Robinhood Crypto Trading Fell 29% as February Price Slide Distanced Retail Investors

Robinhood’s (HOOD) crypto trading volumes took a steep hit in February, tumbling 29% from the previous month in a retail-trader-led decline that might carry a message for other platforms including Coinbase (COIN).

The month-over-month drop to $14.4 billion outpaced declines in equities and options trading, which each fell 1%. Even so, the figure was more than double the year-earlier level, the company said in a press release.

The figure shows how trading dropped off as the cryptocurrency market slid. Bitcoin (BTC) lost about 15% of its value last month and the broader CoinDesk 20 Index (CD20) fell by around 23%. Across centralized cryptocurrency exchanges, spot trading dropped 19% to $2.3 trillion in February compared with January, CoinDesk data shows.

Memecoin activity also eased, with leading token launchpad Pump.fun seeing daily token launches plunge to 24,000 from 62,000, according to 10x Research.

The slowdown in cryptocurrency trading volumes suggests lower retail interest in the space and could have implications for other exchanges including Coinbase (COIN), which caters to a similar audience.

Shares of Robinhood, a retail-focused trading platform that also offers equities, have dropped 4% this year. Coinbase, in contrast, has fallen 15%, in line with the broader crypto market retreat.

Coinbase has, however, been expanding its institutional services and blockchain infrastructure business, which could help offset some of the impact from weaker retail trading. The company recently announced the introduction of 24/7 bitcoin and ether futures trading.