We provide the first tests to distinguish whether individual investors equally balance their overall portfolios (naïve portfolio diversification—NPD) or engage in naïve buying diversification (NBD)—equally balancing values in same-day purchases of multiple assets. We find NBD in purchases...

The disposition effect is the reluctance to sell assets at a loss relative to a salient point of reference, typically assumed to be the purchase price. Using data on stocks and housing sales, we show that the peak price achieved by an asset during the investor's period of holding constitutes an...

The disposition effect is regarded as a property of an individual stock: If an investor has made a loss on a stock, he or she is less likely to sell it, whereas if an investor has made a gain on a stock, he or she is more likely to sell it. This means that the more stocks in a portfolio are in...

Attention utility is the hedonic pleasure or pain derived purely from paying attention to information, and is distinct from the 'news utility' that arises from gaining new information. Using data on brokerage account logins by individual investors, we show that individuals devote...

Studies of reference-dependent behavior typically examine single reference points. Using data from an online brokerage, we examine the role of multiple reference points in trading behavior. We show that, in addition to a traditional disposition effect for returns since purchase, there is also a...

We provide the first tests to distinguish whether individual investors equally balance their overall portfolios (naïve portfolio diversification—NPD) or engage in naïve buying diversification (NBD)—equally balancing values in same-day purchases of multiple assets. We find NBD in purchases...

Attention utility is the hedonic pleasure or pain derived purely from paying attention to information. Using data on brokerage account logins by individual investors, we show that individuals devote disproportionate attention to already-known positive information about the performance of...

We provide the first tests to distinguish whether individual investors equally balance their overall portfolios (naïve portfolio diversification--NPD) or engage in naïve buying diversification (NBD)--equally balancing values in same-day purchases of multiple assets. We find NBD in purchases of...

Attention utility is the hedonic pleasure or pain derived purely from paying attention to information. Using data on brokerage account logins by individual investors, we show that individuals devote disproportionate attention to already-known positive information about the performance of...