Robinhood, the popular cryptocurrency-friendly stock trading app, temporarily halted its 24-hour market’s execution venue, Blue Ocean ATS (BOATs), for overnight trading on August 6. The suspension occurred from 12:00 am UTC to 8:00 am UTC, affecting users’ ability to trade during that time.
Details of the Suspension
The announcement was made through Robinhood’s support account, Robinhood Help, on X (formerly known as Twitter) on August 5. The message informed users that they could cancel their orders anytime and place new orders for the next trading session. Robinhood assured that all open trades as of 12:00 am UTC would be executed approximately eight hours later.
Previous Trading Halts and Market Conditions
This suspension followed a similar halt on the previous day, with multiple users reporting issues on August 5. The timing coincided with a global stock market downturn, including Japan’s Nikkei experiencing its most significant drop since Black Monday in 1987. Although Robinhood stated that its overnight trading session was operational, the suspension caused confusion and frustration among users.
Introduced in May 2023, Robinhood’s 24-hour market service allows customers to trade outside traditional market hours. The platform uses BOATs to execute these overnight trades. According to a support page, BOATs implements risk controls to prevent stocks from trading more than 20% above or below the price set near the end of extended hours trading sessions. This mechanism mirrors public exchanges’ controls, which aim to prevent extreme price movements during regular market hours.
Also Read: Federal Judge Approves Robinhood’s $9M Class-Action Settlement
Broader Market Impact and User Reactions
The suspension on Robinhood was not an isolated incident, as other brokerage platforms, including Charles Schwab, Fidelity, Vanguard, TD Ameritrade, E-Trade, UPS, and CenturyLink, also reported trading outages due to market volatility. The widespread issues further complicated the trading environment for investors.
Many Robinhood users expressed their dissatisfaction on social media, particularly regarding canceled trades. One user, Kyle Babbit, shared his frustration on X, stating that his purchase of Nvidia shares, which had gained nearly 10%, was clawed back by Robinhood. According to a screenshot shared by Babbit, Robinhood informed him via email that all trades during the suspension would be canceled due to issues experienced by BOATs.
