Investment behaviour in Turkey: perception towards cryptocurrency

Abstract

Purpose- Our health and social lives and financial markets have been significantly influenced by the Covid-19 pandemic. Even though the coronavirus' overall economic impacts are not yet known, a financial market reaction to the pandemic is observed. Studies show that the pandemic has strong impact on stock markets and cryptocurrency markets and also increases uncertainty. Cryptocurrency known as virtual money is one of the most important developments of digitalization. Cryptocurrencies discussed during the past few years and, in particular, a new investor portfolio, are highly popular. Cryptocurrency markets began to pickup with the arrival of bitcoin. These markets have started to be demand like stock markets. The purpose of this study is to establish the elements influencing individual financial investment decisions both on the cryptocurrency market and in the stock markets, with the performance of cryptocurrencies growing positively in conjunction with the pandemic in 2020. Methodology- While making financial decisions, individuals want to know how the market is carried over and they act accordingly. For this reason, both stock and crypto money markets have been examined in order to see the behaviour of individuals. The objective of this research is to establish the elements that influence individual financial investment decisions on both cryptocurrency and equity markets, since cryptocurrencies have a positive increase in performance parallel to the globally lower pandemic interest rates in 2020.In the study, it was collected with the data by survey technique. The survey examined investor behaviour in financial markets based on individual investor demographics on 428 individual investors. Findings- The study, which was collected with the participation of 428 individual investors with the survey technique, shows that the majority of crypto money users are between the ages of 25-34 according to gender, age and education level and are university graduates. When the data of the survey applied to determine the investment tendencies of individual investors are evaluated, it has been observed that the investors are mostly willing to invest in foreign exchange and cryptocurrencies arouse considerable curiosity due to their high return performance. However, participants believed that cryptocurrency market is riskier than stock markets. In our article, the level of perception about how cryptocurrencies are an investment tool is also not clear, and it has been revealed that investors primarily obtain information about this market through social media channels. Conclusion- In the financial sector, where competition is intense, financial decisions taken by investors are of great importance. Increased pandemic risk factor has led to ambiguities in investment decision-making. Global uncertainty continues despite the development of the vaccine. Corruption in cryptocurrency exchange, often mentioned in recent days, led individuals to research and to learn more about themselves in this area, who are investing in this industry or planing to do so. Our survey on investor behaviour in financial markets, which was carried out with the participation of 428 people over the social platform, was also prepared to be more on crypto money. According to the survey, developments regarding cryptocurrencies showed that the State had to regulate. The recent news about corruption reveals that cryptocurrency markets will continue to be precepted negatively for some time, but it shows that incidents are rapidly forgotten.