Impact of Weather and Device Type on Retail Investor Trading Behavior
(A2024-119547)

AUTHORS

Pauline Engel, LMU Munich School of Management; Martin Spann, LMU Munich School of Managment; Peter Pal Zubcsek, Tel Aviv University

ABSTRACT

In this paper, we aim to investigate the impact of weather on the trading behavior of retail investors, controlling for device type and usage. We use a unique panel data set of the daily trading behavior provided by a neo-broker in Germany wherein we can distinguish between three groups of investors – those who use either desktop or mobile devices and those who switch between devices. The sample allows us to compare user groups and the influence of weather on the number of trades and trading volume. Contributing to the literature on mobile consumer decisions and behavioral finance, we document that the three user types are differently affected by weather conditions. While mobile-only and desktop-only users invest more when temperatures increase, we find the opposite for device switchers. Device switchers trade more on their mobile phones than on their desktop devices and are more strongly affected by temperature changes when using their mobile devices.