Robinhood stock is telling the story of the market's march to record highs
- - - Robinhood stock is telling the story of the market's march to record highs
Josh SchaferJuly 19, 2025 at 5:00 AM
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The stock market keeps hitting new highs as investor euphoria is once again front and center.
And there's perhaps no better stock that tells the story of what's been working during the latest leg of the bull market than Robinhood (HOOD).
The trading exchange's stock closed at an all-time high just shy of $110 on Friday. The stock is up more than 380% over the past year and over 175% in 2025 alone.
Two key emerging market narratives over the past week have fed the bull case for Robinhood. Quarterly results from big banks showed how a volatile second quarter for stocks amid President Trump's tariff whipsaw benefited the equity trading businesses. While Robinhood isn't expected to report quarterly results until July 30, it's fair to reason that the home of millions of active users likely saw a similar tailwind during the second quarter.
Especially when considering retail buying led the action off the April lows.
Robinhood has also been heavily involved in crypto trading, including most recently launching tokenized trading options in the European Union. In the past week, as investors reacted to the House passing bills that will establish the first federal framework for dollar-backed stablecoins and outline how other digital assets will be regulated, Robinhood stock popped more than 13%.
Robinhood also fits the bill of the momentum-driven market we've been tracking for weeks now. Winning stocks have kept on winning as the broader market has chugged to new highs. There's perhaps been no better example of this basket of stocks' performance than the more than 90% rise in Cathie Wood's ARK Innovation ETF (ARKK) since the April 8 market bottom. The fund includes names like Coinbase (COIN), Roblox (RBLX), and Circle (CRCL).
The seventh-largest holding in Wood's flagship fund, at 5.1% of the portfolio? Robinhood, of course.
The rise of Robinhood is the story of an actively trading market when investors continue to chase the next best idea higher. It's about growing expectations for crypto and AI (yes, Robinhood has plans there too) and the fear of missing out on anything that could potentially benefit from those trades.
"An upward market in motion has been tending to stay in motion," Interactive Broker chief strategist Steve Sosnick wrote in a research note on July 17. "That’s momentum at work. Once equity traders have decided that any dip is behind them, they promptly switch into rally mode. It doesn’t take much to get the broad market heading north, since that has been the clearly predominant direction of travel since April."
As always, the risks abound, especially given that many of the same things that have driven Robinhood into the green also have a major hype component that can turn from asset to liability depending on the market's mood. Coloring that mood are a trade war that remains at the forefront of investor fears, Big Tech's check-in with AI spending in upcoming earnings, and the potential for destabilizing shakeups at the Federal Reserve.
But for now, the vibe among traders on apps like Robinhood has been clear: It's been a "buy the dip, not sell the rip" first half of 2025, despite all the volatility.
Josh Schafer is a reporter for Yahoo Finance. Follow him on X @_joshschafer.
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