MarketsRobinhood has unveiled new features aimed at attracting active traders, including AI trading agents, weekend trading, and perpetual futures.

The brokerage aims to enhance its offerings by extending trading hours and introducing leveraged crypto products alongside automated trading solutions.

By Helene Braun, AI Boost|Edited by Cheyenne LigonUpdated Sep 29, 2026, 7:31 p.m. EDTPublished Sep 29, 2026, 7:00 p.m. EDT4 min read

Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev (right) presenting at Robinhood launch event on Sep. 29. (CoinDesk)
  • Robinhood will enable weekend trading for selected U.S. stocks and ETFs, completing the expansion initiated with its 24 Hour Market in 2023.
  • New Robinhood Agents, utilizing OpenAI or Anthropic technology, will be able to research markets and execute trades, with users eventually able to set automated trading instructions.
  • The brokerage is launching crypto perpetual futures for eligible U.S. customers, offering up to 10 times leverage on bitcoin and ether, as part of its initiative to cater to active traders.

Robinhood HOOD$116.21·Market Closed is increasingly drawing from the crypto sector to enhance its appeal to active traders.

During the HOOD Summit in Houston, Texas, Robinhood introduced AI agents capable of executing trades, alongside crypto perpetual futures with leverage and weekend trading options for U.S. stocks. Additionally, the brokerage is extending options trading hours, enhancing intraday margin offerings, and introducing contracts focused on corporate earnings.

Robinhood's strategy hinges on the belief that traders desire broader market access, extended hours, and diverse risk-taking opportunities, and it aims to provide these tools without directing them elsewhere.

“One of our top priorities as a company is to be number one for active traders,” stated Abhishek Fatehpuria, vice president of product management. “We’re not focused on one particular asset class over another.”

The competition for this demographic has intensified, with traditional brokers like Charles Schwab, Interactive Brokers, and Fidelity enhancing their trading offerings to attract a generation of investors accustomed to the continuous trading environment of crypto exchanges.

While crypto operates 24/7, the U.S. stock market still adheres to a weekday trading schedule, although brokerages have started to extend equity trading hours beyond the conventional 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. timeframe.

Both the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq have sought to expand their trading hours. Robinhood's 24 Hour Market, launched in 2023, previously did not include weekends, but now plans to fill that void by offering select stocks and ETFs for trading on Saturdays and Sundays through Bruce ATS, an alternative trading system.

“More assets, and then more hours,” Fatehpuria described Robinhood's approach.

Perhaps the most significant shift from traditional brokerage practices comes from the introduction of Robinhood Agents, which the platform first announced earlier this year.

Customers will have the ability to create an AI agent within the app by choosing from models provided by OpenAI or Anthropic, granting it access to a unique trading account. These agents can analyze markets, compile watchlists, and trade stocks, options, and cryptocurrencies.

Eventually, these agents will be able to operate autonomously based on predefined criteria. A feature named Loops will allow users to set ongoing instructions for their agents to monitor markets and execute trades when specific conditions are met.

Since opening its trading infrastructure to external AI agents earlier this year, Robinhood reports that over 150,000 agentic accounts have been created, generating millions of interactions with its tools daily.

The integrated version simplifies much of the technical setup required previously.

This innovation does raise concerns about potential errors in AI-driven trades. “I would think of the agent as an extension, like a trading tool that's mainly for research that can execute trades,” explained Gina Pasqua-Abeles, senior director of product management. “We do expect users to still have some level of oversight over what their agent is doing.”

Robinhood will default to requiring customer approval for each trade suggested by an agent, although users can disable this feature. At launch, agents will not be able to trade on margin and can only access funds in their designated accounts.

Additionally, Robinhood is offering access to external data that agents can utilize in their decision-making, including options data from Unusual Whales, market information from Nasdaq, crypto data from Token Terminal, and government activity tracked by Quiver Quantitative.

The company's foray into crypto-style trading also includes perpetual futures.

Perpetual futures have emerged as a leading trading product in the crypto space, enabling traders to take leveraged positions without the expiration constraints of traditional futures. Historically, these have been associated with offshore exchanges, while regulatory limitations have restricted their availability for U.S. retail traders.

Robinhood plans to provide U.S. customers with access to perpetual contracts through Robinhood Derivatives and Bitstamp, starting with cryptocurrencies. Bitcoin and ether contracts will offer leverage of up to 10 times, while other supported assets will start at three times leverage.

This leverage introduces significant risk compared to outright crypto purchases, as minor adverse price movements can result in liquidation. Robinhood has opted for lower leverage on more volatile tokens and may adjust these limits in the future.

“We do know a lot of people who trade perps want the leverage,” noted Grace Q, head of U.S. futures products. “But we wanted to start off a little safer with especially the long-tail coins.”

Robinhood is also delving into another form of derivatives trading with earnings contracts.

These binary contracts, offered through Cboe, will allow customers to trade based on whether companies meet specific metrics, such as revenue, earnings per share, or, for Apple, iPhone sales.

For Robinhood, these product offerings converge towards a single goal: creating a platform where active retail traders can seamlessly transition between stocks, cryptocurrencies, options, prediction markets, and leveraged derivatives, while largely disregarding traditional market hours.

“You can sell stocks and go buy crypto,” Fatehpuria stated. “You can sell crypto and go do prediction markets.”

Crypto has operated in this manner out of necessity for years. Now, aspects of its market structure are being integrated into mainstream finance.

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