Robinhood Clouded by Crypto Turmoil Despite Revenue Beat

Despite gaining traction with its prediction markets offering, mobile brokerage app operator Robinhood Markets posted lower fourth-quarter profit, and revenue fell short of expectations.

Robinhood's operating expenses for 2026 are expected to rise 18%. (Photo: Robinhood Facebook) 

Weakness in cryptocurrencies weighed on the quarter following last year’s sharp drop in digital asset values, Andrew Welsh and Liz Moyer reported for Barron’s Daily.

Crypto trading revenue fell 38%, offsetting the 27% gain in overall revenue. Earnings of 66 cents a share were better than expected. In its prediction markets business, sports was the most popular theme, and customers traded a record 8.5 billion event contracts during the quarter.

Robinhood customers have also been embracing risk and trading on margin, meaning they are borrowing money from their brokerage to buy stocks.

The company said its margin book increased 113% from a year ago to a record $16.8 billion. Trading volumes for equities and option contracts reached records for the quarter.

A bull market has enticed investors to put more money in brokerage accounts.

Robinhood’s total platform assets jumped 68% from the year earlier to $324 billion for the fourth quarter. Net deposits came in at $15.9 billion for the quarter.

Transaction-based revenue rose 15% in the fourth quarter, while net interest revenue rose 39%, mainly driven by interest-earning asset growth and securities lending activities. Robinhood Gold subscription revenue rose 56% in the quarter to around $50 million.

Operating expenses for 2026 are expected to rise 18%, Robinhood said, mostly to invest in new or recently introduced products such as its banking and prediction markets, and as it expands to new markets.