Robinhood appears to be benefitting from the trading controversy, seeing record app downloads

Robinhood appears to be benefitting from the trading controversy, seeing record app downloads

In this photo illustration, the Robinhood application is displayed on an iPhone on December 17, 2020 in San Anselmo, California.Justin Sullivan | Getty ImagesSmall investors don't appear to be punishing Robinhood too badly for the controversy surrounding GameStop last week, as the app remains the go-to place for retail clients to trade stocks.Robinhood led the industry in app downloads last week by a wide margin, according to JMP Securities' analysis using SimilarWeb app data. The free stock trading-pioneer had over 600,000 people download its app on Friday, compared to 140,000 on its best day in March during the pandemic-fueled market rout last year.Robinhood had more than 3 million app downloads in the month of January, its highest on record, data showed. Coinbase had 1.3 million and China-owned Webull had more than 800,000 downloads last month."Robinhood has actually been adding a tremendous amount of new accounts, both leading into the past week, but also experienced record growth during some of the most challenging days operationally this past week," JMP Securities analyst Devin Ryan told clients.Last week, emboldened retail investors trying to stick it to Wall Street pros piled into stocks heavily shorted by hedge funds like GameStop and AMC Entertainment. The