Correlates of Gambling Behaviours Among Day Traders: Evidence from a National Study

Although research examining the relationship between participation in financial speculation (e.g., purchasing penny stocks, shorting stocks, cryptocurrency trading, and day trading) is sparse, findings consistently indicate that engaging in speculative activities is associated with problematic gambling behaviour. For the present study, gamblers across Canada who had or had not also engaged in day trading were surveyed. A total of n = 467 day traders and n = 9,558 non-day traders were compared in terms of their sociodemographic backgrounds, gambling habits, primary gambling motives, and endorsement of gambling fallacies. Male gender, racial/ethnic minority status, higher educational attainment and income, not working or studying full- or part-time, participation in a larger number of gambling activities, and lower endorsement of coping motives were associated with day trading involvement. Furthermore, lower income, participation in a larger number of gambling activities, greater endorsement of gambling fallacies, and not showing a preference for either skill- or chance-based games predicted moderate-risk-to-problem gambling behaviour among day traders. This research provides insight into factors that may underlie day traders' susceptibility to experiencing gambling problems.