Retail and institutional investors don’t often see eye-to-eye, but there’s an investment idea both groups are bullish on in 2026.
A survey conducted by Mizuho of 300 retail investors and 45 institutional investors shows that both cohorts have fresh optimism for fintech stocks this year, while they say their interest in crypto stocks is waning.
The shift follows a tough year for bitcoin and crypto broadly, with the apex token ending 2025 down more than 6%. Mizuho said that both groups of investors seem undecided on the direction of crypto stocks, though there is still a slightly bullish tilt. Surprisingly, institutions are more bullish than retail, Mizuho said.
However, investors of both cohorts are decidedly more upbeat about fintech.
“Both retail and institutional investors lean bullish on Fintech, with a 3.1x and a 2.7x ratio on the sector being more attractive vs. less attractive in 2026 vs. 2025 for retail and institutional, respectively,” wrote Mizuho analyst Dan Dolev.
Dolev said both groups are particularly excited about the consumer lending space in 2026, citing stocks like SoFi Technologies, Affirm Holdings, and Upstart as examples. The survey also found that retail investors are enthusiastic about payments and checkout stocks such as PayPal, though institutional investors favor payment networks like Visa and Mastercard.
Among institutional investors, there was a bearish view of crypto treasury companies, which have struggled amid a wider bear market in the space. The poster child for digital asset treasury plays, Strategy, has seen its stock plunge 50% in the last year.
“Both retail and institutional seem less decisive regarding the future of Crypto in 2026,” Dolev said. “Although the bias is still positive (53% and 58% of retail & institutional investors respectively expect 2026 to be a better year vs. 2025), there is no clear sense of direction.”
Both investor groups are divided when it comes to exchange platform stocks such as Coinbase, Robinhood, and eToro.
“Interestingly, retail investors are torn on crypto/retail exchanges like GEMI, ETOR, HOOD and COIN ranking it both the best and worst sectors at 19% best and 16% worst, respectively,” Dolev added.