Short answer: On September 29, 2026, at its HOOD Summit in Houston, Robinhood announced crypto perpetual futures for eligible U.S. customers, with up to 10x leverage on Bitcoin and Ether and up to 3x on six other coins, at 0.01% per trade through year-end. It also unveiled Robinhood Agents, AI assistants that can trade from a dedicated account, and planned weekend stock trading for early 2027, pending regulatory review.
What happened
Robinhood used its annual event for active traders to roll out a wide set of products. Product VP Abhishek Fatehpuria described the approach as adding more assets first, then more trading hours. The main announcements:
- Perpetual futures: coming to eligible U.S. customers in the next few months, offered by Robinhood Derivatives, a CFTC-registered futures commission merchant, through Bitstamp.
- Robinhood Agents: AI agents inside the app that analyze markets, build watchlists and strategies, and trade stocks, options and crypto.
- Weekend equities: a curated list of U.S. stocks and ETFs tradable on Saturdays and Sundays through Bruce ATS, planned for early next year.
- Earnings contracts: binary contracts through Cboe on whether companies hit metrics such as earnings or revenue targets, rolling out in the coming weeks.
- Other upgrades: longer options hours from October and optional 4x intraday margin, up from 2x, for eligible customers.
Robinhood crypto perps: the details
A perpetual future, or "perp", is a derivative that tracks an asset's price with no expiry date, so a trader can hold a long or short position indefinitely. Leverage multiplies both gains and losses: at 10x, a 10% move against you can wipe out the position through liquidation, the forced closing of a trade when collateral runs out.
| Feature | Robinhood perps |
|---|---|
| Assets | BTC, ETH, SOL, XRP, DOGE, ADA, LINK, HYPE |
| Maximum leverage | 10x on BTC and ETH; 3x on the rest |
| Fee | 1 basis point (0.01%) per trade through end of 2026 |
| Provider | Robinhood Derivatives via Bitstamp |
| Risk tools | Stop-loss, take-profit, live liquidation price, risk alerts |
| Launch | Next few months, eligible U.S. customers |
Grace Qi, Robinhood's head of U.S. futures products, told CoinDesk that many perps traders want high leverage, but the company chose a more cautious start, especially for smaller, more volatile coins. Offshore crypto venues often allow far higher multiples.
How Robinhood Agents work
Users name an agent, open a separate agentic account and choose a model from several AI labs, including OpenAI and Anthropic. Safeguards are built into the setup:
- By default, the user must approve every trade the agent proposes; this can be switched off.
- Agents can only use money in their dedicated account and cannot borrow on margin at launch.
- A future feature called Loops will let agents follow standing instructions around the clock, and users can turn them off at any time.
Robinhood says more than 150,000 customers have opened agentic accounts since it opened its trading tools to AI agents in May, and agents call those tools almost 30 million times a day. Paid data add-ons from firms such as Nasdaq, Unusual Whales and Token Terminal cost $5 to $30 a month.
Market context on September 29
Bitcoin hovered just above $83,000 in Asian trading, testing the bottom of the previous week's range, as the 10-year Treasury yield reached about 5.25%, its highest since 2007, and Zcash fell about 12% to near $1,380. Robinhood shares closed at $116.22, down 0.2% on the day. Perps put Robinhood in direct competition with Coinbase, which has offered U.S. perpetual-style contracts with up to 10x leverage and fees from 0.02% since July 2025; Robinhood already sells perps in the EU at 3x. Brokers such as Charles Schwab, Interactive Brokers and Fidelity have also widened their menus.
What it means for you
- Leverage is the key risk. Perps can lose more of your stake much faster than holding coins outright; a small adverse move can trigger liquidation.
- Nothing is live yet. Perps, agents and weekend stocks are all "coming soon"; beware of scam apps or links that claim early access.
- An AI agent is still your responsibility. Trades an agent makes are made with your money, so keep manual approval on until you trust the setup.
- Spot swaps remain simpler. If you only want to move between coins, an outright swap carries no liquidation risk or funding payments.
Key takeaways
- Robinhood announced crypto perps for U.S. customers at HOOD Summit on September 29, 2026.
- Leverage is capped at 10x for BTC and ETH and 3x for six other coins.
- Trading fees are 0.01% per trade through the end of 2026.
- Robinhood Agents and weekend stock trading are coming, the latter in early 2027 pending review.
Choosing where to trade matters as much as what to trade; see our comparison of an instant exchanger vs a centralized exchange.
Frequently asked questions
Does Robinhood offer crypto perpetual futures in the U.S.?
Robinhood announced on September 29, 2026, that perpetual futures on eight cryptocurrencies are coming to eligible U.S. customers in the next few months, through Robinhood Derivatives and Bitstamp. They were not live on the day of the announcement.
What leverage do Robinhood perps offer?
Up to 10x on Bitcoin and Ether perpetuals and up to 3x on the other six coins: SOL, XRP, DOGE, ADA, LINK and HYPE. Robinhood says limits may change over time.
What are Robinhood Agents?
AI assistants built into the Robinhood app that can research markets and trade stocks, options and crypto from a separate agentic account. Users pick an AI model, and by default must approve every trade the agent proposes.
