Robinhood Added Over 1 Million Accounts During GameStop Turmoil

A new estimate says that the private company’s app was downloaded more than 1 million times from Wednesday to Friday even as Robinhood banned or limited the purchase of several stocks, and users wrote angrily about the company on social media. 

 

The surge in accounts came as the market was transfixed by a surge in retail trading of stocks like GameStop (ticker: GME) and AMC Entertainment Holdings (AMC).

It’s important to note that app downloads are not the same as new accounts, so the number is a partial snapshot of the company’s success last week.

Still, the strong number for Robinhood is surprising given that the broker faced enormous stresses and poor public perception last week. In addition, Robinhood was forced to tap credit lines and received $1 billion from current investors while countering rumors that its decision to limit trading of GameStop and other stocks was somehow nefarious. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and other legislators wrote on Twitter that Congress should look deeper into Robinhood’s actions. Robinhood said on Monday that it had raised another $2.4 billion from its investors, for a total of $3.4 billion. The investment round was led by Ribbit Capital, with existing investors including Iconiq, Andreessen Horowitz, Sequoia, Index Ventures, and NEA also taking part.

Robinhood explained in a blog post that those limits were based on demands from its clearinghouse that it put up more collateral based on the volume of trades going through its system. Its deposit requirements spiked to 10 times the normal number, according to a blog post that Robinhood put out.

JMP securities analyst Devin Ryan wrote in a report on Monday that Robinhood appears to have been downloaded 550,000 times on Wednesday and over 600,000 times on Thursday. On Friday, it was 300,000 times.