What is Robinhood?
July 12, 2021·5 comments·In Brief
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This commentary is being provided to you as general information only and should not be taken as investment advice. The opinions expressed in these materials represent the personal views of the author(s). It is not investment research or a research recommendation, as it does not constitute substantive research or analysis. Any action that you take as a result of information contained in this document is ultimately your responsibility. Epsilon Theory will not accept liability for any loss or damage, including without limitation to any loss of profit, which may arise directly or indirectly from use of or reliance on such information. Consult your investment advisor before making any investment decisions. It must be noted, that no one can accurately predict the future of the market with certainty or guarantee future investment performance. Past performance is not a guarantee of future results.
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Comments
Hi Marc,
Terrific contribution, probably my favourite to date. The synthesis you drew forth between the rotation from investing, to speculation, to plain gambling and Srinivasan’s observation that in a financialised economy, the end game is that everyone is an investor is getting very close to explaining much of the inexplicable we see around us today. It could be a rich seam to mine further.
James
Great write up Marc!
I liked the previous one on DeFi as well!
Thanks & keep them coming
Another great article Marc! I was introduced to your writing through the previous guest article on Epsilon Theory. I’ve now signed up for Net Interest so I can read everything you publish each Friday. Thanks for all the good info!
Hi Marc, excellent article. I would add that when Schwab, TD and the other large brokerage houses went to zero commissions, this lit the real fire under trading, and then their marketing departments went all-in on options. Both of which led to more speculation. Not to mention the number of books, articles, blogs and social media devoted to bringing options trading to the masses. In the narrative game, Robinhood has successfully positioned itself as “not big corporate brokerage” even though PFOF from Citadel and Virtu make the biggest gains from all this “investment.”. It will take a long, grinding, pitiless bear market to turn the zeitgeist.
With the statement that 67% of retail customers lose money on CFD’s, I assume that this means that institutional/professional clients are the ones that are winning because there is a winner and a loser on every trade. I guess that I can understand that because I have a poor track record with options.
And as another commenter stated, the commission free trade took away any impediment to trading. If there still was an $8.95 commission per trade the number of trades would be cut dramatically.
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