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Last week, AMC Entertainment's boss Adam Aron criticized Robinhood's CEO Vlad Tenev on X, after the platform launched a tokenized version of the theater chain's shares. Tenev joins 'Squawk Box' to discuss.

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Here Are Tuesday’s Top Wall Street Analyst Research Calls: Blackstone, Blue Owl Capital, Booking Holdings, Cheniere Energy, Comcast, Domino’s Pizza, KeyCorp, Qualcomm, and More Pre-Market Stock Futures: Futures are trading higher this morning after a dreadful day to start the trading week. Various reasons were cited for the risk-off bias on Monday, but the tariff situation, which the…

Lee Jackson · 7 months ago

Here Are Tuesday’s Best Wall Street Analyst Research Calls: Apple, Bloom Energy, Circle Internet Group, First Solar, Halliburton, IBM, Intuit, Newmont, SK hynix, and More Iran fired on ships, Trump answered with missiles and seized the Strait of Hormuz, and Wall Street spent Tuesday sorting out who gets hurt and who benefits. Analysts at KeyBanc, HSBC, and Mizuho made…

Lee Jackson · 2 months ago

Here Are Wednesday’s Top Wall Street Analyst Research Calls: Abbott Laboratories, Airbnb, Biogen, Cava Group, GitLab, Halliburton, Qualcomm, Seagate, Toast, and More Pre-Market Stock Futures: Futures are trading higher as we hit the midweek point. All major indices finished lower on Tuesday as the deadline for the ceasefire approached, amid threats to cancel talks between Iran…

Lee Jackson · 5 months ago

Here Are Friday’s Top Wall Street Analyst Research Calls: Broadcom, Equifax, Hubbell, Marvell Technology, NVIDIA, SpaceX, Portland General Electric, Taylor Devices, Teradyne, and More Markets are clawing back from a brutal Thursday selloff, but the real action is in the analyst calls, where BMO Capital just pulled the trigger on three major chip stocks at once and DZ…

Lee Jackson · 3 weeks ago

Here Are Tuesday’s Top Wall Street Analyst Research Calls: Applied Materials, Devon Energy, GoDaddy, Home Depot, Lam Research, Lowe’s, Roblox, Tractor Supply, Ulta Beauty, and More Pre-Market Stock Futures: Futures are trading higher on Tuesday after new highs on Friday turned into a risk-off Monday, triggered by rising oil prices, a report that Iran attacked the UAE, and an additional…

Lee Jackson · 4 months ago

Here Are Thursday’s Top Wall Street Analyst Research Calls: Alphabet, Analog Devices, Crown Castle, ebay, EPR Properties, Etsy, Merck & Co., Shopify, TJX Companies, and More Pre-Market Stock Futures: Futures are trading lower after a wild day on Wall Street, as stocks took off after Treasury Secretary Bessent announced the Treasury would double its current bond buyback, targeting 10- to…

Lee Jackson · 3 weeks ago

Key Takeaways Robinhood began routing select football event contracts to OG.com's CFTC-regulated exchange on Sept. 8.HOOD generated $156 million in Q2 event contract revenues, up more than tenfold year over year.The Crypto.com deal adds another venue as football seasons and 2026 midterms could lift trading activity. Robinhood Markets (HOOD - Free Report) is stepping up its push into prediction markets through a collaboration with Crypto.com and its standalone prediction-markets platform, OG.com. Beginning Sept. 8, HOOD started routing select football event contracts to OG.com’s CFTC-regulated exchange and clearinghouse. As part of the agreement, HOOD will receive minority equity stakes in Crypto.com and OG.com, priced in line with Citadel Securities’ recent investment that valued Crypto.com Group at $20 billion.

The deal comes at an opportune time, as prediction markets have emerged as one of Robinhood’s fastest-growing businesses. In the second quarter of 2026, customers traded 13.6 billion event contracts, while World Cup-related activity alone exceeded 5 billion contracts. Through the first eight months of 2026, more than 30 billion contracts were traded, lifting cumulative volumes since launch to more than 45 billion.

The rapid volume growth is increasingly translating into meaningful revenues. HOOD generated $156 million in event contract revenues in the second quarter, up more than tenfold year over year and surpassing Robinhood’s quarterly equities revenues of $129 million and crypto revenues of $100 million. This highlights the growing importance of prediction markets to the company’s revenue mix.

The Crypto.com collaboration is expected to further aid growth by adding another execution venue alongside Kalshi, ForecastEx and Rothera. A broader network of exchanges can enhance liquidity, improve pricing and expand contract availability, potentially supporting higher customer engagement. The timing is also favorable, with the professional and college football seasons underway and the 2026 U.S. midterm elections approaching, two events that could generate significant trading activity.

Robinhood’s expanding exchange network, broader product suite and large retail base should support further growth in prediction markets. However, rising competition and regulatory uncertainty could temper the pace of expansion. While the Crypto.com deal strengthens HOOD’s liquidity and product breadth, sustained momentum will hinge on customer engagement and the evolving regulatory backdrop.

HOOD’s Competitors in the Prediction Markets BusinessRobinhood faces intensive competition from Interactive Brokers (IBKR - Free Report) and Coinbase Global (COIN - Free Report) in the prediction markets business.

Interactive Brokers has created a unified prediction-market interface spanning its ForecastEx platform, Kalshi and CME Group, with orders routed toward the best available net price. Interactive Brokers plans to add more exchanges and remains focused on economically relevant events such as elections, climate and macro indicators, while expanding weather offerings into hurricane-landfall and insurance-risk contracts.

Coinbase Global is scaling even faster. Its prediction-market contracts and revenues jumped 106% sequentially in the second quarter of 2026, pushing the business above $100 million in annualized revenues. Coinbase’s new crypto-binary experience drove roughly three times as many daily traders and four times the daily revenue versus May averages, while management plans to add combination trades.

HOOD’s Price Performance, Valuation & Estimate AnalysisOver the past three months, Robinhood’s shares have jumped 35.9% compared with the industry’s growth of 11.8%.

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

HOOD shares are currently trading at a premium to the industry. The company has a 12-month trailing price-to-tangible book (P/TB) of 12.19X compared with the industry average of 3.38X.

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Robinhood’s 2026 earnings suggests a year-over-year increase of 2%. The trend is likely to continue next year, with earnings expected to jump 34.5%. In the past week, earnings estimates for 2026 and 2027 have been revised higher to $2.09 and $2.81 per share, respectively.

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

HOOD currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Partnership Leverages OG.com's CFTC-regulated Platform Following $5 Billion Spin-off from Crypto.com

, /PRNewswire/ -- Robinhood Markets, Inc. (NASDAQ: HOOD) and prediction market platform OG.com today announced a landmark multi-year partnership designating OG.com as an infrastructure and clearing provider for Robinhood's Prediction Markets offering.

OG.com x Robinhood x Crypto.com Under the agreement, Robinhood will route retail event contract volume through OG.com's underlying Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) regulated derivatives exchange and clearinghouse architecture. Prediction Markets on Robinhood are offered by Robinhood Derivatives, LLC, a registered futures commission merchant with the CFTC and Member of National Futures Association (NFA). This agreement will represent OG.com's largest B2B prediction markets partnership in terms of transaction volumes.

The partnership follows Citadel Securities investment into Crypto.com at a $20 billion valuation, which includes a standalone $5 billion valuation of OG.com through its strategic spin-off from Crypto.com. By separating from the core digital asset exchange infrastructure, OG.com operates as an independent company with dedicated capital allocation focused exclusively on scaling its direct consumer experience and deepening its institutional-grade, CFTC-regulated framework across sports, financials, and economic contract markets and margined derivatives.

As part of the deal, Robinhood will hold initial equity stakes in Crypto.com and OG.com following the latter's spin-off as an independent trading platform and the equity will be priced in line with the recent investment of Citadel Securities into the Crypto.com Group at a $20 billion valuation.

By routing contracts to OG.com Robinhood is expanding its existing prediction markets offering, making it an even higher-capacity engine capable of handling institutional-grade liquidity, instant clearing, and a more dynamic event catalog expansion across macroeconomic indicators, global sports, elections, and cultural milestones. The rollout of OG.com-backed event contracts on the Robinhood app will begin in phases to eligible U.S. customers starting on September 8, 2026.

