🏹 Robinhood UK

So, any chance of Robinhood sweeping into the UK/Europe and stealing our business before we even get started?

At the moment, the only other country where they are planning to launch is Australia (Chine is a bit complicated). But at the moment they have only reached the “sign up to our list” stage.

They have also talked a lot about the expansion to Europe and are planning to revisit this question in 2019. Their main concern at the moment is Brexit uncertainty.

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Reading their press release, they did not mention anything about expanding outside of the US. Sounds like they want to increase their product suite, hiring talent and rollout crypto to other states (only in 10 states currently).

Also, they have so many low hanging fruits in the US. Capturing market share from incumbents and millennials or those new to investing, etc. Enough stuff for them to be super busy with.

Whilst a potential threat, I do think we underestimate the difficulties of expanding operations in a highly regulated industries. I suspect it will be a wee while before we see Robinhood crossing the Atlantic. In the mean time, Freetrade should be up and running with at least 33k (and counting) MAUs :wink:

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Thanks for the updates, puts my mind at ease before the fundraiser opens on Wednesday.

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33k is a not longer relevant given the third round upcoming next week:

https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/business5/uploads/freetrade/optimized/1X/244d0811ba00cc4402aa789eb65f181b5a19abac_1_643x500.png

If the similar to R1 and R2 boosts will take place again, R3 will turn the shape into almost-parabolic, hence we would be quite conservative to expect 50,000 in early summer and up to 100,000 by the end of the year.

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When Robinhood planned to launch in Australia it was only going to offer trading to US shares I.e. no domestic market access. They attempted but gave up in China and look to have cancelled plans in Australia. I haven’t read anywhere about international expansion.

I think Freetrade will be able to handle fintech competition when it does arrive. It has complete focus on stockbroking and the UK market (for now), where other potential competitors won’t have both of these. (E.g. De Giro’s been able to get a 30% market share of its home market)

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You might find this Companies House page interesting.

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Incorporated 3 years ago and yet almost no news.

With such publicity and tenacity to operate they will need 10 more years to acquaint themselves with the UK market.

The quicker Freetrade will launch, the more competitive advantage it will have long-term against newcomers.

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Looking pretty dormant in the UK! :+1:t3:

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3 posts were split to a new topic: Revolut Wealth

It appears that Robinhood doesn’t offer tax-wrapped accounts in the US (e.g. IRAs). If that’s the case, then surely they are missing out on the bulk of equities investors (i.e. people saving for retirement).

The fact Freetrade offers ISAs and SIPPs means it can attract long-term investors in the UK, in a way Robinhood has failed to do in the US.

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I’ve just spotted this, curious to hear people’s thoughts on whether this was the right move or not. At the end of they day, they’re still listed on the Nasdaq (for now) & I expect some investors will want to buy in while the share price is so low..

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It comes down to what role we want our broker to play? If we want just an execution platform and that’s all, nothing more, then it is up to the client to decide what to buy.

Difficult question, not sure what my personal preference is at the moment - need to reflect on it.

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Interesting if it’s not backed up with more information.
If they are execution only then they shouldn’t be providing guidance in either direction.
I wonder if there is some other motivation, perhaps it becomes costly for them to manage at such low prices.

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Sound like the chances of investors coming out with nothing are very high, I can see why they suspended it. However I can also see the argument for letting clients make their own mistakes

I guess if they don’t offer other high risk penny stocks then it makes sense to stop offering this one, It’s probably better for their image to be seen to “protect” their clients

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I also think anyone wishing to buy in just because the price is so low is purely a gambler not an investor

Check this out

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This person/channel has done a bunch of really interesting case studies on mainly tech and startup businesses. He recently covered robinhood though perhaps not in as much detail as some of the other businesses he’s looked at.

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This is still not available in EU no? I would love to even get a demo account for robinhood… if anyone has any information please ping me…

It is still not available in the EU, yet. They have been talking for some time to expand into the EU. Who knows when.

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