Gen Z accounts show a 22% never-sold rate and an ETF bias, while ETF perpetuals top $116B in volume and start to compete with traditional ETF markets.
A new research report shared by pseudonymous market observer Ali Charts shows Gen Z investors are accumulating crypto assets more patiently than their reputation suggests. Twenty-two percent of their direct-equity accounts have only ever bought, never sold, and net-buyer rates are high across tokenized stocks, direct equities, and TradFi perpetuals.
The typical Gen Z account averages just 13 TradFi-perpetual trades, 8 direct-equity trades, and 3 tokenized-stock trades per month. That pace is well below what high-turnover retail narratives imply, and the report found Gen Z uses leveraged and inverse products less frequently than Millennials do across all covered investment categories.
ETFs are the preferred vehicle. Unleveraged ETFs rose to 21.9% of Gen Z's net equity inflows in July, up from prior months, while single-stock demand fell. Gen Z was the only age group whose ETF holder base grew over the period.
ETF-linked perpetuals have become one of 2026's fastest-growing trading categories. Cumulative volume has passed $116 billion, and these products accounted for 19% of all TradFi perpetual volume in July after averaging roughly 170% monthly growth over the past seven months. The most heavily traded names are SOXL ($41.97 billion), KORU ($16.15 billion), EWY ($8.43 billion), QQQ ($5.94 billion), and SPY ($1.71 billion).
On Binance, KORU perpetual trading volume hit 148% of the underlying ETF's own volume, meaning more leveraged South Korea equity exposure moved through the derivative than through the traditional ETF. That suggests ETF perpetuals are starting to compete directly with conventional ETF markets in certain niches.
Global ETF assets stand at $23.09 trillion, and current monthly ETF perpetual volume is around $100 billion. If these products eventually capture 10% of March 2026 ETF turnover, monthly volume could approach $780 billion. AlphaScala's core equity trackers show SPY and QQQ both carry Mixed sentiment scores, with SPY at 50/100 and QQQ at 47/100, as Gen Z's measured accumulation collides with a market still absorbing record derivative flows.
Prepared with AlphaScala editorial tooling from the source reporting linked above. Indexable analysis may include a cited Alpha Score value. Publishing checks screen each story before release. Educational coverage, not personalized advice.