Finance
Robinhood debuts Legend for active traders, says futures markets are coming soon
In this photo illustration, the Robinhood Markets, Inc. logo is displayed on a smartphone screen.
Rafael Henrique | Sopa Images | Lightrocket | Getty Images
Retail brokerage firm Robinhood is launching a new tool for more sophisticated traders as it looks for additional avenues for growth.
On Wednesday, the firm introduced Robinhood Legend, a desktop-based platform for active traders. The offering includes advanced charting tools for users who want to do detailed analysis of stocks.
“In looking at the landscape of trading tools and by talking with active traders, we realized there is frustration with legacy offerings,” Steve Quirk, chief brokerage officer at Robinhood, said in a press release.
“Specifically, moving back and forth between apps or charting platforms can be cumbersome and time consuming. So we set out to reimagine what a modern, intuitively designed active trading platform should look like, and built Robinhood Legend from the ground up so traders can do what they need in one place,” Quirk said.
Beyond the launch of Legend, Robinhood also said it will soon add futures trading and index options to its mobile platform. Customers must be granted approval to trade futures contracts, according to the press release, and futures and index options will eventually be added to Legend as well.
The new additions for Robinhood are another example of the firm looking to expand beyond its roots as a convenient platform for small-dollar traders. The firm’s rise coincided with the “meme stock” phenomenon in early 2021 as retail trading boomed in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Robinhood shares, all-time
Since then, Robinhood has been steadily adding new offerings, including a credit card for Robinhood Gold subscribers and a digital wallet to hold cryptocurrencies.
Robinhood said that it had $139.7 billion in assets under custody at the end of the second quarter, along with 11.8 million monthly active users. For the comparable quarter in 2021, near the height of the GameStop mania, Robinhood reported $102 billion in assets but 21.3 million monthly active users. The firm’s next earnings report is scheduled for Oct. 30.
Shares of Robinhood are up more than 100% so far this year.
The announcements on Thursday were part of HOOD Summit, a conference for Robinhood’s customers.
It appears T. Rowe Price is benefitting from the record growth in actively managed exchange traded funds.
Tim Coyne, the firm’s head of ETFs, reports the firm is seeing significant growth in the area — listing the T. Rowe Price Capital Appreciation Equity ETF (TCAF) and T. Rowe Price U.S. Equity Research ETF (TSPA) as two established strategies that can satisfy investor demand.
“I think having that professionally managed portfolio is really beneficial to clients,” Coyne told CNBC’s “ETF Edge” this week. “We’re seeing just… greater volatility [and] uncertainty across both the equity and fixed income markets.“
According to Coyne, the T. Rowe Price Capital Appreciation Equity ETF suits investors who are looking for long-term growth.
“The objective of the fund is to outperform the S&P 500 with lower volatility and greater tax efficiency,” he said. “It’s also a more concentrated portfolio, typically holding around a hundred names.”
As of April 24, the fund’s top holdings include Microsoft, Amazon, and Apple according to the T. Rowe Price website. But it’s not all Big Tech. The ETF also features smaller positions in companies like Becton Dickinson and Roper Technologies.
The T. Rowe Price Capital Appreciation Equity ETF is down about 5% so far this year while the S&P 500 is off about 7% However, the ETF is up close to 8% over the past year — roughly identical to the S&P 500’s performance.
Coyne notes the T. Rowe Price U.S. Equity Research ETF follows a similar strategy, but with a heavier weighting in top tech stocks.
“This is more of a large-cap growth product [T Rowe Price U.S. Equity Research ETF],” he said. “There are components of characteristics of both passive and active here. This fund is actually managed by our North American directors of research. So again, strong fundamental research is going into the stock selection.”
Both the T. Rowe Price U.S. Equity Research ETF and S&P 500 are down around 7% since the beginning of the year. Meanwhile, the fund is up almost 9% over the past year. That’s less than one percent better than the S&P 500’s performance.
T. Rowe Price U.S. Equity Research ETF vs. S&P 500
‘Some form of bear market’
Strategas Securities’ Todd Sohn thinks investment demand for active managers will continue to be strong.
“This is the type of the environment where it [active management] can actually shine,” the firm’s senior ETF and technical strategist said. “We are in some form of bear market. This is where the active manager really can come into hand and offer their solution they are doing right.”
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