Robinhood Markets is trying to grow up without losing its edge

Robinhood’s vibe shift

For a lot of people, Robinhood Markets, Inc. (HOOD) is still emotionally tagged as “the app from the meme-stock era.” Fair. But the company’s 2025 results—released February 10, 2026—tell a more grown-up story: Robinhood wants to be a real financial platform, not just a dopamine dispenser.

The punchline is that the business is getting broader at the same time it’s getting stickier. In 2025, Robinhood reported record revenue of $4.5 billion and diluted EPS of $2.05. In the fourth quarter alone (ended December 31, 2025), revenue was $1.28 billion and diluted EPS was $0.66. Those are not “cute little fintech” numbers anymore.

What changed isn’t just that markets were friendlier. It’s that Robinhood has been turning more of its users into “customers,” the kind who keep money in the app even when they’re not actively trading.

Deposits are the new flex

Robinhood’s most important competitive weapon in 2026 might not be a new chart type or a clever push notification. It might be cash.

For full-year 2025, the company said net deposits hit $68.1 billion, with $15.9 billion coming in during Q4 2025. Total platform assets climbed to $324 billion at the end of Q4 2025, up 68% year over year.

That matters because deposits are the quiet engine behind a lot of fintech profits. When customers park cash, keep margin balances, or consolidate investments in one place, the company has more ways to earn—without needing everyone to be trading all the time. Robinhood is effectively trying to become “default finance” for a segment of users who grew up mobile-first and never built loyalty to a traditional brokerage.

And the customer base is still expanding. Robinhood said funded customers reached 27.0 million by the end of Q4 2025, up 7% year over year. Investment accounts were 28.4 million, up 8%.

Gold is doing what subscriptions are supposed to do

Robinhood Gold used to feel like a niche upsell: a little extra research, a little more margin, a little better yield—something for power users.

Now it reads like a core product. Gold subscribers reached 4.2 million by the end of Q4 2025, up 58% year over year. Subscriptions do two crucial things for a consumer finance business:

• They smooth out the revenue mood swings that come with trading cycles.
• They reinforce habit—because people tend to use what they pay for.

Robinhood’s bet is that “subscription + deposits + a widening menu” adds up to durability. It’s not trying to kill trading culture; it’s trying to stop being dependent on it.

Prediction markets: the weird new growth lane

If you want the clearest signal that Robinhood is willing to experiment, look at prediction markets.

On Robinhood’s recent earnings call, CEO Vladimir Tenev described what he sees as a “prediction market supercycle.” The company has pointed to meaningful early volume—$12 billion in prediction-market volume during 2025, and $4 billion already in 2026 (as of February 2026 commentary). It’s also discussed plans to launch more of its own prediction-market platform later in 2026 with Susquehanna International Group.

This is not a side quest. It’s a thesis: that outcome-based event contracts could become a mainstream, app-native financial behavior—especially when big cultural moments turn the whole internet into forecasters.

There’s also an obvious tension here: prediction markets invite regulatory scrutiny and headline risk. Robinhood knows that better than most companies alive.

So what’s the HOOD story right now?

After years of being defined by what users traded, Robinhood is trying to be defined by what users keep: their cash, their subscriptions, and (if the bet works) their attention across more than just markets.

The company’s 2025 results make the case that this shift is real—and that the next phase of Robinhood won’t look like 2021, even if the app is still on your home screen.