Overview and details of the sessions of this conference. Please select a date or location to show only sessions at that day or location. Please select a single session for detailed view (with abstracts and downloads if available).
Please note that all times are shown in the time zone of the conference. The current conference time is: 21st Apr 2025, 08:48:50am CEST
Inside Out: Who Trade Before the Start of Cyber Attacks?
Prof. Xi Dong1, Prof. Edward Xuejun Li2, Prof. Xintian Lin3, Prof. Xin Yuan4
1Baruch College, City University of New York; 2Baruch College and Columbia University; 3Central University of Finance and Economics; 4Dongbei University of Finance and Economics
We provide a comprehensive analysis of trading by major trader groups, both inside and outside firms, around the onset of cyberattacks and the associated market dynamics. Besides hackers, no one should know about the incoming cyberattacks. However, we find a perplexing pattern: abnormal shortselling, including the more likely information-motivated retail short selling, significantly increases in the weeks preceding data breaches, more so for stocks with a diverse pool of share lenders. No similar patterns are found for the detection and public announcement of cyberattacks, pseudo-cyber events, or among industry peers. Insiders neither can possess advanced knowledge of attacks nor engage in trading around them, and neither do institutions. Retail investors, despite being the least sophisticated, presciently sell attacked stocks alongside short sellers. This activity coincides with spikes in Google searches for keywords such as “cyberattacks.” Following cyberattacks, attacked stocks experience low returns, implying $400 million wealth transfer between informed and uninformed traders, while short-selling fees, effective spreads, and price impacts increase significantly. Our results suggest that cyberattacks, potentially representing the tip of the iceberg of information events originating outside firms, shake the traditional paradigm of information asymmetry premised on insiders’ informational advantage over outsiders.
The Impact of Finfluencers on Retail Investment
Dr. Isaiah Hull1, Dr. Yingjie Qi2
1BI Norweigian Business School; 2Copenhagen Business School
Discussant: Prof. Marina Niessner (Indiana University -- Kelley School of Business)
We examine the impact of financial influencers (finfluencers) by analyzing real equity and derivative investments across four Nordic countries, with an instrument that randomly assigns influencers to followers. We find that (1) investors subscribe to influencers with high Sharpe ratios, frequent trades, shared country of residence or language, and male gender; (2) Influencers affect followers' portfolios and trading behaviors, especially if they have many followers, central network positions, or engage in many group discussions. Their impact is higher among female investors and those exposed to fewer influencers, or when trading passive funds; (3) Some influencers seem to monetize their influence.