"This is the beginning of a strategic partnership between both companies," said Kris Marszalek, Founder and CEO of Crypto.com and OG.com. "We're looking forward to making OG.com the most liquid venue globally for innovative derivative instruments, starting with prediction markets and quickly expanding into futures and perpetuals."

"Teaming up with Crypto.com and OG.com strengthens our position as a leader in the prediction markets space and gives us even more skin in the game," said JB Mackenzie, VP and GM of Futures and Prediction Markets at Robinhood. "Prediction markets are becoming an increasingly meaningful way for investors to engage with the events they care about, and this deal helps us meet our growing customer demand."

This multi-year partnership accelerates the evolution of modern market infrastructure by directly aligning retail accessibility with institutional-grade derivatives execution. OG.com's operational separation into a standalone entity creates the dedicated agility, specialized capital allocation, and regulatory clarity required to power high-frequency prediction markets. Simultaneously, Robinhood's integration and direct equity stake position both companies to capture the surging global demand for CFTC-regulated event contract trading and other innovative products.

By partnering with OG.com, Robinhood is further improving its execution layer with an established exchange infrastructure offering deep liquidity, ensuring strict federal compliance under CFTC oversight while supporting Crypto.com and OG.com's broader vision to establish two category-defining financial powerhouses in digital assets and regulated derivatives.

About Crypto.com
Founded in 2016, Crypto.com is trusted by millions of users worldwide and is the industry leader in regulatory compliance, security and privacy. Our vision is simple: Cryptocurrency in Every Wallet™. Crypto.com is committed to accelerating the adoption of cryptocurrency through innovation and development of new use cases including prediction markets and tokenized RWAs.

Learn more at https://crypto.com.

About OG.com
OG.com is an independent trading platform that operates multiple business lines servicing customers globally. Conducting business through registered entities, including the OG of event markets North American Derivatives Exchange, Inc., a designated contract market and derivatives clearing organization registered with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), and the OG Broker, a CFTC-registered Futures Commission Merchant (FCM), OG.com offers an up-to-date trading ecosystem for prediction market contracts across various categories, including sports, financials, economics, culture, and much more.

Built around a comprehensive suite of event contracts, OG.com allows all OGs to be original, whether a customer is a sports fan, an influencer, an oracle of culture, or part of the global community - all OGs can act on uncertainty, trade predictions, engage with a vibrant community, and climb the leaderboard. Available through direct access as well as intermediaries like FCMs and Introducing Brokers, OG.com is where it pays to be right.

Find your edge today at https://OG.com.

OG.com is available in approved jurisdictions. Trading is subject to risk and may not be appropriate for all.

About Robinhood
Robinhood Markets, Inc. (NASDAQ: HOOD) is a global leader in financial services offering retail brokerage, crypto, advisory, digital banking services, and private markets access to a new generation of investors. Additional information about Robinhood can be found at www.robinhood.com.

Futures, options on futures and cleared swaps trading is offered by Robinhood Derivatives, LLC ("Robinhood Derivatives"), a registered futures commission merchant with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and Member of National Futures Association (NFA). Robinhood Derivatives is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Robinhood Markets, Inc. ("Robinhood Markets"-- when including its consolidated subsidiaries, "we," "our" or "Robinhood").

SOURCE Crypto.com

Robinhood Markets Inc. (NASDAQ:HOOD) shares are trading higher Tuesday. Factors include an expanded prediction markets partnership and a new IPO underwriting role, alongside fresh analyst price target increases.

Robinhood stock is showing upward movement. What’s pushing HOOD stock higher? Crypto.com Deal Expands Robinhood’s Prediction MarketsAccording to The Wall Street Journal, Robinhood struck a deal with Crypto.com to bring the crypto exchange’s yes-or-no event contracts into Robinhood’s prediction markets hub, alongside an equity stake in Crypto.com. The partnership adds Crypto.com to a growing roster of contract suppliers that already includes Kalshi, Interactive Brokers’ ForecastEx, and Rothera, Robinhood’s joint venture with Susquehanna International Group. Robinhood has recorded more than 16 billion event contracts traded in 2026, already surpassing the more than 12 billion traded across all of 2025.

Robinhood Joins Oura IPO SyndicateSeparately, The Wall Street Journal reported that Robinhood has landed its first-ever IPO underwriting role, joining the syndicate for smart-ring maker Oura’s upcoming public offering. Oura filed for its IPO seeking a valuation exceeding $16 billion, with Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan, Allen & Co., and Jefferies serving as lead bookrunners. Robinhood is listed 18th in the syndicate, having received regulatory approval to underwrite deals just three months ago in June.

Analyst ActivityGoldman Sachs raised its price target on Robinhood to $142 from $124, maintaining a Buy rating, with analyst James Yaro citing the strong early performance of Rothera. Cantor Fitzgerald maintained an Overweight rating on Robinhood and raised its price target to $150.

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Robinhood Shares Edge HigherHOOD Price Action: At the time of publication, Robinhood shares are trading 3.28% higher at $126.11, according to data from Benzinga Pro.

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Robinhood Markets (HOOD.O) said on Tuesday it will route some football event contracts through OG.com's federally regulated ​exchange, while taking equity stakes in the platform ‌and its former parent Crypto.com as it further expands into prediction markets.

Here are some more details:

The stakes will be priced in ​line with Citadel Securities' recent investment in Crypto.com ​at a $20 billion valuation, including $5 billion for the recently ⁠spun-off OG.com, Robinhood said.

Starting Tuesday, the retail trading ​platform will route selected football contracts to OG.com, adding another ​trading venue alongside its existing partners ahead of the U.S. professional football season.

Event contracts generated a record $156 million in second-quarter revenue, ​emerging as an increasingly important growth driver for Robinhood.

OG.com, ​an independent trading platform, operates a derivatives exchange and clearinghouse regulated ‌by ⁠the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

Robinhood is also expanding its election-related contracts ahead of the November midterms with a dedicated hub for state and federal races, some ​of which could ​later be ⁠routed to Crypto.com and OG.com.

Prediction markets offer "yes" or "no" contracts on sports, political and economic ​events, with proponents arguing they harness the "wisdom ​of ⁠crowds". Critics liken them to gambling, and regulators have stepped up scrutiny over insider trading.

The products gained mainstream popularity ⁠during ​the 2024 U.S. presidential election and ​attracted strong demand during sports events such as the FIFA World ​Cup.

AMC stock is sliding back toward last week's levels while Robinhood barely flinches, and that disconnect raises a pointed question about what Friday's CEO feud was actually trading on.

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The tokenized-stock feud that lifted retail favorite AMC Entertainment (NYSE:AMC) on Friday looks like it’s already unwinding, and the muted action in the broker at the center of the dispute tells the story.

AMC stock is down 5% to $2.52 in morning trading, giving back a chunk of last week’s headline-driven pop. Notably, AMC shares are still up 60% year to date, so today’s move sits inside a large annual gain rather than reversing it.

Robinhood Markets (NASDAQ:HOOD | HOOD Price Prediction) stock is down 0.57% to $121.41, practically unchanged on the session. Meanwhile, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSEARCA:SPY) is down 0.38%, so the broad tape is soft but nothing like AMC’s decline.

Friday’s Rally Retraces on No New Development On Friday, AMC CEO Adam Aron publicly criticized Robinhood over its tokenized stock offerings and called for the broker to pull them. The Wall Street Journal captured his tone, quoting Aron calling the tokens “inexcusable” and “vile.” AMC shares rose that day on the headline, and no follow-up news has advanced the dispute since.

The plain reading here is profit taking. A stock that pops on an executive complaint and gives it back days later without any fresh development wasn’t really trading on the complaint. No company announcement from AMC explains today’s slide, and no exhibitor-wide news does either.

Robinhood’s Flat Reaction Is the Tell If tokenization access itself faced a real threat, the reaction would appear first in Robinhood shares. Robinhood stock sitting practically still on the same catalyst that whipped AMC around undercuts the idea that this was ever a fundamental fight over the broker’s product line.

Robinhood also crossed the tape with news today, announcing OG.com as its infrastructure partner for a new prediction-markets platform and taking an equity stake in the exchange engine. The stock’s non-reaction to both that release and Friday’s feud lines up with a tokenization theme that has cooled after a hot summer stretch.

