Robinhood ( HOOD ) is sharpening its focus on advanced crypto traders, a pivot that reflects evolving customer behavior during a volatile year for digital assets.
“What we’ve seen really depends on the customer segment,” Johann Kerbrat, head of crypto at Robinhood, said in an interview.
“We have a lot of customers who are a little younger. For them, they see this as a ‘buy the dip’ opportunity because they have a long-term horizon, so they worry less about short-term impact,” he said.
But the company also sees a growing segment of more sophisticated users who trade more frequently, including day trading and managing cost-based strategies, said Kerbrat, who will speak at Consensus Hong Kong in February 2026.
“We’ve seen a lot more activity from our advanced trader segment,” he said. “It’s a combination of having more advanced traders now, and also more tools that they can use.”
To support this shift, Robinhood has introduced features like tax lot selection and custom cost-based options for crypto transfers that help users manage their tax exposure more efficiently.
Crypto trades can now route through seven liquidity venues, and trading fees drop as low as three basis points depending on user volume.
For years, the trading platform was considered a beginner-friendly platform, a place where users got their start with crypto before moving on to more advanced tools elsewhere. Robinhood is now trying to shift that narrative.
“For the longest time, I think people thought of Robinhood more as a single product,” he said. “People thought, ‘Oh, you can start on Robinhood, but then you go to another platform.’ Now we’re seeing more advanced traders coming from other platforms to Robinhood because they’re excited about what we’re building.”
This development comes as Robinhood plans to expand its crypto business through international expansion, partnerships with on-chain protocols, and infrastructure upgrades designed to support more advanced trading capabilities.
Still, the company says it’s less focused on raw trading volume — which can fluctuate with market conditions — and more on gaining market share.
“If the volume is low, I can’t really do anything about it,” Kerbrat said. “But if someone prefers to use Kraken or Coinbase over Robinhood, that means my product isn’t good enough — so I’ll focus on improving it.”
What does 2026 have in store?
“I think next year is going to be about availability,” Kerbrat said. “For too long, crypto was made by engineers for engineers. We want to extend that to everything we build on-chain.”
