Noise Trading and Market Stability

Noise traders are often thought to be detrimental to market stability, increasing volatility and the risk of bubbles and crashes. The effect of noise traders on the learning and development of informed traders, however, has received little attention. We consider a computational model of a derivatives market containing informed traders and noise traders with the former group having to learn to price the traded asset. We demonstrate that noise traders have a beneficial effect on market stability: an increase in the amount of noise traders makes the market more resilient to shocks. Noise traders by pushing the price away from fundamentals create opportunities for learning, increasing the proportion of informed traders possessing high levels of trading skills in turn protecting the market.