Question
During a bull run in the stock market, shares of a newly
listed tech company start rising sharply. Although many investors have limited information about the company’s fundamentals, they observe that large institutional investors and social media influencers are heavily buying the stock. Fearing that they might miss out on potential gains, thousands of retail investors also start purchasing the shares without independent analysis, further pushing up the price. The behaviour of these retail investors is best explained by:Solution
Herding bias is the human tendency to mimic the actions, decisions, or beliefs of a larger group, often driven by social pressure, instinct, or the assumption that the crowd knows best, leading to potentially irrational choices in areas like investing (e.g., market bubbles, meme stocks), shopping, or even simple social behaviors. It's also known as herd mentality and involves following the "herd" without independent analysis, which can cause panic buying/selling or neglecting fundamental research. In the above case, i nvestors are copying the actions of others rather than relying on their own judgment. Their d ecisions are driven by crowd behaviour based on the assumption that they know something that you do not know yet . This is the classic definition of herding in behavioural finance. Kindly note, Herding is similar to the bandwagon effect but not exactly same. While Bandwagon effect is mostly about following something because of its popularity or trend , driven by fear of missing out on the trend; Herding is more about following others without own research with a belief that others know something, you do not know yet. As such, herding is more common in financial markets.
In the question below some statements are given followed by three conclusions I, II, and III. You have to take the given statements to be true even if ...
Statements: All flowers are books.
All books are carpets.
Some carpets are keys.
Some keys are locks.
Conclusions:I. Some ke...
Statements:
Only Biscuit are Chocolate.
Only few Biscuit are Snacks.
All Snacks are Beverages.
Conclusion:
Some B...
Statement:
A few Apple are Coconut.
Only Coconuts are Watermelon.
Only a few Watermelons are Pineapple.
No Pineapple is Ma...
Statements:
All Animals are Jungles.
Only few Jungles are Trees.
Only few Trees are Forest.
No Forest is a Farm.
Conc...
Statements:
Some villages are towns.
Some towns are huts.
All huts are rivers.
Some rivers are tents.
Conclusions...
Statement:
Only a few beautiful are smart.
All smart are handsome.
No handsome is ugly.
Conclusion:
I. Some beautiful...
Statements:
Only Black is Red.
No Black is White.
Some White are Brown.
Conclusion:
Some Brown can be Red.
Statement:
Each lion is lizard.
Only a few lizards are snakes.
Some snakes are snails.
Conclusion: �...
In the question below there are three statements followed by two conclusions I and II. You have to take the three given statements to be true even if ...