The Effect of Attention on Buying Behavior During a Financial Crisis: Evidence from the Taiwan Stock Exchange

We confirm that investors in different categories have different trading patterns caused by attention-grabbing factors. Stocks with extreme one-day returns catch the attention of both individual and institutional investors. Individual investors are net buyers of losers whereas institutional investors are net buyers of winners. Unlike institutional investors, individual investors also regard volume as a conditional attention-grabbing factor. We also find that attention-driven buying behavior is mitigated by the financial crisis of 2007, which indicates that the buying behavior of investors is less emotional during a period of financial crisis.

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