Strategic Interaction in a Stock Trading Chat Room
50 Pages Posted: 24 Jan 2011 Last revised: 17 Aug 2014
Date Written: May 10, 2011
Abstract
We consider a model of an internet chat room with free entry but secure identity. Traders exchange messages in real time of both a fundamental and non-fundamental nature. We explore conditions under which traders post truthful information and make trading decisions. We also establish a symmetric Bayesian Nash equilibrium in which momentum traders pro t from their exposure to informed traders in the chat room. The model generates a number of empirical predictions: (1) the non-skillful traders follow the skillful traders; (2) the more skillful traders are more frequently followed by others; (3) the non-skillful traders bene t from following. We test and con rm all three predictions using a data set of chat room logs from the Activetrader Financial Chat Room.
Keywords: chat room, strategic information, individual traders, behavioral finance
JEL Classification: G14
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation
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