A new study in behavioral finance shows that being hungry makes traders more likely to take bigger trading risks.

From CNBC:


The study found risk aversion to be at its highest immediately after consuming the big meal.

So maybe some enterprising quant youths could create out a formula that takes advatage of the volatility during the time of day when people are usually most hungry (the exact time is not easily google-able, but we estimate it's ~ 3 pm)? That might be fun, and who knows, it might pay off.

One hedge fund took or takes the hunger-risk factor seriously enough - the managers practically force its traders to eat lunch every day.

Nicholas Colas, chief strategist at BNY ConvergEx Group, said:

