If we say that in the past few cycles, the biggest anxiety for on-chain users was "missing the next round of explosive growth," then in 2026, this anxiety is quietly taking on a new form:

More and more people are starting to worry not about missing out on a new coin, but about finding themselves stuck in an old market that is being abandoned by smart money.

This is a subtle but important change.

On one hand, the myth of crypto altcoins has completely collapsed, and liquidity is being diluted to exhaustion amidst various narrative bubbles; on the other hand, the U.S. stock market is siphoning everything at an unprecedented speed: retail investors are flowing in, the media is increasing coverage, centralized exchanges (CEXs) are fully embracing traditional finance (TradFi), and familiar key opinion leaders (KOLs) and traders are also starting to discuss indices, individual stocks, macroeconomics, and earnings reports more frequently.

This article also aims to answer the most core question: why is it happening now? And how should new users start their entry into U.S. stocks (https://msx.com/news/m_point_classify_1765801273_824b02d1-4496-40e1-824a-5c79609bc634) step one?

1. In 2026, retail investors are accelerating their escape from Crypto and flocking to U.S. stocks

In 2026, we may be witnessing one of the most paradoxical divergences in the history of crypto.

Just recently, market maker Wintermute and JPMorgan released the latest research on retail fund flows, the first systematic presentation of retail behavior data between crypto and U.S. stocks side by side, and the results were unsurprising.

From early 2025 to mid-2025, the two curves basically tracked each other due to rising risk appetite, with retail investors buying on both sides; this was the norm in recent years. Even when there was a short divergence of about two months starting in April, it was highly correlated with the macro event of Trump’s announcement of the "liberation day" corresponding tariffs on April 2.

Of course, to some extent, this indirectly indicates that under the overarching backdrop of a simultaneous "black swan" retreat, the U.S. stock market is indeed more resilient and repairable compared to altcoins.

However, starting from the end of 2025, this synchronized risk appetite linkage completely decoupled, and it can even be said to be the most extreme divergence in recent times, as the divergence Z value in the chart dropped to around -4, hitting a new low in a year, indicating that capital is voting with its feet, and the destination is the U.S. stock market.

If we extend the time frame to since 2022, we will find a more pronounced change (the pink line is the total market capitalization of altcoins, and the black line is the flow of retail funds into U.S. stocks), which indicates that from 2022 to the end of 2024, the two moved in tandem, as retail investors treated them as the same type of asset: high risk, high elasticity, rising and falling together.

However, the decoupling at the end of 2024 appears particularly glaring in the entire image. Since then, the behavior patterns of crypto retail investors have begun to become short-term, emotional, and lacking structure; while the funds flowing into U.S. stocks have not retreated, instead continuing to hit new highs.

Two markets, the same group of retail investors, making completely different choices.

The last chart confirms the statistical nature of the phenomenon described above. The rolling correlation coefficient shows that the financial behavior of retail investors between crypto and U.S. stocks has long maintained a positive correlation (green area, correlation coefficient >0.4), but after the dividing line at the end of 2024, this relationship turned negative—retail investors are no longer buying both sides simultaneously, but are allocating in a "choose one" manner.

Every red area represents a portion of funds that could have flowed into crypto, but instead went to U.S. stocks, indicating a structural migration of capital, and the trend is still continuing.

In fact, this migration is occurring not only on the capital level but also simultaneously occurring on media and attention levels.

If you now open the leading media outlets in the Chinese-speaking Web3 space, you will find that more and more of the front pages are being occupied by individual U.S. stocks, macro variables, and events in traditional markets. On the surface, this seems to be a readjustment of media topics, but at a deeper level, it is actually the result of the migration of user attention.

The media will always amplify the demand that has begun to form, and will not inexplicably make a garment for a market that has no interest.

In other words, the fact that even "Web3 media" are increasingly reporting on U.S. stocks already indicates one thing: the sentiment cycle of crypto has reached a stage that forces users to actively seek new exits.

2. Why is it happening now?

This question deserves a serious answer.

The notion that "U.S. stocks are worth paying attention to" is not new; what is truly fresh is the point in time of 2026—systemic loosening and the relative valuation of assets being reassessed, both occurring in rare synchrony.

Firstly, the wall between Wall Street and the on-chain world is being actively torn down.

For many years, U.S. stocks were not devoid of attraction for most ordinary users; it was simply too cumbersome. After all, opening an account, currency exchange, fund deposits, waiting for settlement after selling, and then making a withdrawal... each step is not impossible but cumbersome enough to make most users psychologically view it as "another system."

However, starting this month, this situation is rapidly changing.

On March 18, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) officially approved Nasdaq to pilot tokenized securities trading, meaning that the wallets, on-chain operation logic, and stablecoin settlement paths you are familiar with will no longer only serve crypto-native assets but will also begin to channel into globally core equity assets like Apple, Nvidia, and Tesla.

In the past, U.S. stocks were a system that required you to actively cross over to adapt, but now it is the first time it is approaching you in a way that is more aligned with Web3 user habits. Perhaps we are not far from making the purchase of a share of Nvidia as easy as buying a meme coin.

