People Keep Investing in AI and Crypto Despite Middle East Risks

Retail investors are staying the course, even as geopolitical risks increase. Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev says users of the trading app have not pulled back during the latest Middle East conflict. Instead, they continue to pour money into tech and crypto-related stocks—just like before.

Good to know

• Robinhood users continue to focus on Nvidia, Tesla, and other AI-related stocks.
• Activity also picked up in Circle, Hims and Hers, and crude oil futures.
• Geopolitical tensions have not caused major shifts in retail investing behavior.

Tenev noted during a CNBC interview that despite recent headlines, markets remained calm. “I was a little bit surprised that over the weekend, when all this was happening, the markets didn’t move so much in the overnight. I don’t know if you were surprised by that, but I feel like if this had happened a year or two years ago, we would have had a huge move, but markets were flat to even a little bit up.”

Retail traders did not panic. Instead, they kept buying familiar stocks like Nvidia and Tesla, both of which are popular among those betting on artificial intelligence and electric vehicles.

Interest Beyond the Top Ten

Tenev also highlighted new areas of interest outside the most popular names. He pointed to rising attention around stablecoin firm Circle (CRCL), and telehealth company Hims and Hers (HIMS).

“There’s been a lot of interest in Circle (CRCL), I think that [Hims and Hers (HIMS)] had a big move yesterday – when you have a big move like that around news, you always have retail and institutional jumping in – so I wouldn’t say it’s just the top ten, there’s new things coming all the time,” he said.

In addition, some traders showed increased activity around oil futures. However, Tenev said that group of investors had already been active in energy markets, and that recent geopolitical headlines have not shifted their behavior in a major way.

The overall trend, according to Tenev, remains focused on innovation. Investors still appear drawn to sectors like artificial intelligence, electric vehicles, defense, and fintech.

“So heavy in the AI space with companies like Nvidia, Tesla, electric vehicles, big in crypto and fintech-related companies. So it’s very much long innovation. Some companies like Palantir, obviously in the defense space, continue to be retail favorites, but that was always the case, that’s been the case for many, many years.”

Despite ongoing risks in global markets, retail traders are not showing signs of retreat. Instead, they continue to look for long-term growth in familiar sectors.