Gen Z: Disciplined TradFi Investors, Not Speculators

A new report by Binance Research, titled ‘Gen Z Perspective Rewrite,’ challenges popular ideas about how Gen Z invests in traditional finance, or TradFi, products. The study found these young investors are more disciplined and focused on allocation than previously thought.

The research looked at behavior across direct equities (owning company shares), bStocks (tokenized company shares), and TradFi-Perps (futures contracts without expiry). It shows Gen Z leads in net accumulation, meaning they buy more than they sell.

Gen Z’s Unique Selling Habits

Contrary to assumptions, Gen Z investors are not quick to sell their holdings. A significant portion of their direct equity accounts have never even placed a sell order.

• 22% of Gen Z direct-equity accounts never placed a sell order.
• This is higher than 19% for Gen X.
• And much higher than 9% for Baby Boomers.

These accounts also show low trading frequency. For bStocks, Gen Z averages only 1.63 trades per month.

Smart ETF Choices

Gen Z shows a clear preference for certain types of investments. They are putting significant amounts into funds that pay regular income.

• They prefer dividend ETFs (funds paying regular income) like SCHD.
• Average buys for SCHD were US$16,567 per trade.
• They also liked AVGO, with average buys of US$12,370.
• Smaller amounts went into popular stocks like TSLA and NVDA.

Leading in Accumulation and Low Turnover

The report highlights Gen Z as the top group for net accumulation across all three product types. This indicates a long-term, growth-oriented strategy rather than short-term trading.

• 76% of bStocks accounts are net accumulators.
• 77% of direct equities accounts are net accumulators.
• 60% of TradFi-Perps accounts are net accumulators.

Gen Z also has the lowest turnover among working-age groups. They trade much less frequently than other generations.

• They trade an average of 13 times a month in TradFi-Perps.
• This is significantly less than Millennials, Gen X, and Baby Boomers.

Avoiding Risky Leveraged Bets

The study also found Gen Z largely avoids high-risk financial products. This further supports the idea of a careful investment approach.

• 88.2% of TradFi-Perps accounts showed no activity in leveraged ETFs (funds using borrowed money).
• 98.9% of bStocks accounts showed no activity in inverse ETFs (funds that profit when markets fall).

Gen Z’s move into unleveraged ETFs (funds without borrowed money) and their overall investment patterns suggest a strategic approach. This contradicts any idea that they are purely speculative investors.