COVID-19 impacts in behavioral finance

Traditional finance assumes that individual investors are rational. Investors; defines them as those who process available information impartially and avoid risk, pursue their own interests and maximize their benefits. Behavioral finance examines how decision-making mechanisms in memory are affected by social and emotional biases. Behavioral finance, which argues that individuals are affected by psychological and emotional factors when making decisions, assumes that individuals do not always make rational decisions by considering their own benefits. Behavioral finance is important in terms of crises affecting the whole world. Because the behaviors of individuals in the face of crisis differ. This study investigates the number of cases in the Covid-19 crisis, the number of deaths, the Financial Fear Index and the Borsa İstanbul 100 index of the Panic Index, the effectiveness of gold, cryptocurrencies and stocks to hedge the pandemic risk. ARDL models were tested with data covering the period from March 11, 2020 to May 18, 2021. It has been determined that gold, which is described as a safe haven in the short term, is the preferred investment tool for Turkish investors. BIST100 index is a more effective investment tool for Turkish investors who want to be protected from pandemic risk in the long term. The results of the study revealed that Turkish investors can get more returns by turning to cryptocurrencies after the pandemic.