Robinhood Has Spent Over $504M Since 2023 to Attract Deposits and New Users — Is It Working?

Robinhood investors may have lost $33.2B of their own money in Q1, but at least they’re getting paid to stick around. Since 2023, the brokerage has put its billions in cash to work, shelling out half a billion dollars to entice investors to transfer their 401(k), IRA, and cash into the broker by matching a percentage of their transfers. The bold strategy has become the envy of the brokerage world.

• In a new investor presentation, Robinhood says it paid “~$450M of matches on ~$24B of asset transfers and contributions” — with much of that going toward retirement accounts.
• On top of that, the trading app is paying more than $54M to Gold users who made qualifying deposits between June and November 2024 — a promotion so popular, the brokerage had to shut it down.

Branching out: Robinhood spent big — and it can afford to. It reported $927M in Q1 revenue (+50% YoY) and took home $336M in net income (+114% YoY). While most revenue came from crypto trading, CEO Vlad Tenev said the retail investing platform was focused on diversifying away from its new kingmaker — expanding into other high-margin areas like prediction markets and futures. At the same time, the company is cementing itself as a more serious financial services player through the rollout of its 3% credit card and its push into advisory — both now contributing on the income statement.