--- title: 'Stock Market Volatility Pushed Lots of Investors to Trade Impulsively: Study' description: Heightened stock market volatility in 2022 led to young investors in particular making impulsive trades, according to a survey. authors: - name: Sarah Hansen role: Senior Writer url: https://money.com/author/sarah-hansen/ bio: Sarah Hansen is a senior writer at Money covering all things personal finance. Previously, she covered economic policy and capital markets on the breaking news desk at Forbes. education: Northwestern University, New York University at_money_since: 2021 articles: 347 covers: - Economy and Politics - Banking - Business - Career Advice - Credit - Credit Cards - Education - Health and Wellness - Housing - Insurance - Investing - Lifestyle - Loans - Mortgages - Personal Finance - Professional Services - Retirement - Shopping - Taxes social: - https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarah-m-hansen/ former_staff: true editors: - name: Brad Tuttle role: Senior Editor url: https://money.com/author/brad-tuttle/ bio: Brad Tuttle is a former senior editor at Money with over 10 years’ experience covering a vast number of personal finance topics, including careers, cars, travel, budgeting, investing, insurance, credit cards, consumer psychology, real estate, banking, and shopping and deals. education: Columbia University School of Journalism, MS at_money_since: 2014 articles: 366 covers: - Economy and Politics - Banking - Business - Career Advice - Credit - Credit Cards - Education - Health and Wellness - Housing - Identity Theft - Insurance - Investing - Lifestyle - Loans - Mortgages - Personal Finance - Pets - Professional Services - Retirement - Shopping - Taxes - Technology social: - https://twitter.com/bradrtuttle - https://linkedin.com/in/brad-tuttle-834b225 former_staff: true published: '2023-01-13T17:49:01.000Z' modified: '2023-01-13T17:49:01.000Z' section: Economy and Politics tags: - News - stocks word_count: 355 canonical: https://money.com/stock-market-volatility-impulse-trades-study/ type: NewsArticle source: structured-blocks --- > **Disclosure:** We research all brands listed and may earn a fee from our partners. Research and financial considerations may influence how brands are displayed. Not all brands are included. [Learn more](https://money.com/page/disclaimer/). ![Photo illustration of an angry man making emotional decisions based on the stock market](https://img.money.com/2023/01/News-Market-Volatility-Caused-Impulsive-Decisions.jpg?crop=0px%2C70px%2C2880px%2C1620px&quality=85) More than a third of investors said they made impulsive decisions because of heightened volatility in the stock market in 2022. But that’s exactly what experts say *not* to do — instead, investors are supposed to stick to their plan and fight the urge to react to market fluctuations. ## See Gold Investing Options in Your Area ### To protect wealth with a hedge against inflation, you might consider diversifying into gold. See a free information kit. [See Gold Investing Info](https://money.com/pr/u81dce0a1e1e?ap_referrer=%2Fstock-market-volatility-impulse-trades-study%2F) ## What the study says A portion of investors within every age group — and 37% of investors overall — said they made impulsive investing decisions due to volatility in [stocks](https://money.com/how-to-buy-stocks/) last year, according to [new survey data](https://www.sofi.com/learn/content/2022-investing-survey/) from SoFi. But younger investors were significantly more likely to do so. It’s understandable, given that 2022 was by some measures the [most volatile year for stocks](https://money.com/stock-market-volatility-frequency-2022/) since 2008. Here's how the 1,000 investors SoFi surveyed reacted: - 29% said they bought a lot of investments - 17% said they sold a lot of investments - 55% did not buy or sell ## What experts say Reacting to big swings in the market can actually [hurt your portfolio](https://money.com/stock-market-volatility-investing-tips/) over the long run. It's far better to stay the course. - “Ironically, during a period of extreme volatility is exactly when you need the discipline and structure of some investment plan,” Joel Mittelman, president of Mittelman Wealth Management in Andover, Massachusetts, [previously told Money](https://money.com/stock-market-volatility-investing-mistakes/). “Unfortunately, that's often when people throw the plan in the garbage." - Sticking to your plan means you won't miss out on the eventual recovery, and you won't have to decide when to reinvest. ## Keep in mind There’s one reason that volatility might prompt you to change your investment strategy, and that’s if the big price swings throw your portfolio allocations out of whack. In that case, it’s a good idea to [rebalance](https://money.com/investing-move-to-make-now-2022/) on a regular schedule. ## The bottom line A volatile market can be scary, but it’s important to keep an eye on your long-term investing plan. Everyday investors are notoriously unsuccessful at predicting market outcomes, and [keeping your money invested](https://money.com/stock-market-volatility-investing-tips/) is often the best way to maximize returns over the long term. ## Gold IRAs can provide a hedge against inflation in times of market volatility ### Prepare for what’s to come and protect financial future with the help of American Hartford Gold. Click below to start investing today. [Invest in Gold](https://money.com/pr/oa766c34e352?ap_referrer=%2Fstock-market-volatility-impulse-trades-study%2F) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://money.com/stock-market-volatility-impulse-trades-study/#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://money.com" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Economy and Politics", "item": "https://money.com/economy-and-politics/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Stock Market", "item": "https://money.com/stock-market/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Stock Market Volatility Pushed Lots of Investors to Trade Impulsively: Study" } ] }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://money.com/#website", "url": "https://money.com", "name": "Money", "publisher": { "@id": "https://money.com/#organization" } }, { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://money.com/stock-market-volatility-impulse-trades-study/#webpage", "url": "https://money.com/stock-market-volatility-impulse-trades-study/", "name": "Stock Market Volatility Pushed Lots of Investors to Trade Impulsively: Study", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://money.com/#website" }, "datePublished": "2023-01-13T17:49:01.000Z", "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://money.com/stock-market-volatility-impulse-trades-study/" }, "inLanguage": "en-US", "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://money.com/stock-market-volatility-impulse-trades-study/#breadcrumb" }, "dateModified": "2023-01-13T17:49:01.000Z" }, { "@type": "NewsArticle", "headline": "Stock Market Volatility Pushed Lots of Investors to Trade Impulsively: Study", "articleSection": "Economy and Politics", "image": [ { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://img.money.com/2023/01/News-Market-Volatility-Caused-Impulsive-Decisions.jpg?crop=0px%2C70px%2C2880px%2C1620px&quality=85", "width": 1012, "height": 569, "caption": "News-Market-Volatility-Caused-Impulsive-Decisions" } ], "author": [ { "@type": "Person", "name": "Sarah Hansen", "url": "https://money.com/author/sarah-hansen/", "@id": "https://money.com/author/sarah-hansen/#author", "description": "Sarah Hansen is a senior writer at Money covering all things personal finance. 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