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They explicitly call out in the article they don't do that

tomp 9y ago
No, they didn't. It was more of a "non-denial". > Robinhood also earns money from rebates its gets for directing its order flow to broker dealers, though Bhatt insists “We do not sell data to anyone. We have never sold data to anyone. We just do not do that.” There have been misconceptions that Robinhood sells high-frequency traders its data to help them trade against the startup’s customers. But Bhatt says “The rules around this stuff as so tight. We’re not a social media company. If we even step slightly out of line with anything we all go to jail.” Basically all they're claiming is that they're following the rules - i.e. if the rules allow selling "data" (or something that we won't call "data" but "order flow" or something) to HTFs or banks' dark pools, they're not saying they don't do it!
- morsch 9y ago
  How would that not directly contradict "We do not sell data to anyone."?
  - tomp 9y ago
    > Robinhood also earns money from rebates its gets for directing its order flow to broker dealers So they're selling some data (as opposed to running directly on an exchange, without any intermediaries). Or maybe not "selling" in the strict sense (I give you data, you give me money), but in an indirect way (I give you data, and you give me discount on your other services).
    - deleted 9y ago
      [deleted]
    - harryh 9y ago
      I give you data, and you give me discount on your other services That's not what rebate means in this context. It is, in fact, actual money. Robinhood also isn't just giving someone data. They're sending order flow to various market makers. Not data about the orders but the actual flow in need of execution.
      - tomp 9y ago
        But that's exactly the point; that flow is data, and it's valuable, especially to market makers. If it weren't, they wouldn't be paying for it...
        harryh 9y ago
        That flow isn't really data. Like sure, ok, it's data in the sense that everything is data. But that's not the point. The point of retail flow is that it's not based on other market events but is based on mundane things like regular monthly 401k deposits. This flow is a source of customers for market makers. Those customers get charged a fee. A % of that fee is rebated back to Robin Hood (or other retail brokers) for being originators of the customers.

tomp 9y ago

No, they didn't. It was more of a "non-denial". > Robinhood also earns money from rebates its gets for directing its order flow to broker dealers, though Bhatt insists “We do not sell data to anyone. We have never sold data to anyone. We just do not do that.” There have been misconceptions that Robinhood sells high-frequency traders its data to help them trade against the startup’s customers. But Bhatt says “The rules around this stuff as so tight. We’re not a social media company. If we even step slightly out of line with anything we all go to jail.” Basically all they're claiming is that they're following the rules - i.e. if the rules allow selling "data" (or something that we won't call "data" but "order flow" or something) to HTFs or banks' dark pools, they're not saying they don't do it!

morsch 9y ago
How would that not directly contradict "We do not sell data to anyone."?
- tomp 9y ago
  > Robinhood also earns money from rebates its gets for directing its order flow to broker dealers So they're selling some data (as opposed to running directly on an exchange, without any intermediaries). Or maybe not "selling" in the strict sense (I give you data, you give me money), but in an indirect way (I give you data, and you give me discount on your other services).
  - deleted 9y ago
    [deleted]
  - harryh 9y ago
    I give you data, and you give me discount on your other services That's not what rebate means in this context. It is, in fact, actual money. Robinhood also isn't just giving someone data. They're sending order flow to various market makers. Not data about the orders but the actual flow in need of execution.
    - tomp 9y ago
      But that's exactly the point; that flow is data, and it's valuable, especially to market makers. If it weren't, they wouldn't be paying for it...
      - harryh 9y ago
        That flow isn't really data. Like sure, ok, it's data in the sense that everything is data. But that's not the point. The point of retail flow is that it's not based on other market events but is based on mundane things like regular monthly 401k deposits. This flow is a source of customers for market makers. Those customers get charged a fee. A % of that fee is rebated back to Robin Hood (or other retail brokers) for being originators of the customers.