Robinhood sees shares surge with longer trade-day plans

Robinhood Markets shares jumped as much as 28% after announcing plans to extend the trading day for customers by four hours.

Trading will run from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. New York time, a step toward offering 24-hour equities investing, the Menlo Park, California-based company said in a blog post Tuesday.

The shares rose the most since August on the news and closed at $15.91, up $3.10 or 24% in New York.

“Our customers often tell us they’re working or preoccupied during regular market hours, limiting their ability to invest on their own schedule or evaluate and react to important market news,” Robinhood said in the blog post.

Traditional market hours run from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Robinhood already offered extended trading starting at 9 a.m. and ending at 6 p.m. There’s reason for Robinhood’s 22.7 million customers to be wary of the change, however. Extendedhours trading come with risk, including lower liquidity (or opportunities to buy and sell) and the potential for higher volatility, which could lead to customers getting a worse price than in market hours.

Robinhood is seeking ways to shore up its business, which remains heavily reliant on trading. Nearly three-quarters of its revenue comes from transactions, even with the company’s recent expansion into areas including crypto wallets and cash cards.

In January, Robinhood forecast first quarter net revenue of less than $340 million, or potentially a 35% decline from the year-earlier period, when volatility spiked as retail investors bid up the prices of meme stocks including GameStop Corp.