A systematic literature review of investor behavior in the cryptocurrency markets

Abstract

This review aims to analyze and synthesize the literature produced so far on investor behavior in the cryptocurrency market. We use VOSviewer 1.6.17 software to perform a bibliometric analysis and elaborate a systematic literature review on investor behavior in the cryptocurrency market on a sample of 166 papers published in journals ranked in the ABS 2021 journal list, considering the different fields of knowledge. We found a growing body of literature on the presence of herding behavior in the cryptocurrency market, where there are indications that the main intentions behind crypto investment are mostly affected by social influence or public sentiment; the crypto market is dominated by irrational investors who base their investment decisions on market sentiment; the uncertainty of the fundamentals leads to investors’ dispersed beliefs, which in turn leads to high trading and speculative bubbles. Additionally, we demonstrate some sociodemographic characteristics of crypto investors and some characteristics of the crypto market that affect investors’ behavior, such as market inefficiency. Our study helps researchers and academics, investors, and regulators by providing a structured network analysis for literature strands, with relevant information for future studies on crypto investor behavior. In addition, it shows the most relevant factors that influence the behavior of the crypto market and its investors, providing the basis for better regulation and protection of investors in the cryptocurrency market.