NEW YORK, June 17, 2026, 12:04 EDT
- Robinhood shares traded at $107.30, up roughly 11%, on the Nasdaq in late-morning action.
- Robinhood is planning to lay off around 10% of its full-time workers and take about $28 million in restructuring charges for the second quarter.
- SEC is considering letting tokenized stocks trade, Reuters reports. That could let Robinhood catch up to Coinbase and Kraken. It could also turn up the heat on old-line brokers like Charles Schwab.
Robinhood Markets (HOOD) shares pushed higher late Wednesday morning. The brokerage announced a 10% workforce cut Tuesday, and U.S. regulators are working on a policy that could expand tokenized-stock trading. The stock was last at $107.30, up $10.59, after reaching an intraday top of $107.35.
Robinhood is cutting about 10% of its full-time staff as it looks to convince investors it can squeeze more operating leverage from strong retail trading. In a securities filing, the company put the charges from the layoffs around $20 million in cash for severance and benefits, plus about $8 million for stock awards and other share-based pay.
Another angle to the trade: the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is set to put out rules for an “innovation exemption.” That could clear the way for companies to list tokenized stocks—blockchain-backed assets meant to follow regular shares. Robinhood, Coinbase, and Kraken already list these products outside the U.S., Reuters said. If the model gets a green light at home, older brokers like Charles Schwab could have fresh rivals. Reuters
Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev told staff the business “has never been stronger,” but said the company has to stay lean and avoid getting too layered. “Robinhood must be a ‘lean, hyper-focused team,’” Tenev said in a note posted on X and cited by Reuters. Reuters
Robinhood’s filing said the company is operating from “a position of business strength,” pointing to record average daily trading volumes so far in June for equities, options and prediction markets. Prediction markets allow trading on event outcomes instead of traditional company stock. SEC
Analyst Devin Ryan at Citizens JMP Securities told Reuters the cuts weren’t mostly about AI-driven efficiency. “We do see a broader dynamic where technology is enabling the company to operate with a flatter, more productive structure,” Ryan said in a note. Reuters
Robinhood’s latest operating numbers arrived ahead of its layoff news. The company showed 27.7 million funded customers at the end of May and $377 billion in platform assets. Equity trading volumes hit $315 billion, up 75% from a year ago. Options contracts totaled 231 million, up 29%.
But there are real risks here. Robinhood is warning of possible legal, reputational, financial and operational fallout from the job cuts. Regulators still haven’t settled how far tokenized stocks can go. Reuters said Citadel Securities and the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association don’t want a quick exemption—they’re pushing for formal rules. Some experts also warn these tokenized offerings may not always have the same rights or disclosures as regular shares.
White & Case’s global fintech chief Ladan Stewart called the SEC exemption a “significant win” for crypto companies, speaking to Reuters. For Robinhood, this could mean lower costs and rising volumes, along with another product to keep trading going outside normal market hours. Reuters
Whether the momentum sticks if markets shift is less certain. Robinhood fell short of first-quarter profit forecasts back in April, with Reuters reporting crypto volatility took a toll on trading. Retail trading often dips when things get choppy. So Wednesday’s jump comes down to whether Robinhood’s job cuts hit fat, not muscle on product, and if tokenized stocks actually turn into a business instead of just another hot trade.
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