IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/quaeco/v82y2021icp239-259.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The higher you fly, the harder you try not to fall: An analysis of the risk taking behavior in social trading

Author

Listed:
  • Scheckenbach, Isabel
  • Wimmer, Maximilian
  • Dorfleitner, Gregor

Abstract

In this article, we study the risk taking behavior under convex incentives in an innovative online trading setting. In particular, we empirically analyze how an infinite investment horizon and valuable outside options affect risk taking behavior. We find that traders choose the absolute and relative risk of the trading strategy depending on the proximity to the high-water mark (HWM), which represents a series of remuneration options on the assets under management. As a consequence, we observe more risk mitigating behavior the closer the HWM comes. Next, we show that the traders behave strategically and make their risk decisions based on their overall portfolio payoff. Finally, we find that social status indicators such as rankings and communication abilities significantly affect the risk taking behavior.

Suggested Citation

  • Scheckenbach, Isabel & Wimmer, Maximilian & Dorfleitner, Gregor, 2021. "The higher you fly, the harder you try not to fall: An analysis of the risk taking behavior in social trading," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 239-259.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:quaeco:v:82:y:2021:i:c:p:239-259
    DOI: 10.1016/j.qref.2021.09.003
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1062976921001496
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.qref.2021.09.003?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Wohlgemuth, Veit & Berger, Elisabeth S.C. & Wenzel, Matthias, 2016. "More than just financial performance: Trusting investors in social trading," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(11), pages 4970-4974.
    2. Hausman, Jerry A & Taylor, William E, 1981. "Panel Data and Unobservable Individual Effects," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 49(6), pages 1377-1398, November.
    3. Paolo Guasoni & Jan Obłój, 2016. "The Incentives Of Hedge Fund Fees And High-Water Marks," Mathematical Finance, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(2), pages 269-295, April.
    4. Hodder, James E. & Jackwerth, Jens Carsten, 2007. "Incentive Contracts and Hedge Fund Management," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 42(4), pages 811-826, December.
    5. Rawley Heimer, 2016. "Peer Pressure: Social Interaction and the Disposition Effect," Working Papers (Old Series) 1618, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland.
    6. Chevalier, Judith & Ellison, Glenn, 1997. "Risk Taking by Mutual Funds as a Response to Incentives," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 105(6), pages 1167-1200, December.
    7. Suleyman Basak & Anna Pavlova & Alexander Shapiro, 2007. "Optimal Asset Allocation and Risk Shifting in Money Management," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 20(5), pages 1583-1621, 2007 21.
    8. da Silva, Paulo Pereira, 2019. "Corporate governance, earnings quality and idiosyncratic crash risk during the 2007–2008 financial crisis," Journal of Multinational Financial Management, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 61-79.
    9. Florian Röder & Andreas Walter, 2019. "What Drives Investment Flows Into Social Trading Portfolios?," Journal of Financial Research, Southern Finance Association;Southwestern Finance Association, vol. 42(2), pages 383-411, July.
    10. Erik R. Sirri & Peter Tufano, 1998. "Costly Search and Mutual Fund Flows," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 53(5), pages 1589-1622, October.
    11. Pelster, Matthias, 2019. "Attracting attention from peers: Excitement in social trading," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 161(C), pages 158-179.
    12. Bing Liang & Hyuna Park, 2007. "Risk Measures for Hedge Funds: a Cross‐sectional Approach," European Financial Management, European Financial Management Association, vol. 13(2), pages 333-370, March.
    13. Jonathan B. Berk & Richard C. Green, 2004. "Mutual Fund Flows and Performance in Rational Markets," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 112(6), pages 1269-1295, December.
    14. Rawley Z. Heimer, 2016. "Peer Pressure: Social Interaction and the Disposition Effect," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 29(11), pages 3177-3209.
    15. Liêu, L.M. & Pelster, M., 2020. "Framing and the disposition effect in a scopic regime," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 175-185.
    16. Oehler, Andreas & Horn, Matthias & Wendt, Stefan, 2016. "Benefits from social trading? Empirical evidence for certificates on wikifolios," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 202-210.
