Robinhood is a stock brokerage that allows customers to buy and sell U.S. listed stocks and ETFs with zero commission.
Robinhood Markets Inc., or simply Robinhood, is a U.S.-based financial services company headquartered in Menlo Park, California. The company offers the Robinhood smartphone mobile app, which allows individuals to invest in publicly tradedcompanies and exchange-traded funds listed on U.S. stock exchanges without paying a commission. The company makes money from interest earned on customers’ cash balances and margin lending, and by selling order flow to high frequency trading firms.
After an April 2017 fundraising, Robinhood had a $1.3 billion valuation. The Wall Street Journal reported in 2018 that the company had closed another round of financing that valued the company at $5.6 billion.
Robinhood shares soared to an all-time high of $112 on Friday, crossing the $100 billion market capitalization milestone with a 38% gain over 30 days following regulatory developments and new tokenized trading features.
Ark Invest sold off $6.5 million worth of Coinbase shares, $5.8 million Robinhood shares, and $1.7 million Block Inc. shares amid a broader crypto market rally.
Robinhood’s launch of tokenized stocks for private companies like OpenAI and SpaceX has sparked controversy, with both firms denying any endorsement.