Wisdom or Whims? Decoding Retail Strategies with Social Media and AI
Release time：26 September 2025
Sep
29
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Time & Date
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10:30 am
-
12:00 pm,
September
29,
2025
(Monday)
|
|
Venue
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Room D804, Teaching Complex D Building
|
| TOPIC | Wisdom or Whims? Decoding Retail Strategies with Social Media and AI |
| TIME&DATE | 10:30 am - 12:00 pm, September 29, 2025 (Monday) |
| Venue | Room D804, Teaching Complex D Building |
| Speaker |
Dexin Zhou Baruch College, City University of New York |
| Abstract | We use rich social media data and large language models to classify retail investors’ trading strategies and link them to sentiment and market outcomes. Investors’ strategy adoption is highly dynamic, shifting with news arrivals, past performance, and social feedback. Sentiment from Fundamental Analysis predicts positive future returns, while sentiment from Technical Analysis and other speculative strategies predicts negative returns. Technical sentiment is especially correlated with retail buying, most prominently among Robinhood investors. These findings provide new evidence on how retail investors form and adapt strategies, and on the conditions under which retail trading informs or distorts markets. |
| Biography | Dr. Dexin Zhou is an Associate Professor of Economics and Finance at Baruch College, City University of New York. His work examines the roles of media, social networks, and institutional investors in financial markets. His research has been published in top finance and accounting journals, including the Journal of Financial Economics, the Review of Financial Studies, and the Accounting Review, and mentioned by the Wall Street Journal, The Economist, and the Financial Times. He obtained a Ph.D. from Emory University and a BA from Bard College. |
