Once upon a time, Robinhood was the broker for renegade first-time investors who wanted to stick it to Wall Street. Three years on from the height of meme stock mania, the company wants to reclaim the disrupter crown for itself. That’s a far more interesting investment story, particularly if it figures out where its troublemaking can be best deployed.
Three consecutive quarters of net profitability have helped boost Robinhood’s shares by more than 50 per cent this year. It has been helped by market tailwinds too, notably from its crypto operations as trading in bitcoin has surged. In fact, its shares have tracked the crypto drama closely. Higher interest rates have also helped, with net interest revenues offsetting a slide in income from the rebates and payment for order flow that make up its trading core.
So far, so simple. But what does founder Vlad Tenev want Robinhood to be seen as? The place where the kids trade Nvidia while mom and pop sort their 401(k) retirement funds? A crypto hub with the air of an outlaw yet safe onshore US rules? Or some combination of the above in a superapp that combines more businesses such as payments and savings?