Cinema Peers Aren’t Along for the Ride AMC’s listed U.S. exhibitor peers don’t share the meme-linked swings. Cinemark Holdings (NYSE:CNK) stock has climbed 51% year to date on strong Q2 2026 results, and IMAX Corporation (NYSE:IMAX) stock is up 42% year to date behind a record 2026 movie slate. Neither CNK nor IMAX currently trades on tokenization headlines.

With the SPY ETF down modestly and cinema peers holding their gains, today’s AMC slide reads as a stock-specific unwind rather than sector fatigue. The theatrical exhibition backdrop is actually strong, with Avengers: Doomsday, Spider-Man: Brand New Day, and Dune: Part Three still ahead on the 2026 slate.

What to Watch Next The immediate question for AMC stock is whether the slide stabilizes or extends into the afternoon. Traders can watch for any follow-up commentary from Aron or a formal Robinhood response, though the odds of new information dropping today look modest given the dispute has produced no resolution either company needs to answer.

For anyone weighing their exposure here, position sizing matters more than the headline (we wrote a free playbook on speculating with just 5% of a portfolio here: Small Stakes, Big Swings). AMC’s balance sheet remains stressed, with corporate borrowings of $3.85 billion and negative shareholders’ equity, so investors sizing their positions should treat single-session tokenization headlines as noise around a still-fragile capital structure.

Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.

Two Wall Street giants see a much bigger opportunity emerging Summary

Goldman Sachs and Jefferies raised their Robinhood stock targets as prediction markets, subscriptions, and blockchain activity gained momentum

Goldman Sachs and Jefferies are raising expectations for Robinhood Markets HOOD, with bullish cases extending beyond retail trading. Both see new products and prediction markets becoming meaningful growth engines.

Goldman analyst James Yaro lifted his Robinhood stock price target to $142 from $124 and maintained a Buy rating. Jefferies analyst Daniel Fannon raised his target to $140 from $127, reiterating Buy after meeting Chief Financial Officer Shiv Verma.

Why Wall Street Sees More UpsideGoldman's case centers on Rothera, Robinhood's prediction-market joint venture with Susquehanna International Group. Since launching in May, the platform has ranked between the third- and fifth-largest prediction-market exchanges by trading volume, according to Yaro.

Rothera generated a $150 million annualized revenue run rate during its first quarter of operation. Goldman expects momentum to continue as Robinhood's large retail base attracts liquidity, market makers deepen participation, and lower fees pull activity from rival exchanges. Adding brokers and products could widen the opportunity further.

Robinhood also announced a multiyear partnership making OG.com an infrastructure and clearing provider for its prediction-markets business. The platform will become independent from Crypto.com, while Robinhood receives equity stakes in both companies. Citadel Securities' investment valued Crypto.com at $20 billion and OG.com at $5 billion.

Jefferies sees strength beyond prediction markets. Fannon highlighted robust net deposits, rising Robinhood Gold subscriptions, and what he called an “aggressive” product roadmap. Robinhood Chain reached $8.2 million in daily fees and $3.8 billion in daily volume on September 4, while football season could stimulate additional Rothera activity.

The twin target hikes show analysts increasingly value Robinhood as a broader financial platform, not simply a trading app. That raises the execution bar. Prediction-market growth must prove durable, newer products must deepen engagement, and higher activity must translate into profitable revenue. If those pieces align, Wall Street's latest targets suggest Robinhood still has room to surprise.

Disclosures I/we have no positions in any stocks mentioned, and have no plans to buy any new positions in the stocks mentioned within the next 72 hours.

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Playing an official part in the IPO process could give Robinhood more influence over the number of shares allocated to its customers.

Robinhood Markets, Inc. (NASDAQ:HOOD – Get Free Report) insider Steven Quirk sold 24,416 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $120.33, for a total value of $2,937,977.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 77,839 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,366,366.87. The trade was a 23.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Robinhood Markets Price Performance HOOD opened at $122.11 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $109.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 53.79, a P/E/G ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 2.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 1.22 and a quick ratio of 1.22. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $102.73 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $88.34. Robinhood Markets, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $63.51 and a fifty-two week high of $153.86.

Robinhood Markets (NASDAQ:HOOD – Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The company reported $0.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.44 by $0.18. The company had revenue of $1.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.29 billion. Robinhood Markets had a net margin of 42.01% and a return on equity of 22.43%. The business’s revenue was up 32.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.42 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Robinhood Markets, Inc. will post 2.09 EPS for the current year.

Trending Headlines about Robinhood Markets Here are the key news stories impacting Robinhood Markets this week: Positive Sentiment: Analyst sentiment remains supportive. Scotiabank initiated coverage with a bullish view, while Piper Sandler raised its price target to $145 and expects football-related event contracts to increase activity. Robinhood generated $156 million from event contracts in the second quarter. Robinhood Stock Jumps After Wave of Analysts Upgrade Positive Sentiment: Robinhood Chain and crypto activity are emerging growth drivers. The new blockchain reportedly generated about $3.8 million in fees on September 1, while the company now has 13 business lines with more than $100 million in annualized revenue. Deutsche Bank also sees potential upside from Robinhood’s latest crypto initiatives. Robinhood Now Runs 13 Revenue Lines Above $100 Million a Year Positive Sentiment: CEO Vlad Tenev said Robinhood’s newly launched Trust Accounts have attracted more than $150 million since August, suggesting early customer demand for the offering. Robinhood Trust Accounts Now Have Over $150 Million Institutional Inflows and Outflows Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of HOOD. CYBER HORNET ETFs LLC raised its position in Robinhood Markets by 527.8% in the 4th quarter. CYBER HORNET ETFs LLC now owns 226 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 190 shares during the last quarter. Elyxium Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Robinhood Markets during the fourth quarter worth $27,000. MV Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Robinhood Markets during the fourth quarter worth $27,000. C M Bidwell & Associates Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Robinhood Markets in the second quarter valued at $27,000. Finally, Swiss RE Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Robinhood Markets in the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. 93.27% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets Several research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Citizens Jmp reissued a “market outperform” rating and issued a $155.00 price target on shares of Robinhood Markets in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. KeyCorp upped their price objective on Robinhood Markets from $100.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 22nd. China Renaissance started coverage on Robinhood Markets in a report on Tuesday, July 7th. They issued a “buy” rating for the company. Zacks Research raised Robinhood Markets from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Needham & Company LLC decreased their price target on Robinhood Markets from $123.00 to $120.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-three have given a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Robinhood Markets currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $122.67.

Get Our Latest Stock Report on HOOD

Robinhood Markets Company Profile (Get Free Report)

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.

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Robinhood Markets stock NASDAQ:HOOD ended Friday at $122.11, capping a volatile week in which Wall Street became markedly more bullish on the brokerage just as its valuation became harder to ignore.

Morgan Stanley upgraded Robinhood to Overweight from Equal Weight and raised its price target to $150 from $124.

Piper Sandler lifted its target to $145, while Scotiabank began coverage with an Outperform rating and $136 target.

The enthusiasm helped drive a 16.6% Thursday surge to $124.72 before the stock slipped 2.1% on Friday. After that rally, Robinhood was already trading around the prevailing analyst consensus target.

Morgan Stanley analyst Michael Cyprys argues Robinhood is becoming less dependent on speculative trading cycles.

Cyprys said there is “increasing evidence” that Robinhood’s expanding product set is improving the economics of its existing customer base.

The company now has 13 businesses generating more than $100 million in annualised revenue.

Morgan Stanley expects revenue to compound at roughly 23% through 2028 to $8 billion and raised its 2026 to 2028 earnings estimates by 12% to 15%.

Scotiabank’s Lance Jessurun made a related argument.

TipRanks reported that he believes investors still value Robinhood too much like a cyclical retail broker, overlooking revenue from subscriptions, interest income, clearing economics and international crypto infrastructure.

That is the bullish case, as Robinhood can grow by monetising the customers it already has rather than waiting for another trading frenzy.

The valuation problem is that investors are increasingly paying for that transformation before it is fully proven.

Prediction markets are the clearest example of both the upside and the uncertainty.

Robinhood generated $156 million of event-contract revenue in the second quarter as total quarterly revenue rose 32% to a record $1.31 billion.

