Gen Z Benefited in Investment Market due to Early Start

Published: October 2, 2026 – 10:13 UTC

Gen Z starts investing at an average age of 19 — earlier than any previous generation.
A longer investment horizon allows young investors to better withstand volatility and potentially increase the share of digital assets in their portfolio.
Earlier studies by Bitget and Binance also point to zoomers’ preference for accumulating rather than short-term trading.

Gen Z has a potential advantage over older generations because it starts investing much earlier, according to a study by Grayscale head of research Zach Pandl.

According to his data, Gen Z in the US starts investing at an average age of 19, while millennials start at 25, Gen X at 32, and baby boomers at 35. Assuming retirement at 65, that gives zoomers a 46-year investment horizon — more than 50% longer than baby boomers had when they began investing.

Early Start Allows Investors to Withstand Volatility Longer

Pandl explains Gen Z’s advantage not only through the power of compound interest. Early in a career, a large share of an investor’s wealth is made up of so-called human capital — future income. As people age, its share declines, while accumulated financial assets grow.

That is why young investors have more time to recover after periods of market volatility, and they can also keep saving and investing over the coming decades.

In Pandl’s view, this feature may be especially relevant for digital assets, which are characterized by high volatility, but also have the potential for significant long-term growth.

“Starting earlier gives investors more time to absorb volatility, potentially expanding the utility function digital assets can have in a long-term portfolio,” the researcher noted.

Zoomers Are Increasingly Accumulating Assets

Previous research also shows early interest among Gen Z in cryptocurrencies and other financial instruments. In particular, a 2023 Bitget study involving 255,000 respondents from 26 countries found that zoomers, together with millennials, showed the highest level of digital currency ownership compared with older generations.

In July 2026, Binance reported that Gen Z accounts for nearly half of users of its TradFi products. At the same time, 30% of young investors started investing while still studying, and 77% had a financial education.

In August, Binance Research also recorded zoomers’ tendency to accumulate assets:

22% of Gen Z accounts in direct equities made purchases only
On bStocks, 76% of zoomers’ accounts were pure accumulators
In TradFi derivatives, this figure was 60%
Only 5.9% of Gen Z trading volume came from leveraged ETFs

The trend extends beyond traditional investing as well. According to a survey by The New Consumer and Coefficient Capital, 31% of Americans believe prediction markets will become a more important part of culture, with the strongest interest coming from zoomers and millennials.

At the same time, Chainalysis predicts a significant increase in stablecoin usage, partly linking it to the transfer of financial activity from older generations to millennials and Gen Z.

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Source: Incrypted