The Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth, William Galvin, filed a 23-page complaint against the viral platform Robinhood. According to said complaint, the company was “falling short of the fiduciary standard” by exposing a largely inexperienced client base to “unnecessary trading risks”. According to the same complaint, Robinhood “gamifies” its service to its (inexperienced) base as a way to market it.
Robinhood became as popular as it did during the past year, i.e. during the Covid pandemic. A lot of younger people in the US are using the platform as a pastime and that led to its massive popularity. So far they have gained 13 million users, 3 million of which joined during the first four months of 2020.
The company responded to the complaint by doubling down on their business model, saying that they are making the markets available to everyone. They also said they intend to appeal the content.
Source
I am not all that surprised, they always seemed a little shady to me.

I was a little suspicious of them, too, but was looking at them for options trading because they are so popular. Of course they don't allow Canadians.

However, after I read about them being hacked I'm glad I didn't get involved with them.

In2Blues wrote: Sun Dec 20, 2020 5:37 pm I was a little suspicious of them, too, but was looking at them for options trading because they are so popular. Of course they don't allow Canadians.

However, after I read about them being hacked I'm glad I didn't get involved with them.

Why aren't they allowing Canadians, I hadn't heard about that.

mlawson71 wrote: Mon Dec 21, 2020 1:58 am Why aren't they allowing Canadians, I hadn't heard about that.

I'm assuming it has something to do with the myriad of regulations up here that also keep most Forex brokers from taking Canadian clients.

Some provinces are OK but apparently it's too much hassle for most brokers to pick and choose provinces so they just don't take any Canadians.

I know Ontario and Alberta have ridiculous regulations that almost make it impossible for people to trade unless they're millionaires.

I wonder how that situation will develop in the light of Robinhood's latest Gamestop-related shenanigans.