Robinhood tops quarterly profit estimates as volatility fuels trading volumes surge

Retail trading platform Robinhood’s first-quarter profit more than doubled and beat analysts’ estimates on Wednesday (Apr 30), driven by a surge in trading volumes from clients looking to hedge their positions amid choppy markets.

The company’s transaction-based revenue, or income generated from fees for facilitating trading in options, cryptocurrency and equities, jumped 77 per cent in the quarter.

The majority of the gains came from a 100 per cent jump in crypto trading activity as Bitcoin remained choppy during the quarter.

US President Donald Trump’s erratic trade policy had triggered volatility across asset classes during the first three months of the year, benefiting platforms such as Robinhood by boosting trading activity.

“We are diversifying the business outside of crypto, which will make us less reliant on crypto transaction volumes in the future,” CEO Vladimir Tenev said.

Revenue from options trading climbed 56 per cent and from equities surged 44 per cent in the quarter. Net interest revenue, the bulk of which comes from margin investing, jumped 14 per cent to US$290 million.

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Total platform assets jumped 70 per cent over last year to US$221 billion, with record net deposits of US$18 billion.

“Customers are not only trading more with us, but they are entrusting us with more of their assets,” Tenev added.

Net income attributable to common stockholders came in at US$336 million, or 37 US cents per share, in the three months ended Mar 31. That compares with a profit of US$157 million, or 18 US cents per share, a year earlier.

Analysts had expected a profit of 33 US cents per share, according to data compiled by LSEG.

The total net revenue of the company, which has announced the rolling out of wealth management and private banking services, climbed 50 per cent to US$927 million.

Robinhood Gold – its premium services membership programme – subscribers nearly doubled to 3.2 million.

The Menlo Park, California-based company’s shares, which have gained nearly 32 per cent in 2025, were last up 1.5 per cent in choppy trading after the bell.

Robinhood also increased its share repurchase authorisation by US$500 million to US$1.5 billion. REUTERS