Retail Trading Apps Once Built on Free Trades Are Now Pivoting to Sell a Premium Lifestyle
Retail trading apps spent years crashing Wall Street’s party — now they’re trying to host it. Platforms like Robinhood and eToro are rolling out private banking-style perks like F1 access, airport lounges, and premium cards to keep higher-value users from leaving. The shift comes as they face “graduation risk,” where maturing investors move to Goldman Sachs or JPMorgan, pushing these platforms to pivot from driving trades to retaining assets.
- Robinhood’s median user age has climbed to 36 from 31, with 300K+ accounts holding $100K+ — a jump of over 250% since 2022.
- eToro’s elite Club grew to 720K members in 2025 (from 579K), as CEO Yoni Assia signals a long-term push toward becoming a “family office.”
Not everyone’s buying it: Brand experts say the shift won’t be easy, with Abigail Sussman noting that moving upmarket is far harder than going mass without established trust. And the trust gap remains real — Robinhood was hit with a $70M FINRA fine in 2021, and eToro paid $1.5M to settle SEC allegations in 2024. The perks are getting flashier, but trust is still the product Wall Street has perfected over centuries.