Piper Sandler analyst Patrick Moley expects prediction-market revenue to reach roughly $320 million across the third and fourth quarters, helped by NFL and college football activity.

That growth is helping justify higher price targets, but regulation remains unsettled.

On August 28, the Ninth Circuit affirmed a ruling denying Robinhood preliminary relief against Nevada regulators and rejected arguments that sports-event contracts were beyond state gaming oversight.

The decision also addressed related cases involving Kalshi and Crypto.com.

That does not invalidate Robinhood’s prediction-market business, but it shows that one of the company’s fastest-growing revenue lines can still generate legal and regulatory volatility.

Robinhood’s latest operating data also give investors reasons to stay selective.

Funded customers reached 28.5 million in July, but total platform assets fell 4% from June. Equity trading volume declined 15% month over month, crypto volume dropped 33% and event-contract volume slipped 5%, although event activity remained about 20 times higher than a year earlier.

Wall Street is also far from unanimous.

Rothschild and Co Redburn kept a Sell rating in August and raised its target only slightly to $80, leaving a striking gap with Morgan Stanley’s $150 forecast.

That divergence captures the debate surrounding Robinhood after its latest rally.

Morgan Stanley may be identifying a company that has successfully evolved from a trading app into a diversified financial platform.

But the stock’s move above roughly $122 means investors are increasingly being asked to pay today for growth that still needs to arrive.

Jim Cramer just credited a wave of young Robinhood investors with keeping the entire market afloat, but the numbers inside that same platform tell a more complicated story about whether this retail bid is a floor or a fuse.

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On September 3, 2026, Jim Cramer used his CNBC Stop Trading segment to salute Vlad Tenev and argue that young investors flowing money into Robinhood (NASDAQ:HOOD | HOOD Price Prediction) are a big reason this market refuses to break. Shares are trading near $124.71, up 33.38% in the past month.

Cramer is making a flows argument rather than a valuation argument. Flows arguments work beautifully until they reverse, because the same discretionary money that lifts a tape can pull just as quickly.

The question worth answering is whether the retail bid he describes is a structural floor for equities or the market’s most fragile part. Robinhood’s own numbers argue for both readings, which is what makes the call interesting.

Robinhood has stopped being a crypto proxy and has become an asset gatherer, and that shift changes what a bull actually owns when buying the stock.

What Cramer Actually Said About Retail Flows Cramer’s central claim was that “the money coming in that is by rote buying with indices or buying individual stocks or buying ETFs is extraordinary”.

He tied that flow directly to Robinhood’s cohort, arguing the platform’s users have shifted from pure day trading toward genuine investing.

His words on the cohort: “I wish those people spent a little more time watching some of the things we talk about. Be a little more educated, a little less. More day trading. But they’re wow, they’re investing.”

His conclusion tied it to market resilience: “It’s one of the big reasons why I think we continue to manage to be able to stay higher than a lot of people think we can.”

Cramer is treating Robinhood as a proxy for a behavioral shift across the whole market rather than a company-specific growth story.

Business Underneath the Salute In Q2 2026, crypto revenue fell 38% YoY to $100 million, yet total revenue still grew 32% to $1.308 billion. That shift away from a pure crypto proxy is the core of the transition.

Total platform assets reached $369 billion, and net deposits hit a record $21.7 billion at a 28% annualized growth rate. That asset base is the number that matters.

CNBC noted that recent analyst upgrades focused on the sheer amount of assets users are sitting on rather than trading velocity. Transaction revenue is cyclical; revenue tied to a growing asset base is durable and deserves a higher multiple.

Gold subscribers hit 4.8 million, ARPU climbed to $187, and management disclosed 13 business lines, each with annualized revenue of $100 million+, in its Q2 8-K exhibit.

EPS of $0.62 beat the $0.4277 consensus, and management tightened FY26 opex guidance to $2.675 to $2.775 billion. The operating story is real.

Flows Argument on Its Own Terms Automatic recurring buying really does behave differently from discretionary buying. It does not consult a P/E ratio, and it does not stop because a strategist turned cautious.

Robinhood added nearly 1 million funded customers in the quarter, and Tenev said customers “tend to be techno-optimists” who buy during drawdowns instead of selling.

If enough of the deposit flow is programmatic, through retirement contributions, direct-deposit sweeps, and recurring buys, then the bid does not evaporate when the tape turns.

But Robinhood’s revenue mix argues against the pure programmatic case. Options revenue was $342 million on a record 774 million contracts, and the margin book grew 127% YoY to $21.6 billion.

Leveraged, options-driven money reverses fastest in a drawdown because margin calls are not optional. A record margin book is an accelerant that works in both directions.

Falsifiable Test for Retail’s Floor Cramer conceded the cohort is too crypto-oriented and too options-oriented. That concession deserves more weight than he gave it.

Q1 2026 already offered a preview: revenue of $1.067B missed consensus by 6.07%, and crypto revenue collapsed 47% YoY. Retail engagement is not linear.

Agreeing with Cramer about retail flows does not automatically mean owning HOOD. The stock is up 187.7% over five years, and Robinhood captures the flow only as long as it keeps winning the cohort against Schwab, Fidelity, and Coinbase.

Watch net deposits, Gold attach rates, and options volume through the next genuine risk-off tape. If deposits continue to grow while volumes fall, the floor thesis holds.

If deposits and volumes roll over together, Cramer’s floor is really an accelerant, and the Q3 report due this fall will be the first clean read.

Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.

Jim Cramer credits a wave of young Robinhood investors for keeping the market afloat, but the same data he cites contains a hidden accelerant that could flip the floor into a trapdoor.

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On September 3, 2026, Jim Cramer used his CNBC Stop Trading segment to salute Vlad Tenev and argue that young investors flowing money into Robinhood (NASDAQ:HOOD | HOOD Price Prediction) are a big reason this market refuses to break. Shares are trading near $124.71, up 33.38% in the past month.

Cramer is making a flows argument rather than a valuation argument. Flows arguments work beautifully until they reverse, because the same discretionary money that lifts a tape can pull just as quickly.

The question worth answering is whether the retail bid he describes is a structural floor for equities or the market’s most fragile part. Robinhood’s own numbers argue for both readings, which is what makes the call interesting.

Robinhood has stopped being a crypto proxy and has become an asset gatherer, and that shift changes what a bull actually owns when buying the stock.

What Cramer Actually Said About Retail Flows Cramer’s central claim was that “the money coming in that is by rote buying with indices or buying individual stocks or buying ETFs is extraordinary”.

He tied that flow directly to Robinhood’s cohort, arguing the platform’s users have shifted from pure day trading toward genuine investing.

His words on the cohort: “I wish those people spent a little more time watching some of the things we talk about. Be a little more educated, a little less. More day trading. But they’re wow, they’re investing.”

His conclusion tied it to market resilience: “It’s one of the big reasons why I think we continue to manage to be able to stay higher than a lot of people think we can.”

Cramer is treating Robinhood as a proxy for a broader market-wide behavioral shift rather than a company-specific growth story.

Business Underneath the Salute In Q2 2026, crypto revenue fell 38% YoY to $100M, yet total revenue still grew 32% to $1.308 billion. That shift away from a pure crypto proxy is the core of the transition.

Total platform assets reached $369 billion, and net deposits hit a record $21.7 billion at a 28% annualized growth rate. That asset base is the number that matters.

CNBC noted that recent analyst upgrades focused on the sheer amount of assets users are sitting on rather than trading velocity. Transaction revenue is cyclical; revenue tied to a growing asset base is durable and deserves a higher multiple.

Gold subscribers hit 4.8 million, ARPU climbed to $187, and management disclosed 13 business lines, each at $100M+ in annualized revenue, in its Q2 8-K exhibit.

EPS of $0.62 beat the $0.4277 consensus, and management tightened FY26 opex guidance to $2.675 to $2.775 billion. The operating story is real.

Flows Argument on Its Own Terms Automatic recurring buying really does behave differently from discretionary buying. It does not consult a P/E ratio, and it does not stop because a strategist turned cautious.

Robinhood added nearly 1 million funded customers in the quarter, and Tenev said customers “tend to be techno-optimists” who buy during drawdowns instead of selling.

