Robinhood has recently limited trading restrictions to 8 companies:

GameStop Corp.
AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc.
BlackBerry Ltd
Express Inc.
Genius Brands International Inc.
Koss Corp
Naked Brand Group Ltd.
Nokia Oyj.
The Robinhood app is still facing a great deal of criticism for its recent moves to restrict trading after stocks like GameStop surged significantly and made mainstream news.

Coming Competition
Now there is also a new trading platform, set to be invitation-only, that is going to launch, known as Pearler.

This app, which has been in beta testing for several months, has been referred to by its co-founder as the anti-robinhood platform and already reportedly has thousands of investors as a part of its community.

“Contrary to the wave of young traders entering the market, this online community subscribes to an investing philosophy of buying low-cost index funds to achieve long-term market returns as a way of reaching financial independence,... The platform is designed for long-term investing.” - Nicolaides, co-founder of Pearler

After Robinhood halted trading they saw thousands of negative reviews coming in to the app store, which Google helped to get rid of so that the overall rating of the app could be restored.

Cleaning Up After GameStop

After Robinhood moved to stop trading for GameStop that meant that many traders were angry. Already, authorities in places like Texas and NY said they are investigating the platform. Lawmakers have already used the opportunity to call for stronger market regulations.

The new app Pearler is going to be different in some ways, for example the platform is not going to feature pricing charts, or profit/loss standings, or at-limit orders. It's designed to be a long-term investing tool, where they will be putting up ETFs as the center of the experience for the user.

There are already multiple lawsuits that have been filed against Robinhood but those cases could be years away from being fully resolved. They might not have much luck however, as the user agreement for the platform might protect them from the fallout of their decisions, because it gives them great discretion to halt trading at any time without prior notice. Still, whether they win or lose the damage has already been done to their reputation.

Pics:
pixabay

https://www.afr.com/companies/financial-services/anti-robinhood-platform-born-amid-gamestop-frenzy-20210131-p56y6q