All Guts, No Glory: Trading and Diversification among Online Investors

Anders E.S. Anderson
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Anders E.S. Anderson: Swedish Institute for Financial Research, Postal: Saltmätargatan 19 A, 4th fl., SE-113 59 Stockholm, Sweden

No 25, SIFR Research Report Series from Institute for Financial Research

Abstract: I explore cross-sectional portfolio performance in a sample containing 324,736 transactions conducted by 16,831 investors at an Internet discount brokerage firm during the period May 1999 to March 2002. On average, investors hold undiversified portfolios, show a strong preference for risk, and trade aggressively. I measure performance using a panel data model, and explain the cross-sectional variation using investors’ turnover, portfolio size and degree of diversification. I find that turnover is harmful to performance due to fees, and is therefore more predominant among investors with small portfolios. It is argued that the degree of diversification is a proxy for investor skill, and it has a separate and distinct positive effect on performance. These findings are helpful in explaining the overall result that investors underperform the market by around 8.5% per year on average.

Keywords: Investor behavior; Performance evaluation; Panel data models (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C33 D14 G11 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 52 pages
Date: 2004-04-19
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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