New York, June 18, 2026, 05:08 (EDT)
- Robinhood was last seen at $105.20, up roughly 8.7% from its previous close, ahead of Thursday’s main U.S. session.
- Robinhood is set to cut around 10% of its full-time staff and expects to take roughly $28 million in restructuring charges for the second quarter.
- Analysts bumped up their targets after the move. A U.S. opening for tokenized stocks could also bring Robinhood into more direct competition with Coinbase, Kraken and Charles Schwab.
Robinhood Markets stock hovered close to Wednesday’s sharp jump ahead of the U.S. open. Traders shrugged off the company’s move to cut 10% of staff, keeping their focus on record trading volumes in June, projected cost savings, and a new round of analyst upgrades for the online broker.
Timing was key. Robinhood made its move while the broader market dropped: the S&P 500 slid 1.21% and the Nasdaq shed 1.34% on Wednesday as new signals from the Federal Reserve nudged traders toward betting on more rate hikes this year. Thursday marks the last normal Nasdaq session before a closure on Friday for Juneteenth.
Robinhood called the layoffs a move for operating discipline, saying it wasn’t a pullback. In a securities filing, the company said its June average daily trading volumes so far are at record highs in equities, options and prediction markets. These markets let users trade on event outcomes instead of stocks or bonds.
Robinhood is cutting around 10% of its full-time workers and will close a handful of open positions. The company sees about $20 million in cash costs from severance and benefits plus roughly $8 million for share-based pay. The related charges will show up in the second quarter, according to a filing.
Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev told staff the company’s “business has never been stronger,” but said it needed to stay a “lean, hyper-focused team,” according to Reuters. Citizens JMP Securities analyst Devin Ryan said artificial intelligence wasn’t the main reason for the cuts, though “technology is enabling the company to operate with a flatter, more productive structure.” Reuters
Argus’s Stephen Biggar upped his price target on Robinhood to $110 from $90 while keeping his Buy rating. He pointed to headcount cuts, a pickup in trading, and a slower pace of expense growth. Deutsche Bank raised its target as well, going to $105 from $103, TheFly reports via TipRanks.
Robinhood posted new operating numbers bulls will like. Funded customers hit 27.7 million at May’s end. Platform assets rose 48% on the year to $377 billion. May’s equity trading volume was $315 billion, up 75% from a year ago. Options contracts were up 29% to 231 million, and event contracts came in at 3.9 billion.
Regulation is a factor too. The SEC is working on a rule that may let crypto companies list tokenized stocks — digital tokens that follow real shares and can trade at any hour — Reuters said. Coinbase has said it wants to launch in the U.S. if the policy goes through. Robinhood and Kraken already have tokenized stocks abroad. That might put them up against established names like Charles Schwab down the line.
The trade is messy. Robinhood flagged in its filing that cutting risk could bring legal, reputational, financial and operational headaches. If trading drops off, it tests if cost cuts are enough to absorb revenue shifts. Tokenized stocks have their own issues—Reuters said some of these products may not give investors the rights, disclosures or protections of regular shares.
Right now, Robinhood stock is trading off two connected bets — that management keeps a lid on costs and that retail trading holds up to back the higher price. Next up: the real test comes when HOOD tries to keep Wednesday’s pop once the market opens for regular trading.
