Summary of this article
Most investors prefer holding digital assets; 63% made no trades during H1 2026.
Younger users aged 18–24 drove registrations, with buy volumes ten times higher.
Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities accounted for 62% of new user sign-ups.
Crypto investors showed a preference for holding their digital assets rather than actively trading them during the first half of 2026, according to ZebPay's H1 2026 report. The report found that 63 per cent of users made no trades during the six-month period while continuing to hold crypto.
At the same time, 29 per cent of users continued to trade while holding crypto during H1 2026. The report said holding and trading behaviours were not mutually exclusive, meaning some users were included in both groups.
Younger Users Drive Growth
The report added more than 120,000 users during H1 2026, with the 18–24 age group accounting for nearly 50 per cent of new registrations. The top 10 states contributed nearly 67 per cent of new users.
Among active users, around 85 per cent participated in spot markets and about 72 per cent used at least two platform features. Returning investors made up 82 per cent of the active user base, compared with 18 per cent for new investors.
The report also found that younger investors showed a stronger preference for accumulating crypto. Among 18 to 24 year olds, buy volumes were nearly 10 times higher than sell volumes, with Solana the preferred digital asset for the group. The 26 to 35 age group was the largest user segment overall, while users aged 45 and above had the largest average portfolios.
Tier-Based Growth in H1 2026
Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities together accounted for around 62 per cent of new user registrations in H1 2026. Tier-3 cities alone contributed nearly 21 per cent and recorded the smallest decline in registrations compared with Metro and Tier-2 markets from H2 2025.
The trend was different for trading activity. Metro cities kept trading volumes close to H2 2025 levels while recording a higher number of orders. Tier-2 cities saw the sharpest decline in active traders and trading volume, while Tier-3 cities were the only segment to record an increase in average order size.
Around 12 per cent of users who traded while holding crypto were active every month of H1 2026. Those active throughout all six months generated around 21 times the trading volume of users active for only one month.
Investors who mainly held Bitcoin made up the largest group at 30 per cent, followed by those holding older altcoins at 17.3 per cent and investors with a mix of cryptocurrencies at 15 per cent. Meme coin investors accounted for 9.5 per cent.
USDT was the dominant trading pair and stablecoin by trading volume, followed by Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP and Solana. Bitcoin generated nearly four times Ethereum's trading volume despite both attracting a similar number of traders. Also, Indian investors maintained a buying-led pattern during the period, around 7 per cent more purchases of crypto than they sold during H1 2026.