Ultimately, tokenization has liberated U.S. stocks from the three mountains of "open an account, deposit funds, withdraw funds," allowing it to become a form of asset that can be accessed by a wider range of users with lower barriers—for those familiar with on-chain operations, it may just be a new experience, but for those who have always been kept out, this is a true liberation.

The second point is that, against the backdrop of global liquidity tightening, capital is being repriced regarding the cost-effectiveness between crypto and U.S. stocks.

Essentially, the U.S. stock market is a dual-cycle market of "liquidity—profit," where liquidity expansion leads to valuation expansion, while tightening liquidity leads to valuation compression. However, compared to crypto assets that are more reliant on sentiment and narratives, its core support lies within corporate profits themselves, meaning that it will certainly decline, and may even experience deep retreats due to macro pressures, but as long as corporate profits, cash flows, and industry logic are still present, the market will inevitably find a repairing anchor.

Because of this, the U.S. stock market always exhibits a very typical characteristic: it may drop heavily but logically; when it rises, it often recovers faster.

Crypto is different; it acts more like a high-magnification amplifier for risk appetite, and when liquidity is abundant, its increases far exceed most traditional assets. However, when liquidity contracts and risk appetite declines, the retreats are usually deeper, faster, and without bottom. Especially with the institutionalization process brought about by ETFs deepening, Bitcoin is increasingly becoming a core asset recognized by mainstream capital, while many altcoins are gradually losing their ability to maintain support after the liquidity tide recedes.

In other words, the past era of relying on "sector rotation + altcoin surge" to earn excess returns is accelerating toward its end. This "institutionalization" has not made it easier for ordinary retail investors to make profits; on the contrary, it has concentrated alpha more and more, leading to diminishing marginal returns shifting towards leading assets.

This, in turn, has raised the appeal of U.S. stocks.

Compared to most altcoins, U.S. stocks have a stronger certainty. They do not guarantee that you make money, but most of the time, you can clearly articulate what you are buying, why it is dropping, and what logic drives its increase. For crypto users who have experienced multiple rounds of high volatility, this "explainability" is undoubtedly the scarcest value at present.

3. What are the challenges for new users learning about U.S. stocks?

By now, your first reaction might be: "I have indeed wanted to get into U.S. stocks for a long time, but I just haven't started."

This "not starting" often does not stem from a lack of willingness; after all, for most users, the traditional path into the U.S. stock market has not been friendly from the beginning, with requirements such as overseas or Hong Kong/Macau identity proof, address proof, cross-border funding, T+1/T+2 settlement, holiday extensions, etc. While each step does not seem fatal on its own, it is the frictional costs formed when they are combined that really deters people.

Therefore, many people do not wish to avoid learning about U.S. stocks; instead, every time they prepare to start, they are reverted back to a vague thought by this set of processes. This is also why the emergence of on-chain U.S. stocks is not just "an additional option" for everyone, but it is the first time that the path has truly been opened up:

Zero-threshold account opening, direct stablecoin deposits and withdrawals, on-chain self-custody, 7×24 hour fund availability... each of these features may not be revolutionary innovations by themselves, but when they are combined, they just happen to plug the gap for the vast majority of users entering the U.S. stock market.

It is not simply moving the old world onto the chain, but using on-chain methods to make the desire to "learn about U.S. stocks" something you can actually start immediately.

Having resolved the question of "how to get in," another roadblock has emerged: where should one start learning about the knowledge system of U.S. stocks?

In fact, crypto users possess a significant advantage that most people do not realize—the years spent grappling with issues on-chain have unconsciously completed the hardest parts of investment education, such as how to make judgments in the absence of complete information, how to manage positional psychology for highly volatile assets, and how to recognize the gap between speculative hype and fundamentals.

These capabilities are equally applicable in U.S. stocks; they just use a different vocabulary:

FDV divided by protocol annual revenue and P/E ratio ask the same question; when announcements come out and the price drops, it operates under the same game logic as "Buy the rumor, sell the news"; the Federal Reserve's watering down driving up BTC and interest rate cuts boosting Nasdaq both draw from the same pool of capital.

What people lack is not investment thinking, but a translation dictionary written in the language you are familiar with.

Based on this judgment, MSX has launched the "U.S. Stock Learning" initiative—this is not a generic U.S. stock introduction course, but rather a systematic pathway starting from basic knowledge of the U.S. stock market, breaking down core concepts of U.S. stocks, covering a complete framework from the underlying mechanisms of U.S. stocks, three major indices, logic of earnings seasons to valuation methods.

The goal is singular: to allow you to establish a basic judgment framework for U.S. stocks from scratch in the shortest possible time, and then truly take action, rather than letting "learning about U.S. stocks" continue to gather dust in your bookmarks.

After all, the wall separating ordinary users from U.S. stocks is being torn down, and U.S. stocks will enter more people’s lives faster and more thoroughly than anyone expects.

Those who first learn how to cross over are often the first to stand firm next, so while it hasn’t fully collapsed yet, make sure to catch up on what you need to learn.

This matter can still be started now, it’s not too late.

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