This study examines for evidence of peer effects, via word-of-mouth communication, in investor trading decisions. It exploits a unique setting in Mainland China in that groups of individual investors are in the same trading room at the time they place their stock orders. We find strong...

We examine the performance, behavior, and execution quality of high frequency electronic stock traders who are geographically dispersed throughout the U.S. Traders who are located in the New York City (financial center) area perform better than traders who are located outside of this area....

We examine how institutional risk control mechanisms influence proprietary stock trader behavior. When traders are forced to liquidate their inventory at a pre-designated time, they often hold onto their losing trades until the very last moment. We find that the difference between losing and...

Security firms typically link trader compensation to performance. We examine how this influences traders to allocate their trading activities over time. Traders employed at a U.S. broker-dealer trade more actively on their last day of trading in a monthly evaluation period. Self-employed...

This study offers new evidence on the preferences of individual investors for certain stock characteristics. Based on 64.2 million trades executed by about 6.8 million Chinese investors, results show that stock preferences of individual investors vary with wealth levels. Wealthier individuals...

We examine whether prior outcomes influence the order selection decisions of proprietary stock traders who trade the capital of a National Securities Dealer. Trader's decision to either take or provide liquidity is correlated with their prior trading performance. When traders experience...