Behavioral and Cognitive Foundations of Warrant Markets: Pricing, Regulation, and Emerging Market Perspectives
Chapter from the book:
Sönmez,
Y.
(ed.)
2025.
Current Studies on Financial Markets, Digital Finance and the Transformation of Finance.
Synopsis
This study examines the cognitive, psychological, and structural dynamics of warrant markets within a conceptual framework grounded in behavioral finance. Warrants are securitized derivative instruments that allow investors to benefit from the price movements of underlying assets through leverage, serving both risk management and speculative purposes. By synthesizing theoretical and empirical studies in the literature, the research demonstrates that warrant markets exhibit a dynamic structure shaped by investor behavior beyond the scope of purely rational models. The findings reveal that pricing processes are determined not only by mathematical models but also by psychological factors such as cognitive limitations, overconfidence, loss aversion, and attention bias. In this regard, the study provides a critical perspective on the fragmented approaches in the existing literature, where behavioral and cognitive variables have not been jointly considered, and proposes that financial decision-making should be evaluated as a multidimensional cognitive system. In emerging markets, where financial literacy is low and individual investor participation is high, behavioral influences intensify pricing errors and market volatility. Therefore, future research is encouraged to calibrate behavioral parameters within quantitative models to empirically validate psychologically driven pricing deviations, while at the policy level, integrating behavioral finance principles into investor education, product design, and market supervision processes is recommended. Such a holistic approach would strengthen market stability and contribute to sustainable financial awareness and investor protection..
