• by Colin Kirkland , 3 hours ago

Financial services company Robinhood has begun beta-testing a social-media platform similar to X, designed for users interested in making in-feed trades, following leading investors, and staying up to date on the markets. 

Following its initial introduction at the company’s HOOD Summit last fall, Robinhood Social is set to roll out to 1,000 select traders this week, with plans to add 10,000 more users in the upcoming weeks. 

Beta testers have been “carefully selected” based on trading activity, frequency, and user experience research, the company’s announcement states, adding that the goal is for these Robinhood customers to provide deeper insights into what people want from a social trading platform, how they interact with the product and one another, and which issues need fixing. 

“Beta allows us to learn quickly and build thoughtfully, prioritizing quality, trust, and feedback from our most active traders,” said Abhishek Fatehpuria, vice president of product management at Robinhood.

According to Robinhood’s announcement, the social media platform grew out of feedback from active traders, who continued to state how helpful social media is for navigating the markets. To expand its democratized approach to trading, Robinhood Social is meant to become a hub for the company’s customers, where they can “swap strategies, discuss market moves, and trade.”

Each user will be verified as a Robinhood customer via the Know Your Customer (KYC) framework used by financial institutions and businesses. 

“During beta, customers will be able to post trades across stocks, single-leg options, crypto, and prediction markets,” the company’s announcement explains, adding that news feeds, trade posting for future and multi-leg options, as well as the ability to follow insiders, hedge funds, and politicians, will roll out soon.

Robinhood Social is launching at a time when X and Meta are experimenting with adding financial products to their social platforms. 

X began testing its “X Money” payments app earlier this month, inviting a handful of users to accept a Visa-backed X Money debit card and carry out peer-to-peer transactions. 

However, neither X Money nor “Meta Pay” allows users to make active trades, putting Robinhood Social more in line with trading communities discussing real-time opportunities within social forums like Reddit, Discord and Telegram. 

Robinhood currently has about 24 million funded accounts in its system.