Robinhood Agrees to $45 Million SEC Settlement Over Past Violations
Written by Emily J. Thompson, Senior Investment Analyst
Updated: Jan 14 2025
0mins
Should l Buy HOOD?
Source: Benzinga
Regulatory Settlement: Robinhood Markets will pay $45 million to settle SEC charges related to regulatory violations, including failures in trading activity reporting, cybersecurity practices, and recordkeeping from 2019 to 2022.
Stock Performance and Predictions: Despite the regulatory issues, Robinhood's stock (HOOD) has seen a significant increase of over 262% in the past year, with current trading at approximately $39.98, indicating bullish sentiment among investors based on technical analysis.
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Analyst Views on HOOD
Wall Street analysts forecast HOOD stock price to rise
20 Analyst Rating
16 Buy
4 Hold
0 Sell
Strong Buy
Current: 71.120
Low
130.00
Averages
156.24
High
181.00
Current: 71.120
Low
130.00
Averages
156.24
High
181.00
About HOOD
Robinhood Markets, Inc. is creating a financial services platform for everyone, regardless of their wealth, income, or background. It uses technology to provide access to the financial system. Its offerings include Brokerage, Robinhood Crypto, Custody, Robinhood Wallet, Robinhood Gold, and Robinhood Gold Card. Its Brokerage services include investing, options trading, fractional trading, recurring investment, access to investing on margin, fully paid securities lending, cash sweep, instant withdrawals, Robinhood retirement, 24-hour market, joint investing accounts, and event contracts. It also offers a variety of ways for its customers to grow their financial knowledge, including Robinhood Learn, In-App Education, Newsfeeds, Sherwood Snacks, and Crypto Learn and Earn. Its self-clearing system, order routing system, data platform, and other back-end infrastructure deliver the capabilities that allow its customers to focus on investing, saving and spending.
About the author

Emily J. Thompson
Emily J. Thompson, a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) with 12 years in investment research, graduated with honors from the Wharton School. Specializing in industrial and technology stocks, she provides in-depth analysis for Intellectia’s earnings and market brief reports.
- Earnings Performance: Robinhood reported a 27% year-over-year revenue increase in Q4, slightly missing estimates, which led to a sharp stock sell-off, reflecting market sensitivity to high growth expectations and potentially impacting investor confidence in the short term.
- Net Deposit Growth: Net deposits totaled nearly $16 billion in Q4, representing a 19% annualized growth rate relative to total platform assets from the previous quarter, indicating sustained customer trust and inflow of assets, enhancing future revenue potential.
- Deepening Customer Relationships: The report highlighted a 57% year-over-year increase in retirement accounts opened, demonstrating significant progress in building long-term customer relationships, which will lay the groundwork for future revenue growth.
- Investment Opportunity: Despite the revenue miss, the ongoing growth in customer assets and the rollout of new banking services provide strong support for Robinhood's future development, suggesting that the current stock dip may present a buying opportunity for investors.
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- Significant Revenue Growth: Robinhood's revenue surged from $1.4 billion in 2022 to $4.5 billion in 2025, achieving a compound annual growth rate of 66%, indicating substantial success in attracting retail investors and solidifying its market position.
- Profitability Improvement: Robinhood turned profitable in 2024, with net income rising 33% to $1.9 billion in 2025, demonstrating the sustainability and profitability potential of its business model, which is expected to continue attracting investor interest.
- Gold Subscription Platform Expansion: By the end of 2025, Robinhood's Gold subscription platform served 4.2 million customers, driving user base growth and laying the groundwork for future revenue increases, with expectations of enhanced customer loyalty.
- HODU ETF Risks and Rewards: Direxion's HODU ETF aims to double Robinhood's daily returns; however, its structure is better suited for short-term traders due to high fees and volatility, prompting long-term investors to exercise caution, especially in unstable market conditions.
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- Consistent Profitability Growth: In 2025, Robinhood achieved a 52% year-over-year revenue increase, reflecting significant profitability stability across equities, options, crypto, and interest income, thereby enhancing investor confidence in its long-term earnings potential.
- Significant Revenue Diversification: Robinhood diversified its revenue streams in 2025, with interest income from customer cash balances, margin lending, and securities lending becoming meaningful contributors, as multiple business lines generated over $100 million annually, reducing reliance on any single product category.
- Milestone of S&P 500 Inclusion: Robinhood's addition to the S&P 500 in 2025 not only enhanced its market recognition and liquidity but also introduced automatic demand from passive funds and ETFs, reshaping institutional and analyst perceptions and significantly strengthening its credibility.
- Accelerated Product Development: While profitability and index inclusion were headline news, Robinhood accelerated product development in 2025, including the launch of the Robinhood Gold Card and improvements in crypto infrastructure, indicating a clear strategic intent to expand its financial ecosystem.
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- Consistent Profitability: In 2025, Robinhood achieved a 52% year-over-year revenue increase across transaction, interest, and subscription categories, indicating a shift towards sustainable profitability that no longer relies on market sentiment fluctuations, thus establishing a more stable earnings model.
- Revenue Diversification: The company broadened its revenue streams in 2025, with significant contributions from interest income on customer cash balances, margin lending, and securities lending, alongside multiple business lines generating over $100 million annually, reducing reliance on any single product category.
- S&P 500 Inclusion: Robinhood's addition to the S&P 500 in 2025 marked a significant milestone, enhancing the company's liquidity and institutional acceptance while generating automatic demand from passive funds, thereby reshaping market perceptions and strengthening its credibility.
- Accelerated Product Development: While profitability and index inclusion were highlights, 2025 also saw accelerated product development, including the launch of the Robinhood Gold Card and improvements in crypto infrastructure, signaling the company's strategic intent to enhance user engagement and expand service offerings.
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- Crypto Price Decline: Eisman highlighted that the renewed decline in crypto prices is directly impacting the performance of Robinhood and Coinbase, as evidenced by Robinhood's recent misses on earnings, revenue, and net new assets, indicating a heavy reliance on the crypto market.
- Valuation Disparity for Robinhood: Eisman emphasized the stark valuation disparity between Robinhood and its established competitors, suggesting that the company has little room for error, and any missteps could severely affect its future growth prospects.
- Coinbase Faces Similar Challenges: Coinbase reported a 22% year-over-year revenue decline and also missed earnings per share expectations, with Eisman warning that as long as crypto prices continue to fall, Coinbase's stock price will remain under pressure, reflecting its close ties to the crypto market.
- Cautious Market Outlook: Eisman's commentary suggests a cautious outlook for companies closely linked to retail speculation and the highly cyclical crypto market, especially as Bitcoin has plunged over 45% from its record high, leading to significant declines in the stock prices of both Robinhood and Coinbase.
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- Revenue Diversification: In 2025, Robinhood improved profitability with transaction revenue comprising 60% of total revenue, but in 2026, it must focus on revenue mix stability, particularly growth in Robinhood Gold subscriptions and non-transaction revenue to enhance business sustainability.
- Earnings Volatility Reduction: Despite diversification, Robinhood's quarterly results remain influenced by crypto and options activity, so in 2026, investors should look for reduced revenue swings and stable operating margins to improve predictability within the S&P 500.
- Product Integration Depth: Over the past two years, Robinhood has launched various new products, and the key to success lies in effectively integrating these offerings; in 2026, attention should be paid to cross-sell rates and multi-product adoption per user to enhance platform stickiness.
- Execution Challenge: The year 2026 will be crucial for Robinhood as it seeks to transition from momentum-driven growth to disciplined compounding, and if it can expand recurring revenue, reduce volatility, and strengthen ecosystem depth, it will enhance its credibility in the market.
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