Robinhood Upgrades Its Offering With Expanded Trading Functions

While the "battle" between fintechs and institutions seems to have devolved into cozy collaboration, one company has fired another shot across the bow of an entrenched financial sector: brokerages.

Robinhood, the company behind the eponymous investment app, announced Robinhood Gold on Thursday, a premium version of the app with a trio of new features that strike at some long-held brokerage idiosyncrasies.

The Gold version of Robinhood offers users extended trading hours both before the market opens and after the close for 2.5 more trading hours per day. The company will also offer users additional buying power in the form of money lent from Robinhood. A Robinhood spokesperson said the feature functions in the same way as margin products at other brokerages.

Robinhood Gold will also allow users to immediately access funds from their trades to reinvest, bypassing the standard three-day ACH waiting period for fund transfers. The cost for the premium service is $10 a month, and is available to users with at least $2,000 in their Robinhood accounts.

Related Link: From Physics Grad Student To Financial Disruptor: Robinhood's Vlad Tenev

"We believe that even complex rules like leverage can be made focused and straightforward," said Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev in an interview with Benzinga.

Robinhood Gold is targeted towards more experienced investors looking for a streamlined experience. Tenev said that 75 percent of Robinhood users have had a brokerage account in the past, and that the features Robinhood Gold brings to the app were among the most-requested by those experienced users.

"Our primary motivation is to listen to customers and what they want," Tenev said.

The average Robinhood user is 30 years old, said Tenev, but users as young as 18 use the app.