Where a Stock Trades Shapes How You Think

The listing venue shapes our behavior more than we realize.

Many of us in Singapore hold both US and local stocks.

Which portfolio do you check more often? Which one do you hold longer when it drops?

If the answers are different, the listing venue may be shaping how we think.

This is not about which market is better. This is about noticing how we often treat identical situations differently based on where the stock trades.

Same investor. Same money. Same goals. Different behavior.

This is mental accounting. Investors treat money differently depending on which mental bucket it sits in.

Economist Richard Thaler, who won the Nobel Prize for behavioral economics, showed that these mental buckets lead to decisions that look irrational when viewed as a whole. Instead of asking how the total portfolio is doing, investors evaluate each bucket in isolation. A loss in the safe bucket feels like a violation. A loss in the growth bucket was expected.

A related pattern is familiarity bias. Investors often feel closer to stocks they hear about daily, regardless of where they trade. For many, the media diet is US-dominated. The US market feels like home, even for those living in Singapore or other parts of the world.

I missed this pattern for years. Many investors do.

This is not an argument for Singapore stocks over US stocks. It is an observation that the listing venue may be influencing decisions more than fundamentals.

The Pattern That Hides in Plain Sight

I see this pattern often.

An investor’s US portfolio is down 35 percent. Their Singapore portfolio is down 8 percent. They want to sell the Singapore stocks.

But the US names lost four times as much.

Same person. Same market conditions. Different standards.

The listing venue may be shaping the decision more than the numbers.

There are 4 ways this shows up.

Skipping shares listed on the Singapore Exchange (SGX) entirely.

Some investors have not read a single SGX annual report this year but have read many US earnings summaries. The decision may have been made before any analysis happened.

Treating losses differently.

An investor averages down on a US growth stock five times as it falls. Yet the same investor refuses to average down on a stable Singapore dividend stock even once. The US stock was “on sale.” The Singapore stock was “broken.”

In the same week, that investor adds to a US position after a 25 percent drawdown and trims a Singapore dividend stock after a 5 percent wobble.

Different exchange. Different patience.

Giving US stocks more attention.

For many, the US brokerage app is on the home screen. Pre-market moves get checked before breakfast. After-hours before bed.

SGX holdings? Those get checked when the statement arrives. Maybe quarterly.

It is also common to buy what can be discussed socially. A famous US chipmaker gets discussed at dinner. Singapore real estate investment trusts (REITs) do not.

Attention follows excitement, not fundamentals. And attention shapes decisions.

Research by Barber and Odean found that retail investors are more likely to buy stocks that grab their attention through news or high trading volume. The exchange that dominates the screen often dominates the decision.

Ignoring currency math in one direction.

An investor ignores a 4 percent dividend yield in Singapore dollars. They chase a 2 percent gain in US dollars, forgetting that foreign exchange (FX) conversion fees likely erase the difference.

Same friction. Same fees. Different emotional weight.

The Sleep Test

Here is a sharper way to see it.

An investor with low risk tolerance panics when a Singapore stock drops 5 percent. She calls it a fundamental failure and wants to sell immediately.

The same investor sleeps soundly while her US tech portfolio swings 20 percent in a week. She calls that “market noise.”

Different emotional response.

The listing venue may have changed what risk means to her.

Why This Happens

Many of us have two mental buckets. Often without realizing it.

For many, the US bucket is for growth. It is sometimes treated as play money, even lottery tickets. Volatility is expected. Losses can be tolerated. The attitude is to hold through drawdowns because famous stocks recover.

Finance professor Alok Kumar found that investors who buy volatile, lottery-like stocks often share the same psychology as lottery players. The US market, with its massive daily movers, satisfies the craving for a potential jackpot in a way the Singapore market does not.

The Singapore bucket is for safety and savings. The expectation is often for stability. Tolerance for volatility is low, and selling at the first sign of trouble is common because local stocks feel “capped.”

Having different buckets for different goals is not the problem. The problem is when which exchange a stock is traded on, not your plan, shapes which bucket gets which standards.

A recent Securities Investors Association Singapore (SIAS) survey suggests many Singapore retail investors say they are open to local stocks. Yet many still allocate their risk capital to the US.

In practice, that often means paying a premium for excitement. The US market feels like action. The SGX feels like an afterthought.

But excitement is not a return. It is a cost. The thrill of checking volatile stocks may lead to emotional decisions that reduce long-term returns.

It may feel like choosing stocks when it is really choosing exchanges. The exchange may affect how investors react to market movements.

This psychology does not just show up in retail portfolios. Corporate finance teams design around it.

Research by Gennaioli, Shleifer, and Vishny found that even professional investors apply different standards to different markets based on narratives, not fundamentals.

This is not a retail problem. It is a human one.

Exchange Selection Is Not Random

On 9 December 2025, Walmart moved from the New York Stock Exchange to Nasdaq.

Their CFO called it a “people-led, tech-powered approach.” The world’s largest retailer wants to be seen as a tech company.

Same business. Same stores. Same supply chain. Different ticker address. The move is about perception, not operations.

Sea and Grab are Singaporean companies that listed on US exchanges. Where they trade shapes how investors perceive them.

Exchange selection reflects how companies want to be perceived.

If corporations think carefully about where they list, we might consider how the listing venue affects our decisions.

The Audit

Some investors notice this pattern when looking at their portfolios. For each question, note the exchange.

Which positions have you held through the biggest losses?

Which positions do you check most often?

Which positions would you sell if they dropped 10 percent?

If the answers cluster by exchange instead of by fundamentals, the listing venue may be playing a larger role than expected.

One more test.

Consider a stock held in a US portfolio. Imagine it was listed on SGX instead. Same company. Same business. Same earnings.

Would you treat it the same way?

If the answer is no, the bias may have revealed itself.

An investor who feels the urge to sell a Singapore position might wonder whether they would feel the same if it had a US ticker.

If the answer is no, the listing venue may be shaping the decision.

The Real Question

Yes, liquidity matters. Yes, US markets have advantages.

But liquidity does not explain holding a 40 percent loss while selling a 15 percent loss. Market depth does not explain checking one portfolio daily and another quarterly.

That is not analysis. The listing venue may be shaping behavior.

This is not about US stocks being wrong or Singapore stocks being right. The listing venue does not have to dictate standards. Applying the same rigor to both is worth considering.

The stock does not know which exchange it trades on.

But our behavior often does.

That difference compounds.

This article is for educational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice. Please consult a qualified professional before making investment decisions.