Zero-fee trading app Robinhood is looking to introduce features to better protect users against the price volatility of crypto trading, according to a report by Bloomberg based on an analysis of the platform’s code by iOS developer Steve Moser.
Fast facts
- According to a message in the code, a new feature called “price volatility protection” says to “protect your [customer’s] orders against price volatility, we may sometimes skip your recurring orders or buy less than your chosen amount.” This new feature is supposed to alert a customer when this has happened, and will never buy more than a user’s chosen amount.
- Another new feature, called “round up investments” will allow users to invest spare change into stocks, by rounding any purchase to the nearest whole dollar, and diverting the difference into particular stocks. Rounding up investments is already a popular feature in other trading apps, such as Acorns, Chime and Raize.
- It’s a big week for Robinhood, as it seeks a valuation of US$35 billion for its IPO tomorrow, July 29. The company is looking to to raise as much as US$3.2 billion by offering 55 million shares at an estimated US$23 to US$42 each. While significant, this valuation amount is lower than the US$40 billion initially estimated due to a recent slowdown in crypto trading.
- Despite being primarily a stock trading app, Robinhood has been at the center of the crypto industry since the GameStop saga earlier this year led to the eventual rise in popularity of memecoins such as Dogecoin and subsequent spin-offs.