Robinhood Markets Inc (NASDAQ:HOOD) shares slumped at the end of a whip-saw Thursday after first-quarter results as 2022’s spiking volatility and stock market sell-offs smashed retail trading volumes.
It also remains to be seen whether soaring inflation and the cost of living crisis will shutdown the so-called ‘small dollar’ retail trading phenomena that propelled the stock and crypto app during the pandemic and 2021.
Larger balance accounts remain active on the platform whilst lower balance accounts are in decline, chief executive Vlad Tenev told investors on Thursday’s earnings call.
Monthly active users amounted to 15.9mln, compared to a prior year comparative if 17.7mln.
Robinhood reported US$299mln of revenue for the three months, undershooting Wall Street expectations for around US$355mln. Loss per share meanwhile dwarfed consensus, coming in at 45 cents rather than 36 cents.
The loss itself actually narrowed substantially to some US$392mln, from US$1.4bn in the same period of 2021.
Revenue from crypto related business was down 39% to US$54mln.
In New York, having ended Thursday’s trading session up 6% at US$10.09, Robinhood shares have been hammered in out-of-hours, losing 11.4% down to US$8.94 ahead of Friday’s open.