Virtual seminar with Mehmet Saglam

Meeting time: Monday, October 26, 2026 at 4pm CET.

The speaker on this occasion will be Mehmet Saglam (University of Cincinnati) who will talk about “Pump and Dump: Price Manipulation in Experimental Markets”. The event is part of the seminar series on “Experiments in Financial Technology” organized by researchers from Haskayne School of Business (Calgary, Canada).

Abstract: We study how social media messaging affects asset markets using experimental methods. Participants trade in markets with asymmetric information, some markets with and some without the ability to send anonymous public messages. Rather than improving market efficiency through information sharing, we find that messaging facilitates profitable pump-and-dump strategies. Informed traders systematically post misleading messages to manipulate prices. These manipulation schemes are frequently successful, with price manipulators earning substantially more than other informed traders. We also observe deceptive strategies by uninformed traders, though these were generally unprofitable. Both successful and unsuccessful manipulation schemes reduced market efficiency, highlighting an important consequence of investors using social media for financial communication.

You can find more information about the seminar series here: https://fintechexperiments.science/