Robinhood crypto trades drop 21% as event contracts steal the show

Robinhood's Nov. 12 operating update put October crypto trading volume at $17 billion, down 21% from September. Bitstamp handled $10.2 billion of that, while the retail app chipped in $6.8 billion. Combined average daily crypto volume came to $548 million, 23% below September's pace.

The split shows weakness on both sides. App volume fell 24% month over month and 51% from a year earlier, while Bitstamp slipped 18% monthly and 45% annually. Total October volume sat 48% under its year-earlier level and below August's $17.5 billion, when crypto.news covered a 61% rebound from July.

Event contracts went the other way. Customers traded 5.9 billion of them, up 5% from September and 136% year over year, averaging 190 million a day. In third-quarter results published Oct. 27, Robinhood booked $173 million in event-contract revenue, more than six times the prior-year figure, while crypto transaction revenue fell 55% to $120 million. Options led the disclosed transaction categories at $399 million, ahead of event contracts, equities at $121 million and crypto.

Quarterly revenue reached $1.42 billion, up 12% annually, but net income dropped 14% to $476 million and diluted earnings per share fell 16% to $0.51. Robinhood logged $67 million in unrealized losses, mostly tied to Robinhood Ventures Fund I.

The prediction-markets push came via a September partnership with OG.com to route retail event contracts through its exchange and clearing infrastructure, with a phased U.S. rollout starting Sept. 8. Robinhood would take initial equity stakes in both OG.com and Crypto.com, priced on Citadel Securities' investment terms valuing Crypto.com at $20 billion and the carved-out OG.com business at $5 billion.

At its Sept. 29 HOOD Summit, Robinhood also announced U.S. crypto perpetuals covering Bitcoin, Ether, Solana, XRP, Dogecoin, Cardano, Chainlink and Hyperliquid, offered through Bitstamp with a 0.01% trading fee through year-end. Bitcoin and Ether contracts would allow up to 10 times leverage; the rest cap at three times. The same announcement introduced earnings contracts through Cboe, requiring options approval. Outside crypto, October equity trading hit $325.5 billion, up 1%, options contracts held near flat at 288.6 million, margin balances rose 4% to $22.9 billion, and funded customers grew by roughly 130,000 to 28.9 million. Net deposits totaled $15.1 billion, but platform assets fell 3% to $383.2 billion and cash and deposits dropped 20% to $16.4 billion.