Allianz chief economic adviser Mohamed El-Erian argues apps like Robinhood are reducing the barriers to retail entry. He also provides insight into the coronavirus pandemic, initial jobless claims, earnings and how to allocate capital in the current market environment.
Robinhood, the commission-free trading app, is spreading the wealth in the form of new jobs as it moves to meet the demand of a growing army of day traders as U.S. equity markets return to record levels.
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The company plans to add more than a hundred positions in Southlake, Texas, and Tempe, Arizona, by the end of 2020 after being “encouraged to see more people get started investing over the past several months” company officials wrote in blog post earlier this week.
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“There is a wealth of highly skilled and trained registered financial representatives that will play an important role as we continue to scale and improve our customer support experience,” a company spokesperson told FOX Business,
The company has also expanded informational and educational resources to help customers learn more about the markets and investing to make more informed decisions, the spokesperson added.
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The company is not valued at about $8.6 billion after a fresh round of fundraising brought in about $300 million. Now company officials plan to continue expanding in the United States in areas including Denver, Colo., and Lake Mary, Fla., according to the company. The majority of the company’s 1,000 or so employees work at the headquarters in Menlo Park, Calif.
The hunt for ‘Registered Customer Experience Representatives’, as noted in one job posting, requires candidates to aspire to “Drive continuous improvement to delight customers” and lists qualifications including understanding “financial services and the stock market” as well as “FINRA Series 7 and 63 Licenses.” No salary range was disclosed.
Recently, Robinhood has grown growth explosively. The company leapfrogged TD Ameritrade, Interactive Brokers, Charles Schwab and E*Trade, which is being acquired by Morgan Stanley, in Daily Average Revenue Trades, known as DARTS for short, which hit 4.31 million as reported by Bloomberg.
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AMTD | TD AMERITRADE HOLDING | 37.71 | -0.09 | -0.24% |
| IBKR | INTERACTIVE BROKERS GROUP | 51.18 | +1.40 | +2.81% |
| SCHW | CHARLES SCHWAB | 34.84 | -0.12 | -0.34% |
| ETFC | E*TRADE GROUP (E*TRADE BANK AG) | 54.45 | +0.61 | +1.13% |
The hiring push comes amid some backlash that newbie day traders are dabbling in financial markets using sophisticated strategies without understanding all the risks, a point made by SEC Chairman Jay Clayton, during a recent interview with FOX Business’ Maria Bartiromo. “I want to make sure our retail investors know there are risks involved in leverages of all types” Clayton cautioned.
Additionally, the company has come under fire after it announced it will longer provide data listing the most popular stocks among customers.
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The company said the way the data is sometimes reported by third parties “could be misconstrued or misunderstood” and does not represent the company’s user base.
