
Brad Sherman pressed Griffin on whether market makers like Citadel Securities that have a commercial relationship with Robinhood have an unfair advantage over average investors in how their trades are handled. "The $3.4 billion we raised goes a long way from pushing the firm from future volatility and other black swan events," Tenev said. Tenev said the company "will be reviewing everything about this." Maloney noted that the Robinhood's January 28 blog post blamed market volatility for its decision to halt trading in GameStop and other stocks, without mentioning the need to raise additional funds due to capital requirements. Tenev said that the company receives more than 50% of its income from such transactions.Īfter Kearns' death, Robinhood clarified how the app displays a customer's buying power, added phone-based support for people who trade using options and took other measures to improve the platform, Tenev said.
Hedge fund gamestop free#
While Robinhood touts free trading to small investors, it makes its money by routing orders to market makers including Citadel Securities. The wild volatility in GameStop's stock - which soared nearly 3,000% in January - has sparked criticism from lawmakers about Robinhood's business practices and its links to Wall Street.

Together, the group faced questions about the intersection of social media, hedge funds and small investors that use Robinhood. Tenev was joined by two hedge fund managers, Citadel CEO Kenneth Griffin and Melvin Capital CEO Gabriel Plotkin, as well as Reddit CEO Steve Huffman, Reddit investor Keith Gill and the Cato Institute's Jennifer Schulp. Although Tenev apologized for his company's decision to restrict trading in the video game retailer and other high-flying shares, he also defended its business model as one that benefits average investors. This might involve scrutiny of forums such as WallStreetBets and natural language processing of message boards.Īnd while it may have been unprecedented, it’s unlikely GameStop will be the only short squeeze of its kind.Lawmakers grilled Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev for more than five hours Thursday over the online brokerage firm's role in frenzied buying last month of GameStop shares and other beaten down stocks. If nothing else, hedge funds are likely to be revising the way they monitor risk and manage exposure on the short side to both crowding and retail interest. In a statement, the ESMA added: “ESMA and the National Competent Authorities will continue analysing market events and consider adopting further initiatives aimed at preserving investor protection and market integrity as appropriate.” But it did spur the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) chair Steven Maijoor to announce an investigation into “the role of online brokers’ business models.” The GameStop saga has not yet prompted regulatory action in the UK. It is important therefore that risks from non-bank financial intermediation (NBFI) are effectively managed and that authorities have the tools they need to effectively supervise and regulate NBFI.” The FSB now states: “Non-banks play an increasingly important role in the global financial system. Now underway is a regulatory review of the ever-larger role non-bank firms are playing in the financial markets. The mix of characters and technology and novel trading platforms involved in the phenomenon are now forcing Wall Street and international regulators to take a hard look at the power of retail investors.īecause while hedge funds can’t intervene on forums anonymously and pump up stocks, regular punters certainly can. Unexpected hazards for hedge fund managers

It sparked market-wide volatility as hedge funds jostled to meet their obligations and wrap up bad bets. The result was a short meme stock squeeze that meant short sellers were forced to repurchase stock as prices rose, pushing the price higher. A surge in the stock price in extended-hours trading occurred after he made a post on Twitter to his 44 million followers that included "Gamestonk!"

Tesla chief executive Elon Musk was part of the picture. Don't miss new reports! Sign up for The AI Data Science in Trading Newsletterīy acting in unison, pandemic-bored amateur investors – mainly in the Reddit community – pushed up GameStop’s share price to astronomical levels causing massive losses for short-sellers.
