Robinhood, the app that started the commission-free trend in US exchanges, has exploded in users and has surpassed the 10 million mark. The startup, only six years of age, has grown exponentially ever since its inception. A testament to this is the number of brokerage accounts on Robinhood doubling in just a year.

A Rising Rocket

The high numbers show that the New York startup has been bringing in almost as many customers as an industry heavyweight, TD Ameritrade. TD Ameritrade onboards 11 million users, being an online brokerage since 1975. Part of Robinhood’s stiff competition is the trading platform E-Trade. E-Trade holds about 4.9 million brokerage accounts by the end of 2019, growing that number by 7% annually.

It’s only been six years since Robinhood launched its fee-free trading platform. Ever since major brokerages have been playing catch-up in a proverbial dive to the bottom. For the past two months, most significant brokerages announced the elimination of fees in selected stocks. Nearly all US-based online exchanges have eliminated commissions to their trading. While it’s not overtly stated, the exchanges probably made this move to keep up with Robinhood’s radical debut back in 2014.

A Modern Solution

Robinhood, based in Silicon Valley, stated that the company would continue hiring new people and developing further. All of which will be based on the app that allows users to buy and sell public stocks without any trading fees.

Robinhood has found a good niche among the “millennial” population. These people enjoy Robinhood’s ease-of-use when it comes to trading several different asset classes without any form of fees. Working off this success, Robinhood has shown plans of making a feature much like a bank account. With this, customers can gain a 2.05% interest rate while being offered a no-fee debit card service.

More Plans for the Future

Surpassing the ten million-plus user mark wasn’t the only thing Robinhood did well for the day. The brokerage firm has raised another round of funding. Robinhood itself was valued at around $7.6 billion and managed to garner $323 million in funding. The valuation is a startling $2 billion higher from its Series D valuation done back in 2018

Robinhood has made certain compromises to deal with the lower influx of capital that a commission-free platform must simply deal with. For the most part, it focused on business aspects that make sense for the online-only company to cut down on. Robinhood has relatively fewer physical locations, doesn’t spend massive amounts of money on promotional campaigns, and keeps a small staff for client services.

What the future will bring for Robinhood remains to be seen, but it’s clear that the platform has irreversibly shifted the balance of power in exchanges. While it’s only seen in places like the US for now, with Robinhood planning to expand internationally, it’s only a matter of time until this innovation is mandated to stay competitive.