Robinhood Markets (NASDAQ:HOOD) Chief Brokerage Officer Steve Quirk said the company’s retail customers remain highly engaged and are increasingly using a broader set of products as the brokerage expands beyond its original self-directed trading base.
Speaking at J.P. Morgan’s TMC conference, Quirk described Robinhood’s customer base as younger than many legacy brokerage rivals, with about 27 million to 27.5 million customers and roughly half new to brokerage. He said that profile affects how customers respond to volatility and risk.
Retail investors remain active during volatility
Quirk said Robinhood customers have been “aggressive in their dip buying” during market disruptions, including around COVID-era volatility and more recent tariff-related market moves. He said deposits increased during those periods and buying was heavy across asset classes, though he added that activity is not always frenzied and can be more measured.
To counter the view that retail investors tend to buy market tops and sell bottoms, Quirk pointed to Robinhood’s RIX index, which tracks the top-held stocks across Robinhood customers as a percentage of portfolios. He said the index is designed to be “very democratic,” treating smaller and larger portfolios equally, and that Robinhood customers outperformed broader indices in two of the past three years.
Product expansion targets more sophisticated users
Quirk said Robinhood has been filling out its offering as customers become more sophisticated and accumulate more assets. He pointed to demand for products such as index options, futures, shorting, margin and retirement accounts. Robinhood did not offer retirement accounts until a couple of years ago, he said, but that business has since become “quite large.”
He said Robinhood’s position differs from legacy brokers because it attracted a large base of younger investors quickly, while earlier gaps in its product lineup created what he called “graduation risk.” The company’s goal, he said, has been to expand the toolkit so users can remain on the platform as their needs evolve.
Quirk also discussed Portfolio Overview, a product that links Robinhood account views with external accounts. He said the feature can help Robinhood identify where customers hold assets elsewhere and show where the company believes it has stronger pricing or capabilities. He cited Robinhood’s cash sweep product, managed portfolio offering called Strategy and a wealth management referral network that he said was about a month from rollout.
Asked whether low yields on customer cash at traditional financial institutions are an “Achilles heel,” Quirk said Robinhood has $345 billion in assets while larger competitors have trillions, creating “a lot to attack.”
International growth focuses on regulated markets
On international expansion, Quirk said Robinhood’s first move outside the U.S. was in the U.K. a little over a year ago. He also discussed Singapore, where he said Robinhood has principal approval, and Indonesia, where the company acquired a brokerage firm.
Quirk said Indonesia is attractive because it has the world’s fourth-largest population, a young demographic profile and a large base of registered crypto investors. He said Robinhood’s technology-first model can help it deliver education and access efficiently in markets where retail investing is still developing.
Quirk contrasted U.S. retail participation, which he said has reached about 60% of households, with participation in Europe and Asia, which he said is in the teens or lower. He said education and awareness will be important to expanding retail participation globally.
Prediction markets and regulation
Quirk also addressed prediction markets and Robinhood’s joint venture with Susquehanna, Rothera. He said Robinhood initially entered the category through election contracts via ForecastEx and later also partnered with Kalshi. The company saw strong early demand, including hundreds of millions of contracts and about 800,000 accounts opened, according to Quirk.
He said creating a Robinhood-linked exchange with Susquehanna gives the company more control over product development, liquidity providers, economics and customer experience. Quirk said Robinhood views event contracts as being in the “very early innings,” with sports as one category and potential expansion into areas closer to securities.
On regulation, Quirk said changes to the pattern day trading rule will be a “very positive development” for Robinhood. He said the rule, which he described in simple terms as four trades in five days for affected smaller accounts, has disproportionately affected Robinhood because its average account size is about $13,000. He said the change should help both trading activity and the ability to re-attract customers who previously left because of the restriction.
Super app ambitions and IPO access
Quirk said Robinhood’s broader vision is to bring more of a customer’s financial life into one place, including banking, credit cards, crypto, equities and retirement. He said technology is the connective tissue that can allow users to move across asset classes, account types and advisory services more easily.
He cited mobile adoption as an example of how quickly customer behavior has changed, saying he would not have expected a decade ago that the largest retail options trading firm globally would conduct nearly all of its trading on mobile phones.
In response to a question about anticipated large IPOs, Quirk highlighted Robinhood’s IPO Access product. He said Robinhood has participated in more than 40 IPOs and that companies increasingly view retail investors as an important part of their offerings. Quirk said Robinhood customers tend to hold IPO shares rather than quickly flip them, and he said IPO participation can also support other parts of Robinhood’s ecosystem, including securities lending.
About Robinhood Markets (NASDAQ:HOOD)
Robinhood Markets, Inc (NASDAQ: HOOD) is a U.S.-based financial services company best known for its mobile-first brokerage platform that aims to “democratize finance for all.” Founded in 2013 by Vladimir Tenev and Baiju Bhatt and headquartered in Menlo Park, California, the company built early traction by offering commission-free trading and a simplified user experience that attracted a large base of retail investors.
Robinhood’s core products and services include a mobile app and web platform for trading U.S.
