Robinhood Expands Perps, Weekend Stocks, AI Traders

Morning Minute: Robinhood Adds Perps, Weekend Stocks, and AI Traders

Robinhood is leaning deeper into crypto and automation as it pushes toward its “everything app” vision, rolling out tools that expand when users can trade and how they can manage strategies inside the platform.

The company’s latest additions include AI agents that can research markets and place trades on a user’s behalf. Users can create an agent in-app, select an AI model from OpenAI or Anthropic, and assign the agent its own dedicated trading account. A companion feature called Loops lets users set standing instructions, enabling the agent to act automatically when conditions are met.

Robinhood said more than 150,000 agent accounts already exist, stemming from earlier access it granted this year when it opened its systems to outside AI.

In equities, Robinhood also highlighted its 24 Hour Market, which allows customers to trade select stocks and ETFs even when traditional markets are closed. The service runs from Sunday 8 p.m. ET through Friday 8 p.m. ET, using Alternative Trading Systems (ATS) to execute overnight orders.

Robinhood noted that ATS venues include risk controls designed to prevent extreme price moves outside regular hours, similar in purpose to the limit mechanisms used on public exchanges during the normal trading session.

In crypto markets, Robinhood’s update arrived alongside a stronger month for bitcoin. Bitcoin is up 7.33% in September, narrowly ahead of 2024’s 7.29% for what would be the best September on record, and it needs to close above roughly $83,600 to keep that distinction.

Among altcoins, the top movers highlighted were QNT (+23%), ZRO (+10%), NEAR (+9%) and PUMP (+4%).

Outside crypto, broader market signals were mixed. Oil was down about 1% at $91 and gold was up about 0.75% at $4,211. U.S. stock futures were slightly lower ahead of key economic data, with the Dow down 0.15% and the Nasdaq down 0.3%.

Separately, market infrastructure firm Cboe and S&P Dow Jones said they extended their S&P 500 options deal through 2051 and may explore work on tokenized options contracts, underscoring continued interest in bringing traditional derivatives concepts into tokenized formats.

• Why it matters: Robinhood’s AI agents and around-the-clock trading tools point to a broader shift toward automated strategy execution and expanded market access within consumer finance apps.
• What’s new: In-app AI agents tied to OpenAI/Anthropic models, automated “Loops,” and continued emphasis on 24-hour equities trading via ATS venues.
• Market context: Bitcoin is tracking a historically strong September, while traditional markets are watching incoming economic data.