    17. Zhao, Li & Huang, Wenli & Ba, Shusong, 2018. "Optimal effort under high-water mark contracts," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 599-610.
    18. Agarwal, Vikas & Daniel, Naveen D. & Naik, Narayan Y., 2009. "Role of managerial incentives and discretion in hedge fund performance," CFR Working Papers 04-04, University of Cologne, Centre for Financial Research (CFR).
    19. Berger, Elisabeth S.C. & Wenzel, Matthias & Wohlgemuth, Veit, 2018. "Imitation-related performance outcomes in social trading: A configurational approach," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 89(C), pages 322-327.
    20. Dorfleitner, Gregor & Fischer, Lukas & Lung, Carina & Willmertinger, Philipp & Stang, Nico & Dietrich, Natalie, 2018. "To follow or not to follow – An empirical analysis of the returns of actors on social trading platforms," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 160-171.
    21. Yang-Yu Liu & Jose C. Nacher & Tomoshiro Ochiai & Mauro Martino & Yaniv Altshuler, 2014. "Prospect Theory for Online Financial Trading," Papers 1402.6393, arXiv.org, revised Mar 2014.
    22. Fama, Eugene F & MacBeth, James D, 1973. "Risk, Return, and Equilibrium: Empirical Tests," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 81(3), pages 607-636, May-June.
    23. Barry J. Nalebuff & Joseph E. Stiglitz, 1983. "Prices and Incentives: Towards a General Theory of Compensation and Competition," Bell Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 14(1), pages 21-43, Spring.
    24. Livio Stracca, 2006. "Delegated Portfolio Management: A Survey Of The Theoretical Literature," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 20(5), pages 823-848, December.
    25. William N. Goetzmann & Jonathan E. Ingersoll & Stephen A. Ross, 2003. "High‐Water Marks and Hedge Fund Management Contracts," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 58(4), pages 1685-1718, August.
    26. Andrea Buraschi & Robert Kosowski & Worrawat Sritrakul, 2014. "Incentives and Endogenous Risk Taking: A Structural View on Hedge Fund Alphas," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 69(6), pages 2819-2870, December.
    27. Jennifer N. Carpenter, 2000. "Does Option Compensation Increase Managerial Risk Appetite?," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 55(5), pages 2311-2331, October.
    28. Spiegel, Matthew & Zhang, Hong, 2013. "Mutual fund risk and market share-adjusted fund flows," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 108(2), pages 506-528.
    29. Jünger, Moritz & Mietzner, Mark, 2020. "Banking goes digital: The adoption of FinTech services by German households," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 34(C).
    30. Vikas Agarwal & Naveen D. Daniel & Narayan Y. Naik, 2009. "Role of Managerial Incentives and Discretion in Hedge Fund Performance," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 64(5), pages 2221-2256, October.
    31. Ferreira, Miguel A. & Keswani, Aneel & Miguel, Antonio F. & Ramos, Sofia B., 2012. "The flow-performance relationship around the world," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 36(6), pages 1759-1780.
    32. Itamar Drechsler, 2014. "Risk Choice under High-Water Marks," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 27(7), pages 2052-2096.
    33. Stephen J. Brown & William N. Goetzmann & James Park, 2001. "Careers and Survival: Competition and Risk in the Hedge Fund and CTA Industry," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 56(5), pages 1869-1886, October.
    34. Christian Haddad & Lars Hornuf, 2019. "The emergence of the global fintech market: economic and technological determinants," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 53(1), pages 81-105, June.
    35. Black, Fischer & Scholes, Myron S, 1972. "The Valuation of Option Contracts and a Test of Market Efficiency," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 27(2), pages 399-417, May.
    36. Yang-Yu Liu & Jose C Nacher & Tomoshiro Ochiai & Mauro Martino & Yaniv Altshuler, 2014. "Prospect Theory for Online Financial Trading," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 9(10), pages 1-7, October.
    37. Kromidha, Endrit & Li, Matthew C., 2019. "Determinants of leadership in online social trading: A signaling theory perspective," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 97(C), pages 184-197.
    38. Gregor Dorfleitner & Lars Hornuf & Matthias Schmitt & Martina Weber, 2017. "FinTech in Germany," Springer Books, Springer, number 978-3-319-54666-7, November.
    39. Starks, Laura T., 1987. "Performance Incentive Fees: An Agency Theoretic Approach," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 22(1), pages 17-32, March.
    40. Brown, Keith C & Harlow, W V & Starks, Laura T, 1996. "Of Tournaments and Temptations: An Analysis of Managerial Incentives in the Mutual Fund Industry," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 51(1), pages 85-110, March.
