In 2022, Robinhood faced a significant downturn as trading activity declined sharply due to inflation fears, leading to nearly half of its users leaving the platform.

In early 2021, Robinhood faced a collateral call of $3.7 billion due to increased trading activity, which was unprecedented for the company.

Despite challenges, Robinhood has set new revenue records in 2024, demonstrating that the decisions made during the downturn were crucial for long-term success.

The core of Robinhood's business was identified as active traders, who are more resilient and continue to trade even in downturns, which led to a strategic refocus on this customer base.

When Robinhood launched in March 2015, we converted hundreds of thousands of users from a waitlist, exceeding initial expectations of a 10% conversion rate.

Young people felt disillusioned with the financial system after the global financial crisis, which created an opportunity for Robinhood to establish a brand that resonated with them.

During the pandemic, Robinhood experienced explosive growth in trading volume, leading to significant infrastructure challenges, including a full day of trading outages.

The evolution of Robinhood's product stack reflects the management team's own aging and changing needs, as they now focus on serving millennials with relevant financial products.

Robinhood diversified its product offerings beyond equities trading, introducing retirement accounts and high-yield cash sweep balances, which attracted a broader range of customers.