Behavioural Finance: The impact of new means of communication on the stock market and on cryptocurrencies

This thesis has the aim of identifying and analysing the extent to which the development of new technologies, as well as the creation of new means of communication, has changed the way information is delivered, and how it impacts the performance of financial markets. In the last decade, social media completely switched the shared perspective regarding the speed and accessibility of information, creating a new need for understanding the reasons behind people’s predictably irrational behaviour, especially in the field of financial markets. Behavioural finance has therefore developed, to assess the motives that lead individuals in their choices of investments. Several studies, including the one relating to the Twitter Sentiment Analysis, have found a deep connection between trends on the platform and movements of prices of the interested shares. In particular, the case concerning the entrepreneur and Twitter influencer Elon Musk, shows that in a few seconds, a single tweet can exponentially increase or decrease the price of an asset, creating for millions of users, lack in confidence for the company in consideration.