Robinhood debuts Legend for active traders, says futures markets coming soon

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The Robinhood logo is displayed on a smartphone screen.

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Retail brokerage firm Robinhood introduces a new tool for more sophisticated traders to search for additional growth opportunities.

The company launched Robinhood Legend, a desktop-based platform for active traders. The offering includes advanced charting tools for users who want to conduct detailed stock analysis.

“As we looked at the trading tools landscape and spoke to active traders, we found that there is frustration with outdated offerings,” said Steve Quirk, chief brokerage officer at Robinhood, in a press release.

“In particular, switching back and forth between apps or charting platforms can be cumbersome and time-consuming. “That’s why we set out to redefine what a modern, intuitively designed active trading platform should look like and built Robinhood Legend from the ground up so that traders can do “everything they need, in one place,” said Quirk.

Beyond the launch of Legend, Robinhood also announced that it will soon add futures trading and index options to its mobile platform. Customers must receive approval to trade futures contracts, according to the press release, and futures and index options will also be added to Legend at some point.

The new additions to Robinhood are another example of the company looking to expand beyond its roots as a convenient platform for small dollar traders. The company's rise coincided with the “meme stock” phenomenon in early 2021, as retail boomed in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.

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Since then, Robinhood has continued to add new offerings, including a credit card for Robinhood Gold subscribers and a digital wallet for storing cryptocurrencies.

“Historically, we have done very well on mobile with younger people and people who invest and trade primarily on mobile. But about half the market is on desktop websites, where you have more screen space and can do more sophisticated things.” “For example, we have charts and data in the same interface,” said Vlad Tenev, CEO and co-founder of Robinhood, on CNBC's “Squawk Box.”

Robinhood said it had $139.7 billion in assets under management and 11.8 million monthly active users at the end of the second quarter. For the comparable quarter in 2021, just before the height of the GameStop mania, Robinhood reported $102 billion in assets but 21.3 million monthly active users. The company's next earnings report is scheduled for October 30.

Robinhood shares are up more than 100% so far this year.

Thursday's announcements were part of the HOOD Summit, a conference for Robinhood customers.

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