, Gao-Feng & Chen, Wei & Zhou, Wei-Xing, 2008. "Empirical regularities of order placement in the Chinese stock market," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 387(13), pages 3173-3182.
    6. Lux, Thomas & Alfarano, Simone, 2016. "Financial power laws: Empirical evidence, models, and mechanisms," Chaos, Solitons & Fractals, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 3-18.
    7. Kristoufek, Ladislav & Vošvrda, Miloslav S., 2016. "Herding, minority game, market clearing and efficient markets in a simple spin model framework," FinMaP-Working Papers 68, Collaborative EU Project FinMaP - Financial Distortions and Macroeconomic Performance: Expectations, Constraints and Interaction of Agents.
    8. Shi-Nan Cao & Jing Deng & Honggang Li, 2010. "Prospect theory and risk appetite: an application to traders’ strategies in the financial market," Journal of Economic Interaction and Coordination, Springer;Society for Economic Science with Heterogeneous Interacting Agents, vol. 5(2), pages 249-259, December.
    9. Lux, Thomas & Schornstein, Sascha, 2005. "Genetic learning as an explanation of stylized facts of foreign exchange markets," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 41(1-2), pages 169-196, February.
    10. Lux, Thomas, 2006. "Financial power laws: Empirical evidence, models, and mechanism," Economics Working Papers 2006-12, Christian-Albrechts-University of Kiel, Department of Economics.
    11. Gao-Feng Gu & Xiong Xiong & Hai-Chuan Xu & Wei Zhang & Yongjie Zhang & Wei Chen & Wei-Xing Zhou, 2021. "An empirical behavioral order-driven model with price limit rules," Financial Innovation, Springer;Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, vol. 7(1), pages 1-24, December.
    12. Simone Alfarano & Thomas Lux & Friedrich Wagner, 2005. "Estimation of Agent-Based Models: The Case of an Asymmetric Herding Model," Computational Economics, Springer;Society for Computational Economics, vol. 26(1), pages 19-49, August.
    13. Brock, William A. & Hommes, Cars H. & Wagener, Florian O. O., 2005. "Evolutionary dynamics in markets with many trader types," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 41(1-2), pages 7-42, February.
    14. Karlis, Alexandros & Galanis, Girogos & Terovitis, Spyridon & Turner, Matthew, 2017. "Heterogeneity and Clustering of Defaults," Economic Research Papers 270011, University of Warwick - Department of Economics.
    15. E. Samanidou & E. Zschischang & D. Stauffer & T. Lux, 2001. "Microscopic Models of Financial Markets," Papers cond-mat/0110354, arXiv.org.
    16. Daniele Giachini, 2018. "Rationality and Asset Prices under Belief Heterogeneity," LEM Papers Series 2018/07, Laboratory of Economics and Management (LEM), Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies, Pisa, Italy.
    17. Torsten Trimborn & Philipp Otte & Simon Cramer & Maximilian Beikirch & Emma Pabich & Martin Frank, 2020. "SABCEMM: A Simulator for Agent-Based Computational Economic Market Models," Computational Economics, Springer;Society for Computational Economics, vol. 55(2), pages 707-744, February.
    18. Maximilian Beikirch & Simon Cramer & Martin Frank & Philipp Otte & Emma Pabich & Torsten Trimborn, 2018. "Simulation of Stylized Facts in Agent-Based Computational Economic Market Models," Papers 1812.02726, arXiv.org, revised Nov 2019.
    19. Rothenstein, R & Pawelzik, K, 2003. "Evolution and anti-evolution in a minimal stock market model," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 326(3), pages 534-543.
    20. Ren, F. & Zhang, Y.C., 2008. "Trading model with pair pattern strategies," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 387(22), pages 5523-5534.

    More about this item

    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:arx:papers:0912.4723. 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: arXiv administrators (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://arxiv.org/ .

    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.