Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/338880 
Year of Publication: 
2026
Citation: 
[Journal:] Review of Derivatives Research [ISSN:] 1573-7144 [Volume:] 29 [Issue:] 1 [Article No.:] 6 [Publisher:] Springer US [Place:] New York, NY [Year:] 2026
Publisher: 
Springer US, New York, NY
Abstract: 
This paper exploits individual trading records from a large brokerage service to investigate the trading patterns of retail investors who take short positions in stocks using contracts for differences (CFDs). Their risk tolerance, as reported in MiFID II questionnaires, and their leverage usage indicate greater risk-seeking behavior. Short positions, compared to long positions, constitute larger portions of overall portfolios and are more highly leveraged. Yet, short sellers’ research activity does not suggest that they increase the amount of attention paid to stocks before taking short positions. Compared with other CFD traders, short sellers perform worse, and their profit variability is greater.
Subjects: 
Short positions
Contracts for differences
Trading behavior
Retail investors
JEL: 
G11
G40
G41
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Creative Commons License: 
cc-by Logo
Document Type: 
Article
Document Version: 
Published Version

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