Analysis: Robinhood CEO's U.S. lawmaker grilling spotlights broker's hidden risks
Michelle Price
,
By Michelle Price and Anna Irrera
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev told a congressional hearing that his decision to curb buying in some stocks such as GameStop Corp during a period of extreme volatility was unavoidable, but industry experts said it only underscored the risks the popular trading app was willing to accept to expand its market share.
Robinhood's Jan. 28 restrictions on buying GameStop and other stocks that hedge funds had bet against drew the ire of its customers and U.S. lawmakers at a hearing on Thursday. They accused it of doing Wall Street's bidding by shielding the hedge funds from an army of amateur traders banding together on Reddit to take them on.