Robinhood has launched a betting markets hub as the web brokerage — finest recognized for inventory buying and selling — expands its presence in emergent asset courses, together with cryptocurrencies and occasion contracts, in line with a March 17 announcement.
Robinhood’s inventory, HOOD, rose roughly 8% on the Nasdaq after the announcement, in line with knowledge from Google Finance.
The brand new betting characteristic will let customers “commerce contracts for what the higher sure of the goal fed funds fee shall be in Could, in addition to the upcoming males’s and ladies’s Faculty Basketball Tournaments,” it said.
HOOD’s intraday efficiency on the Nasdaq on March 17. Supply: Google Finance
The web brokerage is tapping Kalshi, the US’ first CFTC-regulated prediction platform, to function the occasion contract platform, it mentioned.
Kalshi is already registered to record dozens of occasion contracts, overlaying outcomes starting from election outcomes to Rotten Tomatoes film rankings.
Prediction markets “play an necessary position on the intersection of stories, economics, politics, sports activities, and tradition,” JB Mackenzie, vp and common supervisor of futures and worldwide at Robinhood, mentioned in a press release.
Consultants say political betting markets typically seize public sentiment more accurately than polls. Platforms similar to Kalshi and Polymarket precisely predicted US President Donald Trump’s November election win at the same time as polls indicated a tossup.
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Rising recognition
Prediction markets have change into more and more standard within the US since September 2024, when Kalshi prevailed in a lawsuit difficult a CFTC choice to bar it from itemizing political occasion contracts.
By November, buying and selling volumes throughout standard prediction markets neared $4 billion for contracts tied to the US elections.
Robinhood tested the waters of political event contracts in October when it began letting sure customers wager on the end result of the presidential election between former Vice President Kamala Harris and Trump.
In February, Robinhood suspended Super Bowl betting after receiving a request from the CFTC to nix its prospects’ entry to the occasion contracts.
Past inventory buying and selling
Robinhood has been increasing its footprint in rising asset courses, together with cryptocurrencies and derivatives.
On March 13, the company listed memecoins like Pengu (PENGU), Pnut (PNUT) and Popcat (POPCAT) in a bid to increase its presence in crypto. Again in January, it rolled out futures contracts tied to cryptocurrencies similar to Bitcoin (BTC).
Robihood’s newest earnings report reveals the agency posted a 700% year-over-year jump in crypto revenues within the fourth quarter of 2024 as Trump’s election win and rising market prices fueled boosted crypto buying and selling.
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