When do retail investors pay attention to their trading platforms?

David Y. Aharon and Mahmoud Qadan

The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, 2020, vol. 53, issue C

Abstract: Buying and selling securities through online trading platforms has become increasingly popular among U.S. households in recent years. This study tracks U.S. households' attention to their online trading platforms using daily data for 2004 to August 2017. The analysis covers the 10 most popular online trading platforms among U.S. investors. The findings indicate that market shocks, captured by several proxies, as well as macroeconomic announcements attract investors' attention to trading platforms. We also document that the ostrich effect weakens when considering greater changes in the VIX. Our findings do not support the avoidance of information theory, but do support the theoretical argument that risk-averse agents engage in more information gathering when uncertainty prevails in hopes of reducing their risks.

Keywords: Investor attention; Online trading; Trading platforms (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D03 D83 G02 G10 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:ecofin:v:53:y:2020:i:c:s1062940820301066

DOI: 10.1016/j.najef.2020.101209

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