American online brokerage firm Robinhood announced on Tuesday that it will allow users to trade certain U.S. stocks around the clock on weekends; this move marks the latest initiative taken by the company to maintain its competitiveness as the industry moves towards a 24/7 trading model.
Robinhood's initiative is part of a fundamental transformation in the market. This transformation is expected to attract a wider range of global capital to the U.S. market and also provide investors with greater flexibility.
"This year, our focus is on making Robinhood the best platform for active traders. To that end, we will provide them with tools that are usually reserved for hedge funds, quantitative trading institutions, and large active trading companies," said Abhishek Fatehpuria, the vice president of product management, in an interview.
Since 2023, the company has allowed 24/7 trading on weekdays. About 10 months after the launch of this feature, the company stated that on days with high trading activity, up to 25% of the total daily trading volume came from outside of the traditional trading hours.
This is the first time that Robinhood has allowed weekend trading. Some people are concerned that the lack of liquidity during non-traditional trading hours may prevent traders from obtaining the best prices. Nevertheless, global exchanges such as NASDAQ and the London Stock Exchange are still actively pursuing plans to extend trading hours.
Paul Atkins, Chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), stated at a roundtable earlier this month: "When global markets react in real-time to sudden news, waiting until 9:30 a.m. on Monday to adjust positions or rebalance hedging strategies may result in missed opportunities or additional risks—especially in the current environment."
Robinhood will first provide a list of selected stocks and exchange-traded funds (ETF) for users to trade on weekends. This feature is launched in collaboration with the overnight trading infrastructure service provider Bruce ATS, and it is currently awaiting approval from regulatory authorities.
This online brokerage firm will also, through cooperation with the derivatives exchange CBOE, allow traders to place bets on specific corporate financial indicators. Users can use the prediction market platform Robinhood to bet on whether a company's financial performance will exceed expectations or whether its revenue will meet certain targets.
Prediction market platforms such as Polymarket and Kalshi have been designing various targeted betting projects to meet the needs of traders who wish to gamble based on financial report results, in addition to stock price predictions.
Robinhood also indicates that eligible American customers will be able to trade perpetual futures through this application. Unlike traditional futures, perpetual futures do not have an expiration date. In addition, users can also build AI intelligents within the application to execute trades on their behalf.
The company's social platform – similar to the popular WallStreetBets community on Reddit – was launched in a test mode earlier this year and is now being made available to all eligible American customers.
