US online brokerage Robinhood announced on Tuesday that it will allow users to trade select US stocks around the clock on weekends, marking the company's latest move to stay competitive as the industry moves toward round-the-clock trading.
The move by Robinhood is part of a fundamental shift in the market that is expected to help US markets attract a broader range of global capital while offering investors greater flexibility.
"Our focus this year is to make Robinhood the best platform for active traders, and to do that we're going to give them tools that are typically only available to hedge funds, quantitative trading firms, and large active trading companies," said Abhishek Fatehpuria, the company's vice president of product management, in an interview.
Since 2023, the company has allowed round-the-clock trading on weekdays. About 10 months after that feature launched, the company said that on active trading days, as much as 25% of total daily trading volume came from outside traditional trading hours.
This is the first time Robinhood has allowed weekend trading. Some worry that insufficient liquidity during non-traditional trading hours could prevent traders from getting the best prices.
Nevertheless, global exchanges such as Nasdaq and the London Stock Exchange are still actively pushing forward plans to extend trading hours.
US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Paul Atkins said at a roundtable earlier this month: "When global markets react to breaking news in real time, waiting until 9:30 a.m. Monday to adjust positions or rebalance hedges could mean missing opportunities or introducing extra risk — especially in the current environment."
Robinhood will initially offer a curated list of stocks and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) for users to trade on weekends. The feature is being launched in partnership with overnight trading infrastructure provider Bruce ATS and is still pending regulatory approval.
The online brokerage will also allow traders to bet on specific corporate earnings metrics through a partnership with derivatives exchange CBOE. Through Robinhood's prediction markets platform, users can bet on whether a company's earnings beat expectations or whether revenue reaches a specific target.
Prediction market platforms such as Polymarket and Kalshi have been designing various targeted betting products to meet the needs of traders who want to wager on earnings results beyond stock price predictions.
Robinhood also said eligible US customers will be able to trade perpetual futures through the app. Unlike traditional futures, perpetual futures have no expiration date.
In addition, users can build AI agents within the app to execute trades on their behalf.
The company's social platform — similar to the popular WallStreetBets community on Reddit — will now be rolled out to all eligible US customers after a test launch earlier this year.