Will stock tokens replace traditional stock trading? An in-depth trend analysis

At 6 a.m. in the morning, while the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) is still asleep, Asian traders have already completed their first Tesla purchase of the day on Gate. This is not a future projection but a real scene happening in 2026. As blockchain technology permeates, a sharp question faces every investor: will “stock tokens” representing ownership eventually replace traditional stock markets?

Market Status: From Marginal Experimentation to Mainstream Entry

Tokenized stocks are digital tokens on the blockchain that represent listed stocks from the real world, converted through compliant mechanisms. This means investors no longer hold just an electronic record in a brokerage system but a digital asset that signifies actual ownership rights.

Over the past two years, this sector has experienced explosive growth. Data shows that monthly trading volume of tokenized public stocks has surpassed $800 million, with some months reaching peaks of $1 billion. Take xStocks as an example, its total on-chain transfer volume has exceeded $300 billion, and decentralized exchanges (DEXs) have contributed over $500 million in trading volume. This indicates a shift in user habits—they are increasingly accustomed to trading stocks like Tesla (TSLA), Nvidia (NVDA), directly on the blockchain.

More noteworthy is the change in capital structure. In early 2025, institutional investors accounted for only 39.4% of the tokenized stock market, but by the end of the year, this proportion had surged to 82%. Wall Street’s capital is quietly positioning itself—this is not a speculative wave but a “vote” on the future of financial infrastructure.

Regulatory Clarification: Clear Boundaries in the Era of Compliance

The ultimate fate of any financial innovation is compliance. In January 2026, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued guidance on tokenized securities, providing a crucial classification framework for market participants.

The SEC explicitly states that the format or record-keeping method of securities (on-chain or off-chain) does not alter the applicability of federal securities laws. The agency mainly classifies tokenized securities into two categories:

1. Issuer-sponsored tokenized securities: Companies integrate blockchain into their shareholder registry systems, where on-chain transfers directly represent ownership transfer.
2. Third-party-sponsored tokenized securities: These can be further divided into “custodial” (where a third party holds the underlying assets) and “synthetic” (derivative contracts tracking stock prices).

This guidance effectively tightens regulation over synthetic products while opening the door for truly ownership-backed compliant stock tokens to enter mainstream markets. As OpenAI previously publicly disclaimed the legality of certain third-party tokenized equity, the SEC’s guidance implies that only products with genuine asset backing and compliant architecture will survive future competition.

“Dimensionality Reduction” of Stock Tokens: Why Is Capital Moving?

Despite the deep-rooted traditional trading systems, stock tokens offer an “easier” user experience—this is the reason platforms like Gate can attract “smart money.”

24/7 Market

The biggest cost in traditional U.S. stock trading isn’t commissions but time. When major earnings reports are released after hours, traditional investors must wait until the next trading day. On Gate’s stock token platform, trading never stops. Leveraging blockchain networks and professional market-making mechanisms, price discovery continues even when the stock market is closed. In January 2026, after Meta’s earnings report, its stock token METAX surged by 6.43% within the day, quoting at $717.95, at 4 a.m. Eastern Time.

Maximizing Capital Efficiency: Buying Apple with USDT

Traditional cross-market allocations require converting crypto assets into fiat currency and transferring to brokers—an inefficient and loss-prone process. Gate’s solution is straightforward: trade directly with USDT. Whether Tesla or Apple, all stock tokens are priced in USDT. This means profits earned during crypto bull markets can be allocated to U.S. stocks without converting back to fiat, with all gains and losses settled in crypto assets.

Strategy Elevation: From “Holding” to “Utilizing”

In traditional brokerages, stocks are mainly bought and held, waiting for appreciation. But on Gate, strategies are more diverse. Besides spot trading, users can leverage perpetual contracts to go long or short. More importantly, stock tokens can serve as collateral for DeFi lending or liquidity mining, generating additional income streams beyond stock price fluctuations. While traditional investors are still debating commission rates, crypto users are already earning from stock appreciation, shorting gains, and DeFi interest simultaneously with the same assets.

Scale and Trust: Gate’s Market Position

In this emerging sector, liquidity equals influence. The result of “voting with your feet” is that the total trading volume of Gate’s stock token platform has exceeded $140 billion. More intuitively, in December 2025, Gate’s monthly trading volume accounted for 89.1% of the global Ondo stock token market share.

This market share is supported by user trust in the underlying asset security. Gate’s stock tokens are held by regulated third-party custodians holding the actual shares, ensuring asset segregation. The platform maintains a comprehensive reserve ratio of 125%. For products connecting traditional finance and crypto, compliance is not an added bonus but a prerequisite for entry.

Replace or Coexist?

Will stock tokens completely replace traditional stock trading?

In the short term, no. The traditional financial system has a century of credibility, a vast network of institutions, and mature investor education. For most retail investors unfamiliar with crypto and some conservative institutions, traditional brokerages remain the preferred choice.

But in the long term, the underlying infrastructure of trading is undergoing an irreversible shift. Nasdaq has submitted a proposal to the SEC for stock tokenized trading, and Robinhood has launched a dedicated chain on Arbitrum to support RWA trading. This indicates that traditional players are embracing this more efficient technology.

The essence of stock tokens is not to eliminate traditional brokers but to serve as a global asset participation tool tailored for crypto-native capital. Its core solution is: when your main funds are in crypto, how can you participate efficiently, low-cost, and frictionlessly in the growth of top global companies?

Summary

The form of trading will be reshaped, not simply replaced. The future market is likely to be a unified “digital asset market,” where stocks, bonds, and commodities blur boundaries, existing as digital tokens within a unified compliant framework, flowing 24/7 among global investors.

For today’s investors, choosing a platform like Gate, which leads in compliance, liquidity, and asset security, is not just about engaging with a new product but about preemptively building the future of financial infrastructure. While Nasdaq is still seeking regulatory approval, Gate users are already experiencing the present of this future mechanism.

Trading never sleeps. Capital never lies.