Robinhood CEO denies ‘conspiracy theory’ that hedge funds asked to stop game stop trading



Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev denied on Friday that Wall Street hedge funds’ pressure promoted the decision to ban mobile brokerage firm’s gas stop shares as prices rose this week.

Robinhood has faced unprecedented scrutiny in recent days by critics, including congressional legislators and Barstall Sports founder Dave Portnoy, who accused the hedge fund platform of blocking stock trading by retail investors to protect allies. In an interview with Yahoo Finance, Tenez called the allegations a “conspiracy theory.”

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“I think I said over and over again that it’s not true,” he said. “Our decision to temporarily bar consumers from buying certain securities has nothing to do with a market maker or a market participant or someone like that who could put pressure on us or ask us to do so. It was all about market dynamics and clearinghouse deposit requirements as fully regulated. “

Robinhood was widely criticized this week after Redsdit’s “Wall StreetBates” forum temporarily imposed buying limits on several stocks, including Gamestop, AMC Entertainment and Nokia. The Day Trading app began accepting re-purchases on Friday, but imposed a one-share limit per user as trading closed.

One of the shortest stocks on Wall Street was a game stop before the sudden rise in interest rates. The tremendous trajectory of trading began with “short squeezes,” which hedged against the stock of millions of dollars at the expense of hedge funds.

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MLAs on both sides of the political wing, such as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-NY, and Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Ticks. In a blog post, the platform said the sanctions are to reduce the risk.

“I think it’s a new situation if you look at the whole situation,” he added in an interview. “A relatively small number of stocks have gone viral on the internet. And as things go viral on social media and the internet, there is a lethal increase in interest. And so we have to be prudent. And we have to manage risk wisely. And Pella did just that. “