The Impact of Social Media Related Events on the Price Volatility of Mega-Cap Technology Stocks

Abstract

This paper summarizes the arguments and counterarguments within the scientific discussion on the issue of the impact of social media events on stock price volatility. The main purpose of the research is to examine the impact of the Reddit posts from January 2022 through July 2023 on the price volatility of the six U.S. mega-cap technology stocks. Unlike most of the previous studies that focus on Twitter, this study focuses on Reddit. This study not only examines how Reddit posts relate to volatility but also how trading volume and stock price relate to volatility. Therefore, while focusing on the impact of social media events on volatility, the study controls for the effects of trading volume and price. Based on the previous research on social media events on different platforms, it is expected that Reddit events significantly affect stock price volatility. Again, based on the previous research on social media events on different platforms, higher trading volume and higher stock prices are expected to have a positive relationship with stock price volatility (i.e. higher volumes and higher prices are associated with higher volatility). Overall, the findings in this paper support these expectations. First, the ANOVA test results reject the null hypothesis of no predictive relationship between the three independent variables (i.e. “Socialmedia”, “Price”, and “Volume”) and the stock price volatility of the six mega-cap stocks. For the whole group of firms, the regression analyses show that the positive Reddit events are associated with lower volatility when compared to negative Reddit events, and that higher trading volumes and prices are associated with higher volatility. Therefore, for the group of six mega-cap stocks, the results support our hypothesis. When individual regressions are performed for each stock, the results are mixed. The results for Alphabet (i.e. Google), Tesla, Meta, and Microsoft are more in line with the expectations, while the results for Apple and Nvidia are not. For Google and Tesla stocks, when there is a positive social media event, the volatility is lower. This finding indicates that a positive event calms the investors of these stocks. For Meta and Microsoft stocks, when there is a positive social media event, the volatility is higher. This finding may imply that increased volatility due to a positive event possibly stems from the extra demand for these stocks in a very short period. For Apple and Nvidia stocks, there is no significant relationship between social media events and volatility. Overall, we conclude that, a prospective investor who wants to invest in a pool of “mega-cap technology stocks”, social media events should be a factor when making an investment decision. On the other hand, a prospective investor who is a “stock picker”, needs to evaluate each individual regression result when making an investment decision.