Digital asset trading on Robinhood dropped by roughly half compared to the previous year during October, the firm revealed on Thursday, as users exchanged $17 billion in cryptocurrencies while their wager volumes on event contracts more than doubled.
The $17 billion metric represented a 21% decrease from September and a 48% drop compared to October 2025, a period when nominal crypto volume hit $32.5 billion. This data encompasses both the main Robinhood application and Bitstamp, the digital asset exchange acquired by the company in 2025.
Activity within the primary Robinhood app contracted to $6.8 billion, marking a 24% reduction month-over-month and a 51% decline year-over-year. Meanwhile, Bitstamp processed $10.2 billion, reflecting an 18% monthly decrease and a 45% annual drop.
Mean daily crypto volume across both platforms totaled $548 million, down from $713 million in September and approximately $1.05 billion twelve months prior. Daily average cryptocurrency transactions decreased to about 700,000, compared to 900,000 in September and 1.1 million in October 2025.
Event contracts take off as crypto cools
The contrast with Robinhood’s prediction market division remains striking. Platform users traded 5.9 billion event contracts throughout October, showing a 5% increase over September and a 136% surge from the 2.5 billion contracts handled the prior year. Average daily volume hit 190 million contracts.
Robinhood tracks cryptocurrencies and prediction markets using the identical 31-day calendar format since both operate every single day, ensuring a direct comparison. Event contracts permit participants to wager on outcomes encompassing elections, athletic events, and macroeconomic indicators, with October’s figures capturing the final weeks leading up to the November 3 midterm elections.
Such expansion has attracted regulatory attention within Washington. Senator Elizabeth Warren, positioned to take over as chair of the Senate Banking Committee come January, intends to clamp down on prediction markets and election wagering platforms.
The remaining segments of Robinhood’s brokerage performed better than digital assets. Nominal equity volume increased by 2% from the prior year to reach $325 billion, whereas traded options contracts expanded by 8% to hit 289 million. Margin balances reached $22.9 billion, posting a 39% annual increase.
Funded client accounts grew by roughly 130,000 during the month, reaching 28.9 million, while net deposits registered at $15.1 billion. Overall platform assets contracted by 3% relative to September to settle at $383 billion, though they remained 12% higher than the previous year.
Robinhood omitted explanations regarding the reduction in crypto activity. The publication, consistent with all monthly reports issued by the enterprise, remains preliminary and unaudited.
Retail pulls back as bitcoin slides
The downturn in Robinhood’s digital asset metrics parallels a wider withdrawal among individual retail traders. Bitcoin concluded September trading close to $83,500 and has since trended downward, dropping beneath the $70,000 threshold early Friday for the initial time since August as an unexpectedly hot inflation release amplified expectations for a Federal Reserve interest rate increase in December.
Institutional appetite has similarly softened in tandem. U.S. spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds registered their sixth consecutive session of net capital outflows on Thursday, with BlackRock’s IBIT—the largest fund in the category—shedding approximately $2 billion across nine trading days through Wednesday. Spot bitcoin ETFs have now completely erased their net inflows accumulated throughout 2026.
Cryptocurrency transactions generate fee revenue for Robinhood, meaning lower trading volumes generally translate to reduced earnings, even if assets stored on the platform continue to scale. The firm intends to release comprehensive fourth-quarter financial results early next year, making the October metrics the initial indicator of how the quarter began.
Regardless, the enterprise has continued expanding its digital asset footprint. In October, Robinhood secured a regulatory license in Dubai to introduce bitcoin and equity brokerage services across the Middle East beginning in 2027.
Robinhood also disclosed that cash and deposit reserves declined by 20% in October to settle at $16.4 billion, primarily because clients functioned as net buyers, noting that this reduction has largely reversed itself entering early November. Operating metrics for November will ultimately demonstrate whether the recent price drop beneath $70,000 enticed digital asset traders back to the market or steered a larger share of participants toward event contracts.
Originally published at https://bitcoinmagazine.com/news/robinhood-crypto-volume-falls-48-percent.