If enough of the deposit flow is programmatic, through retirement contributions, direct-deposit sweeps, and recurring buys, then the bid does not evaporate when the tape turns.

But Robinhood’s revenue mix argues against the pure programmatic case. Options revenue was $342 million on a record 774 million contracts, and the margin book grew 127% YoY to $21.6B.

Leveraged, options-driven money reverses fastest in a drawdown because margin calls are not optional. A record margin book is an accelerant that works in both directions.

Falsifiable Test for Retail’s Floor Cramer conceded the cohort is too crypto-oriented and too options-oriented. That concession deserves more weight than he gave it.

Q1 2026 already offered a preview: revenue of $1.067 billion missed consensus by 6.07%, and crypto revenue collapsed 47% YoY. Retail engagement is not linear.

Agreeing with Cramer about retail flows does not automatically mean owning HOOD. The stock is up 187.7% over five years, and Robinhood captures the flow only as long as it keeps winning the cohort against Schwab, Fidelity, and Coinbase.

Watch net deposits, Gold attach rates, and options volume through the next genuine risk-off tape. If deposits continue to grow while volumes fall, the floor thesis holds.

If deposits and volumes roll over together, Cramer’s floor is really an accelerant, and the Q3 report due this fall will be the first clean read.

Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.

A synthetic stock market has pushed AMC toward legal action Summary

AMC CEO Adam Aron threatened legal action, arguing Robinhood’s AMC-linked tokens could undermine shareholder rights and AMC’s fundraising ability

AMC Entertainment AMC CEO Adam Aron escalated his fight with Robinhood Markets HOOD, threatening legal action over tokens linked to AMC stock that he says threaten investor rights and the company's ability to raise capital.

Aron said AMC has no relationship with Robinhood's token program and does not approve it. He demanded that Robinhood voluntarily “cease and desist” trading AMC-linked tokens, adding that securities counsel will examine whether AMC can force the platform to stop.

The dispute centers on tokenized real-world assets issued by Robinhood Assets (Jersey) Limited. Aron argues the products are unregistered securities that cannot be sold in the United States and face restrictions in Canada, Britain and Switzerland.

His concern is structural. Tokens can track AMC's share price without representing ownership in AMC itself. Holders may lack voting rights and protections attached to common stock, while trading activity occurs outside the market through which AMC issues equity.

That distinction matters for a heavily indebted company that has repeatedly sold shares to strengthen its balance sheet. Aron described those offerings as “vital.” If synthetic tokens attract capital that might otherwise flow into AMC shares, he fears they could weaken price discovery, confuse investors and complicate future fundraising.

Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev asked Aron to explain his objections. Aron replied that the list was “almost existential,” turning a product dispute into a public challenge between two executives with large retail-investor followings.

AMC shares rose roughly 5% in premarket trading after the comments. The gain suggests investors welcomed Aron's defense of shareholder rights, although it does not establish that legal action would succeed.

For AMC investors, the next catalyst is whether the company's lawyers formally challenge Robinhood or regulators weigh in. Until then, the fight raises a bigger question: when a token mirrors a stock, who protects the company and its shareholders?

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AMC Entertainment Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:AMC) CEO Adam Aron spent Thursday blasting Robinhood Markets, Inc. (NASDAQ:HOOD) over tokenized shares tracking AMC stock, calling the products “contemptible,” “outrageous” and “vile.” 

Aron said Robinhood never sought AMC’s approval and that outside securities counsel would review the matter.

AMC stock is moving. See the real-time price action here.  AMC Share Count: 887,000,000The tokens carry no ownership stake, and Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev has already acknowledged as much, telling CNBC that the company’s stock tokens are “not technically equity.” 

Token holders get price exposure through a derivatives contract, not shares, voting rights or a claim on AMC’s balance sheet.

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Such a structure raises legitimate questions. It also distracts from a dilution trend AMC engineered itself, long before Robinhood entered the picture. AMC’s share count sat near 100 million in mid-2020. By August 2022, it had climbed past 516 million common shares.  

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Add roughly a billion authorized “APE” preferred units — Aron’s own workaround for a shareholder cap on common stock — and the combined count topped 1 billion, prompting Wedbush analyst Alicia Reese to tell CNBC that shareholders had been “diluted into oblivion.”

The dilution never stopped. AMC’s share count now stands near 887.6 million, per Benzinga Pro market data. Every additional offering since the meme-stock era has chipped away at what each share represents, well before any blockchain token entered the conversation.

AMC’s own quarterly report has repeatedly flagged the risk, warning that “significant recent dilution” could continue to pressure the stock.

Robinhood’s tokens may muddy retail investors’ understanding of what they actually own when trading a derivative bearing AMC’s name. AMC’s own capital-raising history has spent years doing something similar to actual shareholders, just through prospectuses instead of smart contracts. 

The Bottom LineAron’s outrage over a synthetic product tracking his stock reads differently set against a filing record built on issuing hundreds of millions of real shares.

For traders watching AMC, the Robinhood spat is a headline-driven pop, not a fundamental shift. AMC still carries billions in debt and a share count that management has shown little hesitation to expand whenever a capital raise looks convenient. 

AMC’s stock has ballooned from roughly 100 million shares in mid-2020 to about 887.6 million today. Management created most of that dilution long before Robinhood’s tokens existed. The token fight makes for a punchy headline, but the receipts point back to AMC’s own offerings.

AMC Stock Price Activity: AMC Entertainment shares were up 5.12% to $2.67 at the time of publication on Friday, according to Benzinga Pro.

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With some help from the sell-side, Robinhood Markets (HOOD) is on fire of late, with analysts highlighting multiple catalysts that could propel the fintech stock.

Shares of Robinhood Markets (HOOD +16.57%) popped on Thursday after analysts highlighted the potential of new prediction markets to drive the trading app's expansion.

Image source: The Motley Fool.

Betting on a company's performance Investors already view prediction markets as a key growth opportunity for Robinhood. But Deutsche Bank analyst Brian Bedell has a new take.

Bedell predicts that contracts for businesses' financial key performance indicators (KPIs) will become the largest event-contract category within prediction markets.

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"For the U.S., we believe company KPI contract volume could surpass 1 trillion in 2028 from virtually nothing today, exceeding sports volumes, even in any positive SCOTUS [Supreme Court of the United States] ruling in favor of national regulation," Bedell said.

Bedell believes Robinhood is one of the companies best positioned to profit from this high-potential new trading market.

Profiting from America's favorite sport Bedell isn't the only one who's getting more positive on Robinhood's prospects. Piper Sandler analyst Patrick Moley thinks football will be another powerful growth driver for Robinhood's prediction market revenue.

Moley points to the "explosive" gains driven by the World Cup as a sign of what's to come in the U.S. during the NFL and NCAA football seasons. He expects the impact to be visible in Robinhood's upcoming third- and fourth-quarter results.

In turn, Moley sees Robinhood's share price rising roughly 16% to $145.

Joe Tenebruso has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

A third-party token-creation application has emerged as one of the digital asset industry's largest fee generators, driven by active retail trading on Robinhood Markets' newly launched blockchain network. According to a Thursday (Sept.

Robinhood's stock led markets higher Thursday. Several Wall Street analysts say they've been growing more bullish on the stock lately.

Robinhood could see a sizable boost to its prediction market revenue as football season begins next week, according to a Wednesday note from Piper Sandler.

Earlier this summer, the World Cup paved the way for explosive volume growth in prediction markets, and it suggests strong numbers could show up during football season, according to analyst Patrick Moley.

"Given Kalshi & HOOD's US-centric user base, and the large gap in popularity between Soccer and Football in the US, we view the explosive World Cup volumes as a leading indicator of what's to come -- the NFL/[NCAA Football] season should be a significant catalyst for HOOD's 3Q26 and 4Q26 prediction market revenue," he wrote.

Rothera, which launched in June, is a prediction markets joint venture between Robinhood and Susquehanna. It's a derivatives exchange and clearinghouse that's regulated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

The rosy outlook comes after Robinhood management confirmed Rothera has obtained approval from the CFTC to provide football contracts covering wins and spreads, Piper Sandler said.

To that end, Moley lifted his forecast for Robinhood's 2026 and 2027 earnings per share estimates by 5% and 7%, respectively, and he lifted his price target to $145 from $135, suggesting about 35% upside from Wednesday's close. The analyst also reiterated his overweight rating on the stock.

