Crypto vs Stocks - Performance in 2026 Four of the five biggest gainers on this chart are the AI trade. Hyperscalers are pouring hundreds of billions into data centers, that capex lands straight on chipmakers' income statements, and the memory shortage did the rest: $SNDK +565%, $MU +278%, $INTC +186% on its foundry comeback - with $VVV +948% as the same trade wearing a token. Every red bar is a crypto major. ETFs flipped to outflows, the strategic-reserve narrative died in Congress, and the DAT flywheel broke - even Strategy sold BTC for the first time in four years. The result: $BTC -28%, $BNB -31%, $ETH -41%, $SOL -46%. Crypto's "risk premium" cut both ways this year - the average crypto position lost 25%, while boring mega-caps quietly outperformed every major coin except $HYPE.