Would you let AI take the reins of your stock trading account? Robinhood is giving users the option.
On Wednesday, the trading platform announced that it is launching “Agentic Trading” and the “Agentic Credit Card,” effectively letting users empower AI agents to make trades and credit card purchases on their behalf.
Robinhood, which boasts nearly 27.6 million users, says agents can now carry out specific strategies based on an investor’s goals. While the user remains “in charge,” Robinhood says, agents will have the ability to execute trades without direct user input.
For now, the new feature only allows for equities trading. Crypto, options, and other types of trading will be available later.
[Image: Robinhood]
“Our mission has always been to democratize finance for all, and now, that mission extends to AI agents,” said Vlad Tenev, CEO of Robinhood, in a statement.
Additionally, the Agentic Credit Card will let agents make spending decisions.
“During setup, you’ll connect your agent to a dedicated virtual Robinhood Gold Card, set a specific spending limit that only you control, and choose whether to require manual approvals or not,” the company’s release says.
Accordingly, agents can monitor availability and pricing for specific items, or even reservation slots at restaurants, and within the parameters laid out by a user, purchase an item when it hits the market or reaches a certain price threshold. It’s available to existing Robinhood Gold Card customers.
Robinhood disclosures warn of risks
Of course, many people may think twice about handing over their spending decisions and trading choices to artificial intelligence.
While robo-advisers and automatic portfolio rebalancing have been fixtures of the investing space for years, agentic trading adds a new dimension to how technology and portfolios intersect.
Robinhood concedes that caution is warranted.
“Agentic trading involves significant risk, including the possible loss of your entire investment,” the company says in its disclosures. “AI-driven strategies may perform poorly under certain market conditions, move quickly, and be difficult to monitor or stop in real time. This product may not be appropriate for all investors.”
Users are also reminded that “AI agents can make errors, misinterpret instructions, and act on incomplete or outdated information, and may behave in unexpected ways.”
So, there are risks. But it does seem that this was an obvious next step for trading platforms and agentic AI.
During a Wednesday morning appearance on Fox Business, when he was asked about security and concerns related to unpredictable AI agent behavior, Tenev said, “As we’ve been designing this product, safety and security is the top feature”.
He added that he sees the new features—particularly the Agentic Credit Card—as the future of agentic finance. “I think the credit card is going to be the default tool for agentic commerce in the United States,” he said.