Step aside, KalshiWhile Robinhood displays Kalshi's markets to its users, Moley estimates roughly 23% of prediction market volume has shifted to Rothera from Kalshi since June. 

"Robinhood's shift to Rothera has accelerated the decline in its share of Kalshi's volumes," Moley said in the Wednesday note. "Last year during football season, HOOD users made up between 22% and 30% of all volume traded on Kalshi, a share that has decreased to the mid-single digits behind Kalshi's quest to acquire more of its own users," the analyst wrote. 

Between June and August, average monthly prediction market volumes at Robinhood grew 88%, compared to the January to May period, largely because of strong World Cup engagement, Moley added.

To come up with projections for Robinhood's prediction markets revenue in the second half of the year, Piper Sandler used Kalshi as a proxy.

The firm's analysts predict that from September through December, Robinhood users will trade roughly 29.7 billion event contracts and generate around $320 million in revenue, or $960 million annualized.

Football won't be as dominant on KalshiFootball accounted for 42% of Kalshi's total volume in the 2025 season, with the platform generating roughly $14 billion in NFL and NCAAF trading volume, Piper Sandler found.

This time, Moley does not expect football-related contracts on Kalshi to dominate total volume because of the variety of contracts beyond major sports. 

"Major sports made up just 54% of Kalshi's mix in August 2026, down sharply from a high of 83% in November 2025," the note said. 

Disclosure: CNBC and Kalshi have a commercial relationship that includes customer acquisition and a minority investment.

For years, the investment case for Arbitrum (CRYPTO: ARB) had an obvious problem.

Arbitrum was one of the largest Ethereum Layer-2 networks in terms of activity, liquidity, and institutional adoption. Yet ARB, its native cryptocurrency, remained difficult to value.

The network generated economic activity, while the token largely captured governance. However, that gap is now starting to close.

Robinhood (NASDAQ:HOOD) Chain went live on the Arbitrum technology stack on July 1. Less than two months later, the chain is processing more than $1.5 billion in daily decentralized exchange volume and has recorded a single-day fee haul of $3.75 million.

At the same time, ArbitrumDAO reported $6.19 million of income for the first half of 2026. More importantly, Arbitrum Expansion Program licensing fees generated $360,000 in July, representing 35% of the DAO’s income for the month in which Robinhood Chain launched.

That changes the investment debate, meaning the question is no longer whether Arbitrum can attract large companies since it already has.

The question is whether Arbitrum can turn that enterprise adoption into a durable revenue stream for its ecosystem and eventually improve the fundamental case for ARB.

Robinhood Just Became Arbitrum’s Biggest Proof of ConceptRobinhood Chain is important because it tests Arbitrum’s business model at scale. For those unfamiliar, the chain is built using Arbitrum’s technology and settles on Ethereum.

Because it operates under the Arbitrum Expansion Program, it returns 10% of net protocol revenue to the Arbitrum ecosystem.

That 10% is split between the Arbitrum DAO and the developer component, with 8% going to the DAO treasury and 2% allocated to development.

This means the headline $3.75 million fee figure should not be treated as $375,000 of direct DAO revenue. Furthermore, the contractual payment is calculated based on net protocol revenue after applicable settlement costs.

Even so, the scale of Robinhood Chain’s activity is difficult to ignore.

On Sept. 1, users paid approximately $3.75 million in fees on the chain. DEX volume exceeded $1.5 billion, while total value locked surpassed $800 million, according to DeFiLlama.

For a network launched on July 1, that is a remarkable ramp.

It also provides Arbitrum with something it previously lacked: a live demonstration that third-party companies can generate meaningful economic activity on its technology while simultaneously creating revenue for the broader Arbitrum ecosystem.

The Numbers Behind the ARB Re-RatingInterestingly, the market has begun to react. ARB traded around $0.084 at the end of August before climbing above $0.12 in early September.

On Sept. 2, the token closed around $0.14, according to historical market data, representing a 50% price jump over the past seven days

The move has also seen a notable increase in derivatives activity.

On Sept. 1, ARB futures volume jumped approximately 1,143% to $1.37 billion, while open interest increased 80.91% to $164.68 million, according to CoinGlass data reported at the time.

That combination is important since the ARB price action alone can be dismissed as speculation. Instead, the rising open interest that suggests that traders are allocating substantially more capital to the ARB trade.

However, leverage cuts both ways. If momentum continues, rising open interest can amplify upside.

If the rally reverses, the same leverage can accelerate liquidations and turn a healthy correction into a sharp drawdown.

That makes derivatives positioning one of the most important metrics for ARB holders to watch over the coming weeks.

Arbitrum Is Becoming an Infrastructure BusinessThe bigger investment thesis extends beyond Robinhood.

Arbitrum’s first-half report indicates that the ecosystem is developing multiple revenue sources instead of relying on a single fee stream.

The DAO generated $6.19 million in income during the first six months of 2026 from Arbitrum One transaction fees, Timeboost, Arbitrum Expansion Program (AEP) licensing fees, and treasury income.

The ecosystem also reported gross margins above 97% across its protocol revenue streams.

Meanwhile, Arbitrum processed 478 million transactions during the first half, taking lifetime transactions to 2.7 billion. Average monthly stablecoin transfer volume exceeded $70 billion.

Those numbers matter because they show that Arbitrum’s economic footprint is considerably larger than ARB’s market capitalization might suggest.

The ecosystem is no longer just competing to be another Layer-2 on Ethereum. It is increasingly positioning itself as blockchain infrastructure for financial institutions and large enterprises.

Robinhood is the clearest example. But it is not the only one.

Arbitrum’s first-half report also highlighted expanded activity involving LG, Mastercard, and PayPal, while more than 1,000 teams are now building across the ecosystem.

That creates a potentially powerful flywheel. This means more enterprise chains, economic activity, more licensing revenue, stronger DAO finances, and greater ecosystem investment

If that cycle continues, ARB could begin trading on a different fundamental narrative.

Why This Matters for ARB HoldersMeanwhile, the most important change is not that Robinhood Chain is generating high fees, but that Arbitrum has demonstrated a mechanism for monetizing demand for its underlying technology. It is that Arbitrum has demonstrated a mechanism for monetizing demand for its underlying technology.

Historically, investors had to evaluate ARB primarily through network usage, governance influence, ecosystem growth, and speculative demand.

Now there is another variable, which is the cash-generating infrastructure demand.

The DAO already holds more than $125 million in non-native treasury assets, according to Arbitrum’s first-half report.

That gives the ecosystem additional financial flexibility. However, ARB should not yet be treated as an equity-like claim on Arbitrum’s revenue.

That would be premature. The DAO controls the treasury. ARB holders participate in governance, but the token does not represent a conventional equity ownership claim on Arbitrum’s revenue.

Therefore, the bull case depends on an indirect value-accrual argument.

If higher protocol revenue strengthens the DAO, expands the ecosystem, attracts more developers, and increases demand for Arbitrum infrastructure, the market may eventually assign a higher valuation to ARB.

But that thesis still needs to be proven.

The Biggest Risk: Revenue ConcentrationStill, there is an uncomfortable detail beneath the Robinhood success story. Arbitrum’s new licensing revenue remains highly concentrated.

The $360,000 of AEP licensing fees represented 35% of ArbitrumDAO income in July, the first month Robinhood Chain operated on mainnet.

While that is impressive, it is also a concentration risk.

If Robinhood Chain’s trading activity falls sharply, the associated licensing revenue could decline. The bullish thesis, therefore, requires more than one successful enterprise chain.

Arbitrum needs to demonstrate that Robinhood is the beginning of a broader platform economy rather than a one-off success.

The positive news is that more than 30 Arbitrum chains already fall under the broader Expansion Program framework, according to the Arbitrum Foundation.

The question is how many of them can reach meaningful economic scale. That is the metric investors should watch.

The September ARB Unlock Adds Another TestOutside these factors, ARB also faces a supply-side challenge due to the upcoming token unlock, scheduled for Sept. 16.

Token unlock trackers currently show another scheduled release in September, although the exact date and allocation should be checked against the latest official vesting schedule before publication because different tracking services currently show different dates and amounts.

