Honestly, as someone who writes software, my first guess is that "per user rate limiting of new, unsettled individual security positions" is most likely not som

Honestly, as someone who writes software, my first guess is that "per user rate limiting of new, unsettled individual security positions" is most likely not something that was built in to their product. It's also not something to YOLO out into production during an extreme volatility event when people are already mad at you. Adding a static check of holding was likely much more straight forward. In traditional Robinhood-style, this decision prioritized growth (allowing new users to still sign up and buy) I guess a different alternative would have been just selling as much GME until they reach the maximum they could make the obligations for, but then it probably would have been considered less "fair" (if one person could buy 1000 shares, and then no one else can buy any). You may not agree with Robinhood leadership, or Robinhood as a company (I know that I don't), but this can really be thought of as a #hugops moment where they had to figure out how to track down and address the root of these (multiple) issues in real-time. They most definitely did not come out with the "best" solution.