Robinhood is sharpening its focus on advanced crypto traders, a pivot that reflects diverging user behavior amid market volatility.
Two User Segments Emerge
Johann Kerbrat, Robinhood's head of crypto, said in an interview that behavior varies by customer group. Younger users see dips as buying opportunities with a long-term horizon. Meanwhile, the advanced trader segment is growing rapidly, engaging in day trading and cost-basis strategies. “We've seen a lot more activity from our advanced trader segment,” Kerbrat said. “It's a combination of having more advanced traders now, and also more tools for them to use.” He is scheduled to speak at Consensus Hong Kong in February 2026.
Tax Tools and Liquidity Expansion
To support these users, Robinhood rolled out tax-lot selection and custom cost-basis options for crypto transfers, helping users manage tax exposure. Crypto trades now route through seven liquidity venues, with fees as low as three basis points depending on volume.
Long seen as a beginner-friendly platform where users start before moving elsewhere, Robinhood is now trying to change that narrative. “For the longest time, people considered Robinhood more of a single product,” Kerbrat said. “People were like, ‘Oh, you can start on Robinhood, but then you go to a different platform.’ Now, we're seeing more advanced traders coming from other platforms into Robinhood.”
Market Share Over Volume
Robinhood plans to broaden its crypto business through international expansion, on-chain protocol partnerships, and infrastructure upgrades. But the company prioritizes market share over raw volume. “If the volume is low, I can't really do anything about that,” Kerbrat said. “But if someone prefers to use Kraken or Coinbase over Robinhood, that means my product isn't good enough — so I'm going to focus on improving it.”
Looking ahead, Kerbrat said 2026 will be about accessibility. “For too long, crypto was made by engineers for engineers. We want to expand that to everything we build on-chain.”