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, 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.
Majority of the gains came from a 100 per cent jump in crypto trading activity as bitcoin remained choppy during the quarter.
U.S. 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're diversifying the business outside of crypto, which will make us less reliant on crypto transaction volumes in the future," CEO Vladimir Tenev said in a call.
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 $290 million.
Total platform assets jumped 70 per cent over last year to $221 billion, with record net deposits of $18 billion.
"Customers are not only trading more with us, but they're entrusting us with more of their assets," Tenev added.
Net income attributable to common stockholders came in at $336 million, or 37 cents per share, in the three months ended March 31. That compares with a profit of $157 million, or 18 cents per share, a year earlier.
Analysts had expected a profit of 33 cents per share, according to data compiled by LSEG.
Total net revenue of the company, which has announced the rolling out of wealth management and private banking services, climbed 50 per cent to $927 million.
Robinhood Gold - its premium services membership program - 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.
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