That uncertainty itself is a reminder of why investors should monitor circulating supply alongside price and volume.

A rising token price means little if new supply consistently absorbs demand. For ARB, the key question is whether organic demand from the ecosystem can outpace scheduled token emissions.

That makes three metrics particularly important:

ARB circulating supply growth ArbitrumDAO revenue Robinhood Chain and other Orbit-chain activity If all three move in the right direction, the current rally has a stronger fundamental foundation.

Arbitrum Price Analysis: Momentum Is Strong, But So Is VolatilityFrom a technical perspective, ARB’s current setup is more than a short-term momentum spike.

As shown below, the token has broken out of a multi-month accumulation structure around $0.070 and resolved a bullish pennant that formed after its initial impulse higher.

The breakout came with rising momentum, suggesting that buyers are attempting to turn the broader base into a sustained trend reversal.

Besides that, ARB has also reclaimed the 0.50 and 0.618 Fibonacci retracement levels at $0.11 and $0.12 and is now testing the 0.786 level near $0.14.

A sustained daily close above $0.14 would put $0.16, the previous swing high, in focus.

Clearing that resistance would expose the 1.618 Fibonacci extension, bringing the $0.20 psychological level into play. However, the move is becoming stretched.

The 14-day Money Flow Index (MFI) sits at 88.29, while the MACD remains bullish with an expanding positive histogram. Therefore, the crypto might experience increased volatility and potentially a retest of $0.12 before another leg higher.

Below that, $0.10 and $0.089 become key support zones. A daily close below $0.070 would invalidate the broader bullish structure.

What ARB Investors Should Watch NextThe Robinhood Chain story gives investors a useful checklist.

First, watch daily fees.

The $3.75 million record is impressive, but one day does not establish a trend. The more important question is whether Robinhood Chain can sustain seven-day and 30-day fee growth.

Second, watch DEX volume.

The chain recently exceeded $1.5 billion in daily DEX volume. Sustained activity would indicate that the network is developing genuine liquidity rather than benefiting from a temporary launch effect.

Third, watch AEP revenue.

This is arguably the most important metric for the Arbitrum investment thesis. If licensing revenue grows as additional chains scale, the market will have stronger evidence that Arbitrum has created a repeatable infrastructure business.

Fourth, keep an eye on ARB open interest.

Rising open interest alongside spot demand can reinforce a bullish trend. Excessive leverage, however, increases liquidation risk.

Finally, watch the token supply.

Revenue growth cannot automatically overcome persistent dilution. The best ARB setup would therefore combine rising ecosystem revenue, sustained enterprise-chain activity, increasing spot demand, and manageable token emissions.

In ConclusionRobinhood Chain has not suddenly turned ARB into an equity token. But it has changed the question investors should be asking.

For years, token utility, governance, and dilution dominated the debate around ARB. Now there is a more interesting variable:

How much economic value can Arbitrum capture from the companies building on its infrastructure?

Robinhood has provided the first compelling answer. In July AEP licensing fees reached $360,000 and accounted for 35% of ArbitrumDAO’s monthly income.

By September, Robinhood Chain was generating record daily fees of $3.75 million and more than $1.5 billion in daily DEX volume, as mentioned earlier.

These numbers are too large to dismiss. Still, the ARB bull case needs another phase of confirmation.

Robinhood must sustain its activity. Other Arbitrum chains must scale. AEP revenue must grow. And the market must absorb continued token issuance without destroying price momentum.

If those conditions converge, Arbitrum could shift from being valued mainly as a Layer-2 governance ecosystem to being valued as one of the leading blockchain infrastructure platforms for financial institutions.

Benzinga Disclaimer: This article is from an unpaid external contributor. It does not represent Benzinga’s reporting and has not been edited for content or accuracy.

© 2026 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.

Robinhood (HOOD +3.36%) is a large discount broker. One of its primary goals as a business is to introduce new people to investing, which has generally led the company to lean into innovation. That includes offering new products and services, like cryptocurrency trading and prediction markets.

The company isn't doing this out of the kindness of its heart; it generates fees for its services. The interplay between cryptocurrencies and prediction markets is one that investors need to watch very carefully.

Image source: Getty Images.

The source of Robinhood's fee income is shifting Robinhood breaks its transaction fee income down into four main buckets: stock trading, options trading, cryptocurrency trading, and event contracts (prediction markets). An "other" category rounds things out. Transaction fees from stock and options trading vary from quarter to quarter but remain fairly consistent over time. The same cannot be said of cryptocurrency trading and event contracts.

Without getting into the merits of crypto and event contracts as "investments," they are newer products and often attract more aggressive investors. Aggressive investors, particularly those new to investing, are sometimes lured into areas perceived as hot investment themes.

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So it should come as no surprise that the transaction fee income Robinhood generated from crypto in the second quarter of 2026 fell 38% year over year, while the increase in transaction fees from prediction markets was too large to calculate (it came off of a small base). Sequentially, from the first quarter, crypto fees fell by 25%, while prediction fees rose by 50%.

Investors following the money could lead to an eventual exit Essentially, what it looks like is Robinhood's customers have shifted from buying crypto to buying event contracts. Before event contracts, however, crypt was a strong fee generator for the discount broker. If the company's customers are just trying to "get rich quick" by investing in whatever is hottest at the moment, what happens when there's a deep, prolonged bear market? Young investors stung by huge losses could leave Wall Street forever.

There hasn't been a really bad bear market since the Great Recession. Robinhood didn't become a publicly traded company until after that painful downturn. Essentially, there's no history to rely on for guidance on what could happen to its business during a similarly bad market. This isn't a knock on Robinhood, which has been executing extremely well and providing its customers with the products and services they want. But there is a risk here that long-term investors shouldn't ignore, highlighted by the change in Robinhood's crypto revenues relative to the change in event contract revenues.

Over the last 15 years, retail investors have been making their presence felt on Wall Street. The authors of "The Retail Investor Report," published by the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law, note that retail investors comprised 25% of equities trading volume in 2021, nearly double the percentage reported in the previous decade.

Thanks to the transparency of Robinhood Markets' retail investor-focused online trading platform, we can track which stocks these everyday investors favor. While artificial intelligence (AI) kingpin Nvidia (NVDA -1.51%) has been a fixture as the most-held stock on Robinhood for quite some time, there's a new trillion-dollar entrant on Robinhood's top-10 leaderboard: Elon Musk's Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) (SPCX -1.02%).

Image source: Getty Images.

Retail investors want their piece of the multitrillion-dollar AI pie Excluding exchange-traded funds (ETFs), AI plays a foundational role in the growth prospects of Robinhood's most-held stocks. According to estimates from PwC, AI can create $15.7 trillion in global economic value by 2030 -- and retail investors clearly want to claim their piece of the pie.

Buying shares of Nvidia is the easiest way for retail investors to gain exposure. Nvidia's graphics processing units (GPUs) are the backbone of AI-accelerated data centers. CEO Jensen Huang's aggressive GPU development timeline, coupled with the compute superiority of Nvidia's GPUs, has led to a virtual monopoly on AI-accelerating chips used in enterprise data centers.

Absolutely insane.

Nvidia, $NVDA, just guided $108 BILLION in revenue for Q3 alone.

And, this guidance assumes ZERO data center compute revenue from China.

This builds on the record $96.2 billion in revenue posted for last quarter for a projected total of $204.2 billion in 6...

-- The Kobeissi Letter (@KobeissiLetter) August 26, 2026 But this same excitement about AI is likely why SpaceX has jumped to the seventh most-held stock on Robinhood. Musk's company has locked in deals to rent GPU capacity to AI start-up Anthropic and Google parent Alphabet for $1.25 billion/month and $920 million/month, respectively.

Furthermore, SpaceX's mile-long prospectus highlighted a $28.5 trillion addressable market, $26.5 trillion of which traced back to AI.

Image source: Getty Images.

SpaceX may end up fleecing its retail investors Although CEO Elon Musk has delivered jaw-dropping long-term gains for his shareholders at Tesla (the third most-held stock on Robinhood), it could be a different story for SpaceX's investors.

Aside from the fact that SpaceX isn't profitable and is burning through a boatload of capital as it ramps up Starship and expands its data center compute capacity, the company's share unlock schedule for select insiders isn't favorable to retail investors.

