Retail investors now get a good deal of their financial information from social media, where financial influencers (finfluencers) talk about investing, comment on markets and share trading ideas. Their content and intentions are not all the same. This paper looks at how finfluencer credibility, trust in the finfluencer, social media engagement and financial literacy relate to the trading decisions of retail investors (individuals who trade in financial markets) in Bengaluru. Primary data were obtained through a structured questionnaire that included items based on five-point Likert scale. The analysis involved exploratory factor analysis, reliability test, descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation and multiple linear regression analysis. The data were suitable for factor analysis, and all five constructs showed high reliability. All four predictors had a positive and significant relationship with the trading decisions. The regression model was significant and explained a large share of the variance in the trading decisions. Financial literacy had the largest standardised effect, followed by social media engagement, finfluencer credibility and trust in the finfluencer, so all four hypotheses were supported. This is an association within the sample and should not be misconstrued as causation.

Keywords: Finfluencers, Retail Investors, Trading Decisions, Source Credibility, Social Media Interactions, Financial Literacy