Some of the most popular stocks on the market happen to be brokerages. Whether that’s regular stock brokerages or cryptocurrency exchanges, the amount of trading activity conducted on a daily basis has never been higher, especially as more people are starting to invest and trade. As it turns out, one of America’s most popular brokerages just made a massive announcement. Robinhood (NYSE: HOOD) stated on Tuesday that it’s extending its trading hours significantly, further inching close to 24/7 capability.
The brokerage, which has become popular with individual investors, is planning to expand its hours as a way to make up for slowing growth. Previously, Robinhood only allowed trading for half an hour before the market opened and just two hours after the markets closed.
Now the company is expanding this period, now starting from 7 am EST to 8 pm EST, putting it more or less in line with other traditional brokerage firms.
“Our customers often tell us they’re working or preoccupied during regular market hours, limiting their ability to invest on their own schedule or evaluate and react to important market news,” read the announcement from Robinhood “Our new extended trading hours for equities will give them more opportunities to manage their portfolio at a convenient time for them, whether that’s in the early morning or in the evening.”
The company said that this extended trading capacity would be open to all users and that it should be available within the coming weeks. Other brokers, like Fidelity Investments and Charles Schwab, have already extended their trading hours to a similar range as well.
For the most part, Robinhood skyrocketed in popularity during the Covid-19 pandemic, with millions of new investors deciding to start investing for the first time. The rise of social media traders and meme stocks only further exacerbated this trend. Robinhood said in January that it grew to over 22.7 million customers with funded accounts. That’s almost double the 12.5 million reported back in 2020.
However, most of that growth happened in the first half of last year. Momentum has since petered off, with management now facing stiff competition from regular brokerages as well. That’s not to mention some of the recent scandals Robinhood has faced as well, especially regarding institutional clients and big short squeezes, as was the case with GameStop (NYSE: GME).
Shares of Robinhood were up over 24.6% over the course of the day as traders jumped on the news. Since the year began, however, Robinhood has seen its stock retreat by 13.7%, while shares are down by a staggering 54.3% compared to 12 months ago.
Robinhood Company Profile
Robinhood Markets Inc is creating a modern financial services platform. It designs its own products and services and delivers them through a single, app-based cloud platform supported by proprietary technology. Its vertically integrated platform has enabled the introduction of new products and services such as cryptocurrency trading, dividend reinvestment, fractional shares, recurring investments, and IPO Access. It earns transaction-based revenues from routing user orders for options, equities, and cryptocurrencies to market makers when a routed order is executed. – Warrior Trading News