Stocktwits CEO on Investing in 2026: 'Never a Better Time to Start, Never a Harder Time to Stay'

Summary

Howard Lindzon, CEO of Stocktwits, joins Jennifer Sanasie to discuss the 'degenerate economy,' where 24/7 speculation and on-demand apps have become mainstream. He argues AI has commoditized traditional research, making social sentiment and social relative strength key edges. He highlights a broadening debasement trade in gold and silver over Bitcoin, and names Philip Morris, Coinbase, Robinhood, DraftKings, CME, CBOE, Uber and DoorDash as degenerate economy participants.

• Howard Lindzon defines the degenerate economy as the next stage of the sin economy, powered by mobile, cloud, app stores and 24/7 speculation.
• He says AI/LLMs have commoditized Wall Street research, leaving social sentiment and social relative strength as remaining edges.
• His social relative strength example is a preference for SanDisk over Nvidia when a stock has high price relative strength but low social following.
• He sees the debasement trade broadening beyond Bitcoin into gold, silver, graphite and steel, with retail crowding into SLV.
• He expects more asset wrappers and tokenized/prediction/crypto products to enhance volatility and trend investing.
• He names Coinbase, Robinhood, DraftKings, CME, CBOE, Uber and DoorDash as degenerate economy participants, and says Philip Morris is back on Zyn.
• He sees AI agents and autonomous ETFs changing retail trading and making it a lean-back experience.
• He warns it has never been a harder time to stay invested despite it being a better time to start.