    41. Stavros Panageas & Mark M. Westerfield, 2009. "High‐Water Marks: High Risk Appetites? Convex Compensation, Long Horizons, and Portfolio Choice," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 64(1), pages 1-36, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. You, Yu & Yu, Zongdai & Zhang, Wenqiao & Lu, Lei, 2023. "FinTech platforms and mutual fund markets," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Servaes, Henri & Sigurdsson, Kari, 2022. "The Costs and Benefits of Performance Fees in Mutual Funds," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 50(C).
    2. Andreas Oehler & Julian Schneider, 2023. "Social trading: do signal providers trigger gambling?," Review of Managerial Science, Springer, vol. 17(4), pages 1269-1331, May.
    3. Dai, Na & Nahata, Rajarishi & Brauner, Aaron, 2022. "Does individualism matter for hedge funds? A cross-country examination," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    4. Florian Röder & Andreas Walter, 2019. "What Drives Investment Flows Into Social Trading Portfolios?," Journal of Financial Research, Southern Finance Association;Southwestern Finance Association, vol. 42(2), pages 383-411, July.
    5. Erdős, Sándor & Papp, Tamás & Vörös, Zsófia, 2022. "The effects of community-based signals on investment decisions in copy trading," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 97(C).
    6. Agarwal, Vikas & Ruenzi, Stefan & Weigert, Florian, 2017. "Tail risk in hedge funds: A unique view from portfolio holdings," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 125(3), pages 610-636.
    7. Cuoco, Domenico & Kaniel, Ron, 2011. "Equilibrium prices in the presence of delegated portfolio management," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 101(2), pages 264-296, August.
    8. Lan, Yingcong & Wang, Neng & Yang, Jinqiang, 2013. "The economics of hedge funds," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 110(2), pages 300-323.
    9. Andrew W. Lo & Mila Getmansky & Peter A. Lee, 2015. "Hedge Funds: A Dynamic Industry in Transition," Annual Review of Financial Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 7(1), pages 483-577, December.
    10. Riccardo Reith & Maximilian Fischer & Bettina Lis, 2020. "Explaining the intention to use social trading platforms: an empirical investigation," Journal of Business Economics, Springer, vol. 90(3), pages 427-460, April.
    11. Buchner, Axel & Wagner, Niklas F., 2017. "Rewarding risk-taking or skill? The case of private equity fund managers," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 14-32.
    12. Basak, Suleyman & Makarov, Dmitry, 2012. "Difference in interim performance and risk taking with short-sale constraints," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 103(2), pages 377-392.
    13. Agarwal, Vikas & Daniel, Naveen D. & Naik, Narayan Y., 2009. "Role of managerial incentives and discretion in hedge fund performance," CFR Working Papers 04-04, University of Cologne, Centre for Financial Research (CFR).
    14. Kromidha, Endrit & Li, Matthew C., 2019. "Determinants of leadership in online social trading: A signaling theory perspective," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 97(C), pages 184-197.
    15. Agarwal, Vikas & Daniel, Naveen D. & Naik, Narayan Y., 2009. "Do hedge funds manage their reported returns?," CFR Working Papers 07-09, University of Cologne, Centre for Financial Research (CFR).
    16. Ping Hu & Jayant Kale & Ajay Subramanian, 2003. "Compensation, Career Concerns, and Relative Risk Choices by Mutual Fund Managers: Theory and Evidence," Levine's Bibliography 666156000000000349, UCLA Department of Economics.
    17. Arpit Gupta & Kunal Sachdeva, 2019. "Skin or Skim? Inside Investment and Hedge Fund Performance," NBER Working Papers 26113, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    18. Agarwal, Vikas & Gómez, Juan-Pedro & Priestley, Richard, 2012. "Management compensation and market timing under portfolio constraints," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 36(10), pages 1600-1625.
    19. Raphaëlle Bellando, 2008. "Le conflit d'agence dans la gestion déléguée de portefeuille : une revue de littérature," Revue d'économie politique, Dalloz, vol. 118(3), pages 317-339.
    20. Alexander Schiller & René-Ojas Woltering & Steffen Sebastian, 2020. "Is the flow-performance relationship really convex? - The impact of data treatment and model specification," Journal of Economics and Finance, Springer;Academy of Economics and Finance, vol. 44(2), pages 300-320, April.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:quaeco:v:82:y:2021:i:c:p:239-259. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/620167 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.