Investors' trading activity : a behavioural perspective

• Main Author: Kourtidis, Dimitrios
• Published: Glasgow Caledonian University 2012
• Subjects: 332.642
• Online Access: http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.570725

Research studies (such as Kiyilar and Acar, 2009) have supported that investors act in irrational ways in some of their investment decisions, and financial models have failed to explain the real investors' behaviour. Investors' trading activity is influenced by personality traits and psychological biases (overconfidence, risk tolerance, self-monitoring, and social influence) and is also affected by mood. The aim of the thesis is to confirm these assumptions by developing and testing a model (using SEM analysis) which would incorporate and examine all of them simultaneously, as it actually happens in real life. The research population includes 345 Greek investors, including individuals' as w~rt' 'as professional' investors who work in various investment companies located all over the country. The data collection included two surveys. The first survey investigated psychological biases and personality traits to find if they correlate with stock trading performance, whereas the second survey examined the psychological predisposition to find whether mood affects stock trading performance. The results have verified that these psychological biases, personality traits and mood, influence investors' trading performance, frequency and volume, providing a complete research model. Another objective of this study was to understand the profile of Greek investors and test if there are differences among them as far as stock trading behaviour (performance, volume and frequency) is concerned. Cluster analysis (three-cluster solution) identified three investors' profiles, the low, moderate and high investor profile, and revealed that high profile investors (with the higher scores on the psychological biases and personality traits) trade high volumes of stocks, make transactions more frequently and earn higher stock profits compared to investors belonging to the other two profiles. A comparative analysis between professionals and individuals has shown that professional investors have higher performance than individuals as far as stock trading is concerned. The results have also shown that professional investors score high on the psychological biases and personality traits examined. The second stage of the study has required iterative data using questions that depict psychological predisposition in a dynamic way. The cluster analysis of 1 Non-professionals 2 Portfolio analysts and stockbrokers 1 the second data set has identified and compared different mood status highlighting differences among groups as far as their mood status and their stock trading performance is concerned. This study has provided evidence supporting the significance of some subjective factors, such as personality traits, psychological biases and emotions in investors' trading activity. The findings have shown that investors who have specific characteristics such as overconfidence, high self-monitoring, risk intolerance, positive mood and sociability are probably better on stock trading performance. ~'A This thesis could enable individual investors and inv;stment advisors, to construct a framework of the profile that contributes to high stock trading performance (a stock trading performance guide). Therefore, investors could possibly ensure the stock trading performance, to the extent that this depends on their profile. Moreover, the study contributes to the field providing a complete and verified research model concerning investors' trading behaviour. Additionally, a contribution of this study is the extensive literature review in the field of behavioural finance which provides a better understanding of behavioural factors and a framework for academics, researchers, individual and professional investors. Keywords: Behavioural Finance; Trading Behaviour; Trading Activity; Model Analysis. JEL Classification: C30, D14, Gll, 016