Cryptocurrency

Trading app Robinhood adds two new cryptocurrencies despite bear market

Key Points
  • Stock trading app Robinhood will add litecoin and bitcoin cash to its no-fee app, which already lets users trade bitcoin and ethereum.
  • Litecoin is down more than 64 percent since the beginning of this year and bitcoin cash has dropped more than 72 percent in the same time frame. 
  • The company says it topped 5 million users across the entire Robinhood platform, helped by “significant momentum generated over the last several months with the introduction of Options and Crypto.”
Source: Robinhood

Despite a sluggish cryptocurrency market, stock trading app Robinhood is adding two new digital currencies to its platform.

The company will add Litecoin and Bitcoin Cash to its no-fee app, which already lets users trade bitcoin and ethereum.

“Since we launched Robinhood Crypto in February, our customers have voiced interest in buying and selling other cryptocurrencies beyond Bitcoin and Ethereum,” Robinhood said in a blog post Thursday.

The company also said it has topped 5 million users across the entire Robinhood platform, helped by “significant momentum generated over the last several months with the introduction of Options and Crypto.”

The platform added cryptocurrency trading in February, two months after bitcoin had skyrocketed to nearly $20,000. It has lost 65 percent of its value since the high, and has fallen more than 50 percent this year to around $6,180 as of Thursday morning.

Litecoin, one of the coins being added to Robinhood Crypto, is down more than 64 percent since January and was trading near $77 Thursday, according to Coindesk. The other digital currency bitcoin cash has dropped more than 72 percent in the same time frame, and was trading near $682 Thursday. The market capitalization of the entire digital currency market has fallen 60 percent this year, according to data from CoinMarketCap.com.

Other popular trading platforms, including Coinbase have seen pressure from investors looking to trade more cryptocurrencies. Rumors about Coinbase adding XRP to the platform the price of that cryptocurrency early this year.