Why are more and more users choosing to trade stock tokens on Gate.io?

At 6 a.m. in the morning, while the New York Stock Exchange is still asleep, an Asian trader has already completed their first Tesla purchase of the day using USDT on Gate.

This is not a scene from traditional finance, but a real daily occurrence in Gate’s Stock Token Zone. Since early 2025, the total trading volume in Gate’s Stock Token Zone has surpassed $140 billion. During the same period, over 298,000 on-chain addresses hold stock tokens worldwide.

While traditional securities accounts wait for the market to open, orders in crypto accounts are already settled. This “time gap” and “capital efficiency” are driving smart money from traditional brokers to crypto trading platforms. This article will analyze why Gate has become the preferred gateway in this cross-asset trading migration.

Breaking Free from Time Constraints: 24/7 Stock Trading Without Closing

The biggest cost of traditional US stock trading isn’t commissions, but time.

When Tesla releases unexpectedly strong earnings after hours, or the Federal Reserve suddenly signals outside trading hours, investors holding traditional securities accounts can only wait—wait for the next day’s opening, wait for market sentiment to ferment, and accept less-than-ideal prices passively.

On Gate, time never stops.

Gate’s stock tokens leverage blockchain’s underlying network and professional market maker mechanisms to enable truly 24/7 continuous trading. Even when US markets are closed, price discovery continues: market makers reference prices from European and other trading markets, as well as Nasdaq 100 futures, providing continuous bid and ask quotes for stock tokens.

This isn’t simulated trading; it’s real liquidity. In January 2026, after Meta’s earnings report, its stock token METAX surged by 6.43% intraday to $717.95. At that moment, it was 4 a.m. Eastern Time, and Asian traders were enjoying instant execution.

For traders who see “liquidity” as their lifeline, 24/7 trading isn’t just convenience—it’s a baseline.

Capital Never Sleeps: Buy Apple with USDT, Hedge Risks with BTC Profits

What’s the biggest pain point in cross-market asset allocation? It’s capital channel blockages.

Converting crypto assets to fiat, transferring to overseas bank accounts, then to brokerage accounts—this process takes 3-5 business days and involves exchange rate losses and compliance friction. Many native crypto traders don’t lack the desire to allocate to US stocks; they just don’t want to leave their familiar capital system for “allocation.”

Gate’s solution is straightforward: trade directly with USDT.

Whether it’s Tesla, Apple, or NVIDIA, all stock tokens are priced in USDT. This means:

• Profits earned in BTC during crypto bull markets can be used to buy US stocks without converting back to fiat;
• When bearish on US stocks, positions can be closed at any time, with funds remaining in stablecoins in the crypto account;
• All gains and losses are settled in crypto assets, bypassing fiat deposit and withdrawal processes.

One account, one password, one capital pool. USDT acts as the bridge—enabling atomic swaps between crypto assets and US stock prices, far ahead of the traditional T+2 settlement cycle.

Strategy Upgrades: From Single Holdings to Compound Returns

Traditional broker stock trading essentially only offers one approach: buy and wait for appreciation. Want to short? You need to borrow shares. Want leverage? You need margin accounts, risk controls, or even phone confirmations.

In Gate’s Stock Token Zone, strategy tools are native and diverse.

Spot trading meets long-term allocation needs. Each token is backed by full physical stock held by a regulated custodian, with a 1:1 peg to the underlying stock price. Holders enjoy economic rights—dividends are reinvested, allowing the token’s intrinsic value to grow continuously through compounding.

Perpetual contracts open a completely different dimension. The same Tesla stock token can be held long-term in spot, or leveraged for long or short positions in derivatives. Fluctuations before earnings reports, macro data-driven expectations—these short-term opportunities, hard to execute with traditional brokers, are standard tools in Gate’s derivatives market.

Even more notable is DeFi integration. Stock tokens aren’t passive static assets; they can be used as collateral for on-chain lending, liquidity mining, and other DeFi protocols, generating additional yield beyond stock price movements. Holding stocks is no longer just waiting for appreciation—it can actively generate income.

While traditional investors worry about commission rates, Gate users are already earning from stock price gains, shorting profits, and DeFi yields simultaneously with the same assets.

Scale Validation: 89% Market Share and Expanding Boundaries

Users vote with their feet. The total trading volume in Gate’s Stock Token Zone 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.

89.1% means that when traders worldwide want to allocate to stock tokens, they default to Gate.

This dominant market share is supported by Gate’s systematic investments in traditional finance assets. As of February 2026, Gate has listed over 60 tokenized stocks, covering a broad range from tech giants to popular ETFs:

• Tech stocks: TSLAx (Tesla), AAPLx (Apple), NVDAx (Nvidia), GOOGLx (Google)
• Crypto concept stocks: MSTRx (MicroStrategy), COINx (Coinbase)
• ETF tokens: SPYx (S&P 500), QQQx (Nasdaq 100)

This isn’t a niche experiment; it’s a mainstream migration of trading products.

Compliance and Security: The Trust of 49 Million Users

For products connecting traditional finance and crypto, compliance isn’t optional—it’s the entry ticket.

Gate’s approach is comprehensive:

• Licensing: Fully licensed by Dubai’s VARA, Malta’s MFSA under MiCA, and other jurisdictions.
• Asset custody: Stock tokens are held by regulated third-party custodians with actual shares, ensuring asset segregation. The platform maintains a reserve ratio of 125%.
• Technology: Gate is the first major exchange to implement zero-knowledge proof (ZK) technology to verify reserves, with a commitment to 100% reserve backing.

As of February 2026, Gate has served over 49 million registered users. In the crypto industry, this scale, combined with a prudent asset onboarding strategy, is the most direct commitment to user asset security.

How to Start Trading Stock Tokens on Gate?

If you’re eager to try, just four simple steps to begin your on-chain stock investment journey:

1. Prepare funds: Log into your Gate account and ensure your spot account has USDT.
2. Enter the zone: Click on 【Trade】 in the top navigation, select 【xStocks Spot Zone】 or 【TradFi Derivatives】.
3. Search for assets: Enter your desired trading pair, e.g., GOOGLx/USDT or TSLAx/USDT.
4. Place an order: Input your desired purchase amount—supporting fractional shares, starting as low as $10.

Important Risk Boundaries

While stock tokens offer great convenience, rational traders should understand the differences:

• Rights: Holding tokens usually doesn’t confer voting rights like traditional shareholders, and dividends are reflected through token value adjustments rather than cash payouts.
• Price tracking: Stock tokens are essentially price-tracking products; their value mainly reflects the market movement of the underlying stock, not ownership of the company.
• Market depth: Mainstream assets have excellent liquidity, but some niche tokens may have thinner order books compared to traditional markets.

Conclusion

Stock tokens aren’t about bringing stocks onto the blockchain. They are tailored tools for crypto capital to participate in global asset prices.

They don’t aim to replace traditional brokers or persuade value investors to change their habits. They solve one core problem: when your main funds are in crypto, and your trading habits are shaped by the crypto market, how can you participate efficiently, cheaply, and frictionlessly in the growth of top global companies?

With $14 billion in trading volume, 89% market share in their segment, and 24/7 liquidity, these numbers point to one clear conclusion:

Gate’s Stock Token Zone has become the default gateway for crypto funds to allocate to global assets. As the boundaries between traditional finance and crypto continue to dissolve, an era of “one wallet, investing globally” is rapidly approaching.