Robinhood saved some of its own IPO shares for the people who used its app, a rare move on Wall Street. That fit the brand. The company had made stock trades free and turned investing into a phone habit for millions of young people. In January 2021 it limited trading in GameStop during a frenzy, and many of those same users turned on it. Six months later, in July 2021, Robinhood went public.

Two Physics Grads, Zero Fees

Vlad Tenev and Baiju Bhatt met as students at Stanford and founded Robinhood in 2013. The bet was that if trades were free and the app was simple, a new generation would invest. Robinhood made money in other ways, including payment from the trading firms that handled its customers' orders. It added options, crypto and cash accounts. Its free trades pushed big brokers such as Schwab to drop their own fees in 2019.

A Slow Start, Then a Surge

Robinhood priced its IPO at $38 a share on July 28, 2021, at the bottom of its range. It began trading on Nasdaq as HOOD the next day and closed at $34.82, down about 8 percent. The stock sank far lower in 2022. Robinhood then added retirement accounts, futures and a credit card, and trading boomed again. In September 2025 it joined the S&P 500. Robinhood still trades on Nasdaq.

Cover: Bowcase and Quiver of Arrows, Pisanello. Art Institute of Chicago, public domain. Chosen for a bowcase and quiver (Robin Hood's arrows).