EXCLUSIVE: Robinhood’s Steve Quirk Says New Offerings Like Crypto, Futures Bring In Customers, Bitcoin Is ‘No. 1’ Most Traded Investment
By Benzinga
Trading platform Robinhood Markets (NASDAQ:HOOD) has grown from a strong base of young users and retail users into a platform that caters to all, a development the company’s Chief Brokerage Officer Steve Quirk told Benzinga is “kind of exciting to see” during the 2024 HOOD Summit.
Robinhood’s Growth: With a long career in the trading world at TD Ameritrade and the Cboe, Quirk has seen trends come and go in the stock market.
“At Robinhood, our customers tier toward the younger side,” Quirk said in a Friday interview, noting an average customer age in the low 30s.
Similarities exist between legacy trading firms and Robinhood, he said, but there are many differences that influence the latter’s product development.
“The technology and products we roll out cater to our customers.”
On Robinhood, around 50% of the self-directed trading occurs on mobile, which means most of the trading is done on phones, Quirk said.
With the growth of retirement accounts and more sophisticated traders joining Robinhood, Quirk said the company saw demand for web-based apps and platforms alongside mobile, which went into the company’s new trading platform.
“We are attracting a lot of large customers from other brokerages.”
Quirk emphasized the amount of effort Robinhood puts into researching customers to make better tools and products and also the effort made in education to make people feel comfortable switching their accounts over to Robinhood.
“Education is critical.”
The HOOD Summit has helped show Quirk stories of investors changing their lives through Robinhood tools and investment platforms, he said.
“Those stories make you motivated to continue to deliver for the customers.”
Platform For Everything: Robinhood recently announced a partnership with Cboe Global Markets (BATS:CBOE) that will bring futures trading to customers, which Quirk said is one of the platform’s most-requested features.
“It’s a natural,” Quirk said.
The tax advantages of futures and the fact they operate around the clock are some of the reasons they are in demand from Robinhood customers, he said.
With its offerings of stocks, options, futures and cryptocurrency, Quirk highlighted the uniqueness of the Robinhood platform during his interview with Benzinga’s Zunaid Suleman at the HOOD Summit in Miami.
“We’re the only place in U.S. where you can do it all.”
Robinhood offers the ability to make recurring investments in any asset, including cryptocurrency, Quirk said.
“The No. 1 traded and most reoccurred investment is Bitcoin,” he said, highlighting the leading cryptocurrency Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC).
Bitcoin has been Robinhood’s top recurring asset for years and it shows the platform has customers who are very passionate about cryptocurrency, the chief brokerage officer said.
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Benzinga’s Zunaid Suleman interviews Robinhood Chief Brokerage Officer Steve Quirk. Photo by Aaron Thomas.