Usually, a newly public company will prevent its insiders (high-ranking executives, board members, and early investors) from selling their shares for the first 180 calendar days after an initial public offering. SpaceX threw convention aside and employed an accelerated and staggered lockup period that allows eligible insiders to cash out at retail investors' expense.

Great look at the SpaceX shares unlock schedule as well as the potential passive buying schedule from @JSeyff @FrancisSharoon Depending on the early post-IPO returns, this could really play with and disperse the returns of "passive" funds (which is why there's arguably no such... pic.twitter.com/KOuEkJlngF

-- Eric Balchunas (@EricBalchunas) May 28, 2026 What makes this decision even more noteworthy is that SpaceX didn't sell a large percentage of its outstanding shares (OS) when it went public. Whereas most companies going public sell 10% to 25% of their OS, SpaceX sold roughly 555.6 million shares, representing less than 5% of its OS. With each new time- and event-based share-unlock milestone, SpaceX's retail investors can be swamped by newly tradable shares.

While Elon Musk's vision for SpaceX is exciting, the No. 7 holding of Robinhood's retail investors looks like a fleecing waiting to happen.

Sean Williams has positions in Alphabet. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Alphabet, Nvidia, and Tesla. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

A global bond selloff is carving a precise line through fintech, punishing two lenders while leaving one brokerage almost untouched, and the reason why reveals exactly how rate exposure separates winners from losers in this sector.

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Today’s fintech selling is precisely targeted at the two names in the group that carry consumer credit on their own balance sheets, and the ordering inside the trio proves it. A global bond selloff has pushed long-term Treasury yields to fresh one-year highs. The split between rate-sensitive lenders and transaction-fee brokerages is playing out clearly in the numbers.

The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSEARCA:SPY) is down 0.66% to $761.99 in midday trading. Additionally, the Invesco QQQ Trust (NASDAQ:QQQ) is falling 1.16% to $708.45. Both funds are down far less than the rate-sensitive lenders, which places today’s selling in a specific corner of the market rather than across it.

SoFi Technologies (NASDAQ:SOFI | SOFI Price Prediction) stock is down 4% to $17.14 as long-duration Treasury rates reprice its loan book and funding assumptions. Meanwhile, Affirm Holdings (NASDAQ:AFRM) shares are falling 5% to $70.52, a deeper cut that fits the shorter-duration consumer-credit profile of its book. In contrast, Robinhood Markets (NASDAQ:HOOD) stock is down 0.5% to $104.34, a shallow move because its transaction-fee model insulates the brokerage from the credit-book pressure hitting SoFi and Affirm.

Yields Break Higher, Funding Costs Follow The 10-year Treasury note yield climbed to 4.79%, above its prior one-year high of 4.75% set on July 31. Higher long-term rates raise funding costs on warehouse and securitization facilities, and they pressure the fair value of loans held for sale on a lender’s books. That combination is a direct hit to margin economics and a close-to-irrelevant input for a transaction-based brokerage.

SoFi’s most recent quarter showed the mechanism explicitly. Management flagged a 37 basis point benchmark rate increase impacting loan fair-value adjustments in Q2 2026, alongside a 6% net interest margin and $45.5 billion in deposits. Affirm’s funding profile ties even more directly to capital markets, with its average annualized cost of funds at 5.8% in fiscal Q3 2026 and its 0% APR product economics squeezed when discount rates rise. Both businesses source liquidity partly through securitizations, and those spreads widen when Treasuries sell off.

Why Affirm Falls Further Than SoFi Affirm’s loan book is short-duration consumer credit, so it revalues faster when rates move. Gain-on-sale margins depend on the level of yields buyers demand for asset-backed paper, and forward-flow economics tighten in step. SoFi runs a larger, more diversified balance sheet with student and home loans in the mix, which cushions the immediate mark-to-market impact without removing it.

SoFi also carries a second source of beta today. The company launched SoFiUSD in May, the first stablecoin issued by a U.S. national bank to launch on a consumer banking platform, giving SoFi stock digital-asset sensitivity on top of its rate exposure. In a risk-off session, that combination can amplify the selling regardless of what any single crypto price is doing.

Robinhood benefits from the opposite side of the trade. Net interest revenue on customer cash sweep and margin balances holds up when short rates stay firm, while trading fees are indifferent to the long end of the curve. That mechanism is the cleanest read on why Robinhood shares are barely moving while the lenders sell off.

What to Watch Today’s move is a repricing of rate exposure. SoFi’s operating fundamentals are unchanged from the prior close, and the same math reverses if yields ease from here. SoFi stock was down 32% year to date through Monday’s close, a drawdown that already reflects a good deal of the rate anxiety in the name.

Investors sizing their positions in SoFi and Affirm should weight leverage and rate sensitivity rather than lean on a single-day setup. A gross-up in exposure into a moving yield curve compounds the swings in both directions, and their allocation decisions can reflect that arithmetic. Robinhood’s rate profile calls for its own line item in the sizing, since it responds to the short end of the curve rather than the long end that’s driving today’s selling.

Traders can watch for whether the long end of the curve cools into the close, since a bid in Treasuries would take pressure off the lenders and could unwind part of today’s move. Any Fed commentary between now and the close could also matter for their exposure, given how tight the 10-year, 2-year spread sits at 0.4%.

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Robinhood Markets HOOD shares rose in premarket trading on Tuesday after Morgan Stanley upgraded the online trading platform to Overweight from Equal-weight and raised its price target to $150 from $124.

The upgrade came even as broader cryptocurrency-related stocks declined, with Coinbase and Strategy trading lower in premarket activity.

Morgan Stanley said Robinhood’s expanding product lineup, stronger customer engagement and growing asset-based revenues could support further growth.

The bank also raised its earnings estimates for the company through 2028.

Robinhood shares gained about 1.4% in premarket trading, while the stock remained down about 7% since the start of the year.

Morgan Stanley’s new $150 price target represents roughly 43% upside from Monday’s closing price. FactSet data showed an average analyst target of nearly $126.

Analysts led by Michael Cyprys said Robinhood’s broader product capabilities are improving the economics of its existing customer base.

“We see increasing evidence that broader product capabilities are improving the economics of HOOD’s installed customer base,” Cyprys wrote.

The bank raised its earnings-per-share estimates for the next three years by 12%, 14% and 15%, respectively.

Morgan Stanley highlighted Robinhood’s ability to generate more revenue from its existing customer base rather than relying primarily on growth in funded accounts.

The company now has 13 business lines generating more than $100 million in annualized revenue, according to the bank.

Prediction markets were identified as a major growth opportunity for Robinhood.

Event contract revenue increased to $156 million in the second quarter from $10 million a year earlier, surpassing revenue generated from equities and cryptocurrency trading.

Morgan Stanley said fewer than 2 million prediction-market users generated the $156 million in second-quarter revenue, highlighting the potential for further customer engagement.

The bank also pointed to Robinhood’s expanding range of products, including retirement accounts, credit cards, advisory services, banking, gold and trust offerings. These products could encourage customers to hold more assets on the platform.

Higher trading activity is another factor supporting the upgrade. Robinhood has introduced features including short selling, futures and desktop trading, which Morgan Stanley said have helped active traders use the platform more frequently.

The analysts noted that the company’s assets per customer had increased 23% year over year, while Gold users held about 4.2 times the average customer’s assets under custody.

Morgan Stanley also sees greater monetization opportunities as Robinhood expands further into market infrastructure.

The company has begun routing prediction-market event contracts through its affiliate exchange, Rothera, giving it more control over the related value chain.

“Notably, our revisions come despite lower crypto forecasts,” the analysts wrote, adding that the upside is increasingly driven by active trading, prediction markets and asset-based revenues.

Morgan Stanley expects Robinhood's revenue to grow at a 23% compound annual growth rate through 2028, reaching $8 billion, about 6% above consensus estimates.

The bank also expects expense discipline to increase EBITDA margins to 53% from 48%.

Potential catalysts include the Sept. 29-30 HOOD Summit, Rothera, perpetual futures, and agentic trading.

The bank’s $150 target is based on a 25-times multiple of its 2031 probability-weighted earnings.

With Morgan Stanley's new target implying 43% upside, HOOD is likely to stay on the radar of investors evaluating online trading platforms.