Disposition effect and herding behavior in the cryptocurrency market

This paper investigates two behavioral biases—the disposition effect and herding—using the Mt. Gox data between 2011–2013 in the bitcoin cryptocurrency market. Using trade round-trip and survival analysis, it shows the market exhibits a reverse disposition effect in bullish periods and the usual positive disposition effect in bearish periods. It finds evidence of herding in bearish as well as bullish periods using a return dispersion model. Additionally, it shows that herding moves along the market trend. Herding increases in both bullish and bearish periods when the bitcoin price increases and decreases, respectively.