In this letter, I exploit the high fraction of retail investors in the early years of the Bitcoin and the introduction of margin trading and short selling by the Bitcoin Exchange Kraken to apply a difference-in-differences approach with four other comparable Bitcoin exchanges to infer causality....

In the interest of consumer financial protection, most households do not have access to the hedge fund market. We show that this creates an inequality of investment opportunities. Wealthy households can access this market, and while these retail investors behave very differently from...

We use transaction data gathered by a large fintech firm to study retail investors’ investments in cryptocurrencies. Crypto investors tend to be young, male, high-income, and live in wealthy urban areas with high levels of self-employment and low levels of altruism. Crypto investments are...

We provide a first look into the drivers of household cryptocurrency investing. Analyzing consumer transaction data for millions of U.S. households, we find that, except for high income early adopters, cryptocurrency investors resemble the general population. These investors span all income...

Fund managers can only exhibit selectivity through purchasing (selling) stocks that appreciate (depreciate) more frequently than expected from random occurrence, if stocks are incorrectly priced. We develop a method that can statistically identify fund managers that exhibit net, buy, and sell...

This article explores the relationships of mutual fund advertising and investor skill in making fund choices. Fund advertising dominates the choices of unsophisticated investors. Advertising appeals to investor emotions by resonating with current beliefs, not by providing information that...

Stocks with high sentiment betas are more sensitive to investor sentiment, with more subjective valuations. We contend that sentiment beta also captures the duration of mispricing. Accordingly, stocks with high (low) sentiment betas provide opportunities for momentum (contrarian) traders. We...

This research report examines investor behaviour in the context of New Zealand's KiwiSaver retirement savings scheme, and applies a quantitative approach, using a unique purpose-built KiwiSaver provider annual report database. The KiwiSaver market is still in its infancy, having only started in...

This study provides in-depth coverage of important findings surrounding the question of why investors continue to buy underperforming actively managed mutual funds. This issue is complicated by the finding active managers have skill that allows them to add fund value, but which is not shared...

Since the 2003 mutual funds scandal, it has become quite clear that thoughtful, long-term individual investors should focus on identifying and investing in stewardship funds. The purpose of this study is to provide readily available approaches for individual investors to use in the...