The distinguished trading app Robinhood confined buying stocks of many meme stocks pertained to the ambush rally around Gamestop.
The popular trading app Robinhood restricted stock purchases of various meme stocks associated with the surprise assembly around Gamestop. Individual investors are pretty shocked when they hear the shock of the constraint of stock buying. Robinhood is a commission-free trading platform and quite famous with occasional stock traders, limited trading of many stocks, including Naked group, Nokia, AMC, and GameStop.
Robinhood app owners didn’t provide any quick justification for halting the trading services for clients from purchasing the stocks. It follows other big trading platforms, such as TD Ameritrade, setting limitations on certain commodities. Investors welcomed the move, and app owners had to face extensive ridicule on the Reddit community / WallStreetBets, which has been at the centcentrethe abrupt activities on wall street for over a week. Robinhood got more than 100,000 1- star reviews at the app store within an hour of unlisting the stocks.
Individual investors started sharing their anger and disbelief on Reddit mobilized around GameStop stock in reply to hedge funds shorting in excess the stock. From an investor’s point of view, when a visual investor shorts a stock, they are quite sure that the stock rate will go down over some time. The investors obtain the stock from different investors and then trade it to a third party. As the agreed time ends, the quick seller then buys the stock and returns it to its original owner, and takes the difference between the two transactions.
By accelerating the price of GameStop’s stock with a sequence of sudden purchases, Redditors planned a short squeeze, which then compelled short-sellers to rush and repurchase their stock at a reduced rate, meaning at a loss, so scaling up the rate even further. Like BlackBerry and AMC, different stocks were entangled in the surge as thousands of investors pursued to earn money off the grassroots-driven market explosion. Meanwhile, the trade market swings grabbed the White House’s spotlight as the Bidden government noticed that they were scrutinizing the situation surrounding GameStop’s trade rate hike.
What’s the consequence of Robinhood regulation on trading a few stocks?
Several users continued to download the app despite the restriction. While this turned out to be a pain in the neck for the Robinhood team but also a blessing in disguise for them as all the publicity the app garnered amidst all this high drama was immense. All those who were not aware of the brand a month back have downloaded the app too.
The day of Robinhood’s restriction announcement turned out to be the biggest on record downloading day that the app has ever witnessed with straight 440 000 first-time installations, as per the data revealed by the app measurement firm called Sensor Tower. A day after that was the second-biggest outbreaking download day. However, the days after that witnessed a decline in everyday downloads. However, the figures are still significantly higher than they used to be before the company levied restrictions in the US. For the first time in the history of America. 3.7 million people downloaded Robinhood in January, four times greater than what it was back in January 2020. Additionally, more than 2 million people downloaded the app.
Webull and TD Ameritrade: fierce competitors of Robinhood also banned their meme stock trades and gained significantly while the meme stock investment was skyrocketing. The two also faced a sudden decline like Robinhood did, which implied two possibilities that either the retail investor momentum decelerated or many people had used enough of these apps already.
Investors found out that though they have bashed the app, it’s not easy to leave it. Traders are finding out that the switching is not so simple, the same as reminiscent of Apple iPhone users and Facebook struggling to quit these platforms.
However, it seems this Reddit- fueled GameStop trading story is not harming significantly to Robinhood’s rage.
The brokerage-free app has invariably got a higher number of downloads, despite having faced user’s anger and frustration due to suddenly prohibiting marketing on some stocks on the app. Robinhood markets are going to make a bid to capitalize even more on the trading mania by a creative promotional campaign Super Bowl ad which expresses its keen clients that ” You don’t need to become an investor, you were born one.”
The app got downloaded more than 600000 times alone last week. Having faced backlash on social media too still, the app downloads jumped and outreached rival platforms and remained the most downloaded app in starting February.
Why are investors still downloading the app?
The main reason users could not switch quickly to competitors’ apps is the non-availability of a dynamic platform like Robinhood.
Figures showed that several customers were utilizing the app. Daily unique user numbers grew to more than 800% last week, in comparison with last year.
Competitor apps have dropped far low of the experience given through Robinhood’s smart, gamified and user-friendly interface and various assistance and alternatives. Typically it takes days to a week or even more, tying up shares earning double or triple-digit proportions on any assigned day. The comfort of the app and amenity are superb, and it’s quite challenging to leave the app and move to another platform.
Though it seems easy to switch the apps, moving from Robinhood to a different brokerage seems easy enough, technically a few taps in the new brokerage firm’s app, but it can have some delays and surprises. Customers need to only provide their account number and Robinhood’s DTC number 6769 to the new firm and call for the transfer. Stock’s full shares, exchange-traded reserves, and alternatives agreements are easily shifted without upheaval or tax reminders. Robinhood charges for the transfer $75 fee like many other rivals, but a new brokerage firm will typically pay back the money upon asking.
There is only one constraint in shifting the shares, that is about fractional shares and cryptocurrency. Ownership that is less than a full share, like $100 worth of Amazon capital, can’t be transferred. Robinhood will eventually sell those digital currencies and shares. You can turn out the owing tariff on wealth profits and the levy banks’ amount on for how long you have kept up the stock.
With Robinhood’s growing undercurrents and the company failing to provide clarity about the trade restrictions, more people are ultimately determined to leave. Kellen Moore,27 years old and an operations processor was living in North Carolina, has traded using the Robinhood app for three years. Still, she didn’t like the explanation given by Robinhood authorities regarding the trade restrictions, and now she has plans to switch to Webull. However, the company issued a public statement in the beginning and mentioned market volatility to be the reason behind restrictions but didn’t take a firm stand on clearing the collateral, which has spread a wave of wobbliness in people regarding the company’s stability.
Conclusion
Despite being not happy with the free-trading app Robinhood’s abrupt decision of halting the trading of some stocks, many users continued with the app due to comfort of use, convenient interface, and less time in processing. The overall functionality of the app is far more superior to any other rival platform. In this highly competitive, fast-paced world of services, you can take the risk of losing customers. Robinhood app makers have done a fantastic job creating such a user-friendly platform that investors cannot quit and join the rival app. However, for all the firms providing services to the general public, there is a lesson learned here, service providers should take utmost care in any announcements that can impact thousands of users. Although there was no considerable blow to the Robinhood app while dealing in services, they could have been more alert.