Title: Animal Spirits on Steroids: Evidence from Retail Options Trading in India
Speaker: Vikas Agarwal, Professor, Georgia State University
Time: 10:00-11:30, January 12th, 2026 (Monday)
Venue: Room 1008, Mingde Business Building (Zhongguancun Campus)
Language: English
ABSTRACT:
We analyze a market-wide panel dataset on retail options trading from India, a market with an 80% share in option contracts traded worldwide. Retail traders both concentrated in and dominate index options trading. They exhibit short-term speculative behavior with significant day trading, shortduration directional bets especially as options converge to 0DTE and make significant losses. Three natural experiments indicate that financial constraints and lottery-like preferences likely shape investor behavior. An exogenous increase in the supply of short-maturity options induces trading. Lot-size increases and delivery margins trying to curb speculation are offset by shifts to small ticket-size, riskier options. While financial market participation increases welfare in canonical household finance models, it can also entrench speculative behavior that is difficult to undo.
SHORT BIOGRAPHY:
Vikas Agarwal is Distinguished University Professor of the University System of Georgia, and the Bank of America Distinguished Chair and Professor of Finance at Georgia State University’s J. Mack Robinson College of Business. Vikas received his Ph.D. in finance from the London Business School. He is a Research Fellow at the Centre for Financial Research, University of Cologne, Germany. He also holds a Research Associate position at EDHEC Risk and Asset Management Center, France. He currently serves as a Director on the board of the Southeastern Alternative Fund Association and on the academic advisory council of Decatur Capital Management. His broad areas of research interest include investments, household finance, private equity, and behavioral finance. His articles have appeared in leading academic journals, including the Journal of Finance, Journal of Financial Economics, Review of Financial Studies, Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Review of Finance, and Management Science. His research has been cited and discussed in the financial press and magazines including Bloomberg, Euromoney, Financial Times, Forbes, International Herald Tribune, New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal.