From nuclear energy to chips: A painful awakening for retail investors in 'dream stocks'
After suffering heavy losses from 'dream stocks', Israeli retail investors are shifting their portfolios toward chip giants and AI. This transition reflects a move from chasing hype to targeting long-term macro trends.
After suffering heavy losses from nuclear stocks, Bitcoin, and other 'dream stocks', Israeli retail investors are changing direction. Small nuclear reactors, quantum computing, crypto, and meme stocks, which were among their popular investments a year ago, are giving way this year to relatively more solid investments: chip giants, artificial intelligence, and ETFs on leading indices. This emerges from a Calcalist examination based on the ten stocks held in the largest volumes by retail investors at six investment houses to which private investors have been flocking in recent years: Meitav, IBI, Interactive Israel, Altshuler Shaham, Psagot, and Blink. The examination compared two time periods – the first half of 2025 and the first half of 2026.
Retail investors have become a significant force on the Israeli stock exchange in the last two years. The thousands of accounts opened every month through investment houses add new investors to the household, who actively influence the general momentum in the Israeli stock market alongside institutional bodies and foreign investors. It is estimated that there are currently nearly one million retail investors – about one in every ten citizens in Israel. They are currently responsible for about 12% of trading volumes on the stock exchange.
Despite their growing influence on the local stock exchange, the Calcalist examination shows that most, if not all, of the new investors' investments are concentrated in markets abroad. The data reveals a picture of convergence around a limited number of technology giants. Nvidia is the only company whose stock appears as a leading holding in all six entities and in both time ranges. Alongside it, ETFs tracking broad stock indices like the S&P 500 and Nasdaq stand out, serving as the foundation upon which retail investors build their exposure to the US stock market.
The most prominent move made in the last year is the shift to significant reliance on chip stocks in various portfolios. While in 2025 only Nvidia and AMD appeared prominently in the lists, in 2026 Micron, Intel, SanDisk, and even leveraged ETFs on the sector were added to them, which indicates a significant expansion of exposure to the sector. In other words, if in the past investors were scattered among a variety of trends, today they are concentrating their investments around one central scenario – the continuation of high investments in artificial intelligence infrastructure, which will drive demand for chips and memory.
Chaim Kirichli, VP of Trading at Psagot, explained: "ETFs occupy a central place in the retail portfolios of investors, both in 2025 and in 2026. The entry of Intel and Meta into the top ten illustrates the growing attraction to the technology sector. At the same time, the current results of the held stocks indicate a slightly higher preference for focused exposure to the US market, and less for global diversification."
However, there is a clear split between types of investors. In investment houses like Meitav and Psagot, a preference for broad ETFs is prominent, where exposure to AI is done mainly through indices or through giant stocks like Nvidia and Microsoft. On the other hand, in platforms serving more active investors, such as IBI, Altshuler Shaham, and Interactive Israel, there is a higher willingness to take risks through specific chip stocks, leveraged ETFs, and leveraged instruments on the Nasdaq. An examination by IBI shows that the newer the account, regardless of the client's age, the greater the tendency to trade more.
The change in the composition of the portfolios is prominent mainly in what has disappeared from them. An examination of the holdings of retail investors in 2025 points to a series of 'dream stocks' and hype stocks of that period, which were supposed to provide investors with high and fast returns. Thus, companies like Oklo and Nano Nuclear, which promised a revolution in the field of small nuclear reactors, disappeared from the lists; Rigetti stock, which was one of the prominent names in the field of quantum computing; the Bitcoin mining company BitMine; the trading platform stock Robinhood and Opendoor, a meme stock. Also, it is evident that retail investors have abandoned a series of leveraged investment instruments on the crypto market, including BITX and ETHU, alongside the investment instrument MSTY related to MicroStrategy stock. The common denominator of these holdings was that they were traded mainly based on a narrative and expectations for the future, and not based on established business activity or profitability.
"Investors are maturing"
The abandonment of 'dream stocks' did not happen in a vacuum, but after significant negative momentum in these stocks and instruments. The options fund on MicroStrategy stock fell by 74%, the leveraged ETF on Ethereum fell by 86%, and the Bitcoin fund plummeted by 79% within 12 months. Nano Nuclear lost more than half of its value during this period and Oklo fell by 48.5%. BitMine fell by 46% and Robinhood shed 11%. In total, the 'dream stocks' yielded an average negative return of 27% for retail investors in the last year.
Avi Malka, CEO of Altshuler Shaham Trade, says: "In the first half of 2026 one can see a greater focus on companies that benefit from long-term macro trends, primarily in the fields of chips and artificial intelligence. That is, less chasing a point-in-time story, and more of an attempt to be exposed to trends that are perceived as having significant growth potential over time."
David Shem-Tov, CEO of the Interactive Israel group, adds: "The data reflects a change in the preferences of the Israeli investor. We see a gradual process in which investors mature, learn, and professionalize. They do not abandon broad indices, but alongside exposure to them, they try to choose more specifically the companies and areas that they believe will lead the market in the coming years."
The results that emerge from the Calcalist examination are familiar to economic researchers. A study published in 2025 in the Journal of Financial Economics called the phenomenon "Reaching for Yield" – a tendency to increase risk in search of yield. However, after increases of hundreds and even thousands of percent in some of the public's holdings, the question that remains open is whether this thesis will also stand the test of time – or will it turn out to be the next trend from which they will try to flee in a year.
