Attitudes and Trading Behavior of Stock Market Investors: A Segmentation Approach

This study identifies and characterizes segments of individual investors based on their shared investing attitudes and behavior. A behavioral finance literature review reveals five main constructs that drive investor behavior: investment horizon, confidence, control, risk attitude, and personalization of loss. Ninety individual investors were surveyed via questionnaire on these constructs. A cluster segmentation analysis identified four main segments of individual investors: 1) risk-intolerant traders; 2) confident traders; 3) loss-averse young traders; and 4) conservative long-term investors. Each segment purchased different types of stocks, used different information sources, and had different levels of trading behavior.