Robinhood Posts Record Q3 Revenue, Trims 2026 Expense Outlook

Robinhood Markets, Inc. reported record third-quarter revenue as stronger options, equities and event-contract activity outweighed weaker cryptocurrency revenue and pressure on net interest income. The company also lowered the top end of its 2026 adjusted expense outlook by $25 million, citing continued efficiency gains while maintaining plans to invest in new and existing products.

Total net revenue rose 12% year over year and 9% sequentially to $1.42 billion in the quarter ended September 30. Adjusted EBITDA increased 9% from a year earlier to a record $808 million, while the adjusted EBITDA margin was 57%, compared with 58% in the prior-year quarter.

GAAP net income fell 14% year over year and 17% sequentially to $476 million, or $0.51 per diluted share. The quarter included $67 million of unrealized losses, primarily related to the mark-to-market valuation of Robinhood Ventures Fund I, reducing diluted earnings per share by $0.07. Adjusted EPS was $0.60.

Trading revenue reaches a record

Transaction-based revenue increased 19% year over year to a record $867 million, supported by higher equities and options volumes and the expansion of event contracts. Equity notional volume rose 53% from a year earlier and 4% sequentially to $905 billion, while options contracts traded increased 48% year over year and 17% from the second quarter to a record 992 million.

Event contracts were another significant contributor. Customers traded 16.4 billion event contracts during the quarter, more than seven times the year-earlier level, and event-contract revenue reached $173 million. That revenue included $28 million from Rothera, Robinhood’s exchange joint venture with Susquehanna International Group.

Cryptocurrency activity remained weaker than a year earlier despite improving from the second quarter. Total crypto notional volume declined 38% year over year but rose 23% sequentially to $49.8 billion. Crypto transaction-based revenue was $120 million, including $26 million attributable to Robinhood Chain. Excluding Robinhood Chain, crypto transaction revenue decreased 6% sequentially to $94 million.

Net interest revenue declined 9% year over year to $415 million as lower securities-lending activity and short-term interest rates offset growth in interest-earning assets. Margin interest increased 59% to $244 million, and net credit-card interest revenue nearly tripled to $50 million. However, net securities-lending revenue was negative $19 million, reflecting reduced demand for hard-to-borrow securities. Total interest-earning assets increased 19% year over year to a record $77 billion at quarter-end.

Other revenue rose 61% to $142 million and included $47 million of service revenue related to Trump Accounts. Annualized average revenue per user was $200, up from $191 a year earlier.

Customer assets and subscriptions expand

Funded customers increased by 1.9 million year over year and 340,000 sequentially to a record 28.7 million. Investment accounts reached 30.4 million, up 2.5 million from the prior-year period. Monthly active users, however, declined by 800,000 year over year and 1.1 million sequentially to 13 million.

Total platform assets climbed 19% year over year and 7% sequentially to a record $396 billion. Robinhood attributed the increase to continued net deposits and higher equity valuations, partly offset by lower cryptocurrency valuations. Net deposits totaled $15.7 billion in the quarter, representing a 17% annualized growth rate, and reached $71 billion over the last 12 months, equivalent to a 21% growth rate.

Robinhood Gold subscribers increased 34% year over year to 5.18 million, representing about 18% of funded customers. Annualized Gold subscription revenue reached $248 million. The company said the average Gold subscriber held roughly four times the assets under custody of its average funded customer and had a higher net deposit growth rate and retirement adoption rate.

Retirement assets under custody rose 51% from a year earlier to $36.6 billion, while retirement accounts increased 40% to 2.28 million. Robinhood Strategies assets under management reached $2.1 billion, up 11% sequentially, and Robinhood Banking balances increased by about $1.5 billion during the quarter to $4.6 billion.

Expense outlook narrowed

Adjusted operating expenses and share-based compensation increased 8% year over year to $664 million. For the first nine months of 2026, the measure totaled $1.91 billion.

Robinhood now expects full-year adjusted operating expenses and share-based compensation of $2.675 billion to $2.75 billion, compared with its previous range of $2.675 billion to $2.775 billion. The revised range lowers the midpoint by $13 million and implies fourth-quarter expenses of approximately $765 million to $840 million.

The outlook excludes provisions for credit losses, costs related to pending acquisitions, certain restructuring and executive-award costs associated with the chief financial officer transition, interest expenses classified as operating expenses, potentially significant regulatory matters and other expenses whose timing or size cannot be predicted accurately.

Robinhood ended the quarter with $6 billion in corporate cash, investments and stablecoin, along with $4.9 billion of available credit lines. The company said it plans to allocate capital across organic growth, acquisitions and shareholder returns. It repurchased $25 million of stock during the quarter and about $690 million, or 7.7 million shares, during the first nine months of the year.

The company cautioned that results remain exposed to fluctuations in trading activity and interest rates, reliance on transaction-based revenue, regulatory developments involving payment for order flow and event contracts, credit losses, cybersecurity and operational failures, and risks associated with acquisitions and the launch of new cryptocurrency and trading products. Robinhood also said actual expenses could differ from its outlook depending on customer growth, cross-selling effectiveness, fraud and credit-loss management, and web-hosting costs.