'You checked Tesla the most': Robinhood recaps from a volatile year

[NEW YORK] In 2020, wild fluctuations in the stock market caused by the pandemic turned millions of people into opportunistic investors. After stocks plunged in March, experienced traders and Nasdaq novices poured their dollars into buzzy tech companies like Tesla and Zoom as well as businesses bludgeoned by Covid restrictions, including airlines, restaurants and cruises.

To reflect a year of volatility and impulsive investments, Robinhood, the popular trading app that has spurred controversy by marketing itself to young people, released a year-end data dump for its users.

A news release promised that the Robinhood Recap would be a "special personalised experience that will take you through your investing journey this year - from views to trades, your most memorable investing moments, large or small, and other milestones along the way".

Robinhood's wrap-up - available to anyone who had an active account before Dec 15 - showed the stocks users purchased, dividends and interest earned, which stock in their portfolio they clicked on the most and other data.

Some people praised the recap's aesthetic and said they enjoyed finding out how early they were to adopt Robinhood. "We've been delighted to hear from many customers who enjoyed taking a look back at their year in investing, from saving screenshots of their recaps to sharing on social media," a company spokesperson wrote in an email.

Robinhood is one of several popular consumer apps to embrace shareable, data-driven year-in-review lists, like Spotify Wrapped, a recap of the upbeat or fittingly depressing songs people listened to in 2020, and Strava's Year in Sport, which enumerates the miles its users ran and cycled. These packages use upbeat language and appealing graphic design to encourage their users to share them on social media.

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But for most people, personal financial decisions aren't as readily shareable as, say, their most-played artist of the year. They're inherently private.

Kareem Rahma, 34, a comedian and entrepreneur, wrote in an email that he would "never share this information publicly as it is much more sensitive than my listening habits on Spotify". Still, plenty of people posted screenshots of their recap on social media. Many were struck by how often they checked the price of particular stocks.

"Tesla just in general has been growing like crazy, and obviously their stock has taken off, so it was kind of funny how apparently often I checked up with it," said Eric Milligan, an information technologist.

Jordan Bishop, 29, was also surprised by that slide in his recap. "Before you know it, you've checked it 10 times in a day, and it's giving you a little dopamine boost every time," he said.

"Robinhood wrapped made me realise I was very obsessed over every dollar up or down in the market and it was just very unhealthy," Rajat Kamboj, a 20-year-old college student, wrote in an email. His recap told him that he'd checked the value of his Tesla stock 18,656 times in 2020, averaging more than 50 times per day. ("You're just a little attached," his recap read.)

"As a self-directed brokerage, we do not give investment advice," a Robinhood spokesperson said in a statement. "The goal with Robinhood Recap was to celebrate milestones and give people a broader view on their activity over the year, helping them frame their behaviour over the long term."

The recap became a meme on the acerbic finance-focused subreddit WallStreetBets; one user created a parodic version of a recap post, revealing extensive losses. ("You made some risky calls ... ") "This year included an unprecedented surge in retail investing," the Robinhood spokesperson wrote. "We welcomed millions of new customers to Robinhood, about half of whom were investing for the first time. With Robinhood Recap, we sought to remind both new and longtime customers about their investing journey."

Robinhood added three million users this year, bringing its total to 13 million. The app has become a favourite of young and inexperienced investors, enticed by no-fee trading, offers of free stocks and an engaging user interface that uses what a New York Times report in July described as the "Silicon Valley playbook of behavioural nudges and push notifications".

The Times article stated that Robinhood's users trade risky products at a faster pace than clients of major brokerage firms; for example, Robinhood users bought and sold 88 times as many risky options contracts as Charles Schwab clients did.

Several people said that the recap seems to fit into the company's broader strategy of positioning itself as a lifestyle experience, rather than just another boring trading platform, in order to appeal to investors who are less sophisticated.

"Their bright and colourful UI, the ease of access to opening margin accounts and access to options, and now Robinhood Recap give me an idea that they're trying to appeal to younger people," Luke Thornburg, 19, wrote in an email. "These younger people who are generally inexperienced and more risk-tolerant might choose Robinhood because of these things." He said that he had lost money on risky options trading when he first began using the app.

"Spotify seems to be the clear kind of comparison there," said Mr Bishop, the founder of a personal finance website focused on air travel. "I just find it fascinating - and a little dangerous - how, you know, personal finance and social media are blending together in this way."

NYTIMES