Hong Kong Investment Committee: Male virtual asset investors tend to be more "confident and aggressive," while women are more likely to be "cautious and follow the crowd."

A recent tracking study commissioned by the Hong Kong Investors and Financial Education Committee (Investment Odaily) and conducted by the Department of Applied Social Sciences at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University shows that herding behavior and emotional trading tendencies among Hong Kong virtual asset investors have significantly decreased compared to 2022. However, several behavioral biases remain prevalent, with "following the crowd" still being the most common investment type. The study surveyed approximately 1,000 virtual asset investors from November to December 2025 and will release the results at the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) Retail Investors Committee seminar in June 2026. Data shows that among Hong Kong virtual asset investors, the score for the tendency to blindly follow market transactions decreased from 3.63 to 3.19, with imitation of market behavior and chasing rising prices also declining, indicating that overall investment behavior has become more rational since the implementation of the virtual asset trading platform regulatory system in 2023. However, the study also points out that several behavioral biases remain significant, including reliance on past experience (3.86), FOMO (3.77), disposition effect (3.68), gambler's fallacy (3.66), and authority dependence (3.63), indicating that emotions and information still deeply influence investment decisions. In terms of investor categories, the "follower-the-leader, risk-averse" type accounts for the highest proportion at 33.9%, mainly consisting of young investors aged 18 to 29, with women also making up the highest percentage among all types (43%). Their characteristics include being easily influenced by market sentiment and becoming cautious and conservative after incurring losses. The second largest group is the "hold-on-the-money" type (25.5%), mostly mid-level professionals aged 30 to 39, who tend to hold onto their investments for the long term, waiting for a rebound. In addition, the "confident and aggressive type" accounted for 22.2%, mainly composed of highly educated and wealthy men who are prone to overconfidence and increasing high-risk investments; the "fear of losing type" accounted for 18.4%, with relatively abundant assets but frequent transactions, clearly driven by FOMO emotions. Professor Choi Wing-hong, Chair Professor of the Department of Applied Social Sciences at Hong Kong Polytechnic University, said that the virtual asset market is greatly affected by social media and information dissemination, and investors’ behavior patterns are complex and diverse. Investor education should be strengthened by combining behavioral science to improve their ability to make rational decisions in the face of market fluctuations.