Numerological Superstitions and Market-Wide Herding: Evidence from China

We empirically investigate the effect of traditional Chinese numerological superstitions over market-wide herding in the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges for the 2000-2020 period, based on a classification of stocks as lucky/unlucky contingent on the presence of digits deemed numerologically lucky/unlucky in their tickers. We find no compelling evidence that herding is more pronounced in those superstitious stocks, as compared to the rest of the stock market. Both superstitious stock-types herd exclusively on high-volatility days and exhibit some pronounced patterns in up vs down markets; these effects are not significantly different from the behaviour of non-superstitious stocks, however. Similarly, herding in both superstitious stock-types is largely noise-driven, but the same effect is observed for non-superstitious stocks. The similarities in herding between superstitious and non-superstitious stocks suggest that numerological superstitions do not motivate significantly stronger herding in Chinese markets

Feedback trading in retail-dominated assets: Evidence from the gold bullion coin market

Although investors' behaviour in gold investments has been widely researched, no study to date has investigated it in the gold bullion coin market, despite the fact that the latter is dominated by retail investors, who are traditionally prone to noise trading. We present seminal empirical evidence on this issue by examining feedback trading in the Krugerrand's secondary market on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange for the March 1996 – August 2019 period. We also assess whether feedback trading interacts with variables relevant to the coin's valuation and the impact of the global financial crisis over those interactions. Positive feedback trading is present for the full sample period, before and during the crisis, interacting significantly with a variety of factors related to Krugerrand's pricing, yet dissipates post crisis, likely due to enhanced foreign demand that catapulted the coin's value, rendering it less easy to trade for South African retail investors. The above imply that Krugerrand-investors should be focusing less on historical price trends and devote more attention to the coin's global demand instead

From dusk till dawn (and vice versa): Overnight-versus-daytime reversals and feedback trading

Although overnight-versus-daytime return reversals have often been ascribed to the heterogeneous clienteles of the overnight and daytime sessions, there exists no evidence to date on how those clienteles' trading behaviour motivates these reversals. We empirically investigate this issue for the first time by assessing whether these reversals are the result of feedback trading during overnight/daytime hours. Drawing on the S&P 500 ETF for the 1993–2021 period, we find that overnight (daytime) feedback trading largely motivates the expected positive (negative) overnight (daytime) returns; in line with this, days entailing the expected negative overnight-versus-daytime return reversals accommodate stronger feedback trading at the daily (i.e., close-to-close) frequency. Daytime feedback trading is present when the immediately preceding overnight session's returns are positive, while overnight feedback trading reveals a strong Monday-effect. We also show that overnight-versus-daytime variations of feedback trading hold across other large US ETFs

Feedback Trading in Currency Markets: International Evidence

We investigate the presence of feedback trading in 66 currencies for the 2001–2018 period and find that feedback traders are active in many of them, giving rise mostly to positive feedback trading, when present. This suggests that feedback traders assume a stabilizing role, buying when currencies depreciate and selling when they appreciate, with depreciations found to boost positive feedback trading more strongly than appreciations. Feedback trading is found to exhibit long memory for most currencies, while no discernible feedback trading patterns surface within-versus-outside the recent global financial crisis

Herding in Imperial Russia: Evidence from the St. Petersburg Stock Exchange (1865–1914)

We present seminal empirical evidence on market-wide herding from historical markets for the St. Petersburg stock exchange between 1865 and 1914. Our findings indicate the presence of herding in Imperial Russia’s largest equity market, which tends to vary among industries and grow stronger during months of negative performance and declining volatility. Controlling for the 1893-reform that prompted wider social participation in equity trading, we find that herding surfaces exclusively in the post-reform years, with no evidence of herding arising pre-reform. Our results showcase that the behavior of investors in historical stock exchanges exhibits patterns similar to those of modern-day ones

Do investors herd in cryptocurrencies – and why?

We investigate herding and its possible determinants in the cryptocurrency market for the December 2013 – July 2018 period. Herding is significant (irrespective of Bitcoin's presence and trends over time) and strongly asymmetric (appearing stronger during up-markets, low volatility and high volume days), with smaller cryptocurrencies enhancing its magnitude. Our findings suggest that the cryptocurrency market entails strong destabilizing potential, the latter being of particular relevance to the authorities entrusted with its regulatory treatment