Investing.com -- Retail investors are growing more sophisticated, more disciplined, and increasingly hungry for unified platforms that span stocks, options, and crypto, according to executives at Moomoo U.S., who spoke exclusively with Investing.com.

Neil McDonald, CEO of Moomoo U.S., said the platform's 30 million retail clients are moving beyond speculative trades toward more structured strategies.

"We are seeing users pay closer attention to macro signals, interest rates, inflation, geopolitics and how those factors affect risk assets across equities, options and crypto," McDonald said.

Options activity surged throughout 2025 and has continued to climb this year, he added, with users increasingly employing covered strategies, protective puts, spreads, and multi-leg positions tied to existing portfolio holdings.

When it comes to Moomoo’s platform and artificial intelligence, McDonald said the goal is enhancement rather than replacement.

"This is not about replacing the investor," he stated. "It provides them with better ways to monitor markets, evaluate opportunities, test ideas and build workflows that reflect their own objectives and risk tolerance."

The firm recently launched API Skills, a capability that lets users connect their own AI agents to Moomoo's infrastructure to translate natural-language investment ideas into structured strategies.

McDonald also noted a broadening of AI-related investment interest beyond mega-cap technology names, with retail investors increasingly examining second-order beneficiaries such as semiconductors, data centers, cybersecurity, and software productivity.

"Investors are increasingly trying to separate long-term beneficiaries from short-term hype," he commented.

Meanwhile, focusing on crypto and tokenization, Albi Mema, Director of Crypto Operations at Moomoo U.S., cautioned against overstating the near-term retail impact.

"A lot of tokenization commentary makes it sound like everything is going on-chain tomorrow and the average retail investor's life changes overnight," Mema told Investing.com. "I do not think that is the right framing."

He described near-term tokenization benefits as primarily institutional (faster settlement, cleaner reconciliation, more efficient issuance) while arguing the retail breakthrough comes later, when blockchain gives investors greater control over ownership and transferability.

Moomoo recently served as the first U.S. brokerage to provide retail access to Figure Technology Solutions' blockchain-native share offering, the first SEC-registered public equity issued in blockchain-native form.

Mema framed such deals as indicative of early signals of market-structure evolution rather than isolated milestones. "Our role is to make sure retail investors are not left out as market infrastructure evolves," he highlighted.

Both executives pushed back on the notion that retail investors panic during volatile markets.

"Retail investors are not simply stepping away when markets become volatile," McDonald said. "Many are using these periods to reassess portfolios, identify opportunities and become more intentional about how they allocate capital."

Mema stated that “retail investors are not behaving like passive spectators anymore,” and the old stereotype that retail investors panic during volatility or chase headlines “is too simplistic.”

“What we are seeing is a more informed, more engaged, and more disciplined retail investor,” he added.