Are Investors Really Reluctant to Realize their Losses? Trading Responses to Past Returns and the Disposition Effect

Review of Financial Studies 25(8), 2485-2532

Fisher College of Business Working Paper No. 2011-03-013

Dice Center Working Paper No. 2011-13

81 Pages Posted: 3 Jul 2011 Last revised: 21 Jul 2018

See all articles by Itzhak Ben-David

Itzhak Ben-David

Ohio State University (OSU) - Department of Finance; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

David A. Hirshleifer

Marshall School of Business, USC; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

Date Written: October 24, 2012

Abstract

We examine how investor preferences and beliefs affect trading in relation to past gains and losses. The probability of selling as a function of profit is V-shaped; at short holding periods, investors are more likely to sell big losers than small ones. There is little evidence of an upward jump in selling at zero profits. These findings provide no clear indication that realization preference explains trading. Furthermore, the disposition effect is not driven by a simple direct preference for selling a stock by virtue of having a gain versus loss. Trading based on belief revisions can potentially explain these findings.

Presentation slides available at https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3217315

Keywords: disposition effect, realization preference, loss avoidance, loss aversion, prospect theory, individual investors

JEL Classification: G11, G12, G14

Suggested Citation

Ben-David, Itzhak and Hirshleifer, David A., Are Investors Really Reluctant to Realize their Losses? Trading Responses to Past Returns and the Disposition Effect (October 24, 2012). Review of Financial Studies 25(8), 2485-2532, Fisher College of Business Working Paper No. 2011-03-013, Dice Center Working Paper No. 2011-13, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1876594 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1876594

Itzhak Ben-David (Contact Author)

Ohio State University (OSU) - Department of Finance ( email )

2100 Neil Avenue
Fisher 700D
Columbus, OH 43210-1144
United States
773 988 1353 (Phone)

HOME PAGE: http://https://u.osu.edu/ben-david.1/

National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) ( email )

1050 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02138
United States

HOME PAGE: http://fisher.osu.edu/fin/faculty/Ben-David/

David A. Hirshleifer

Marshall School of Business, USC ( email )

Marshall School of Business
Los Angeles, CA 90089
United States

HOME PAGE: http://https://sites.uci.edu/dhirshle/

National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) ( email )

1050 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02138
United States

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Downloads
1,286
Abstract Views
24,351
Rank
29,311
PlumX Metrics