Breaking: Robinhood Founders Respond To Alex Kearns’ Suicide With Major Trading Platform Changes

Following the tragic suicide of a 20-year-old Robinhood trader after he saw a $730,000 negative balance in his account, the company’s founders released a statement pledging to tighten eligibility criteria, educational resources and upgrades to its user interface for customers trading options.

Forbes first broke the story Wednesday of the death of Alex Kearns, who may have misunderstood the way Robinhood presented the results of his trades.

The tragedy raises questions over the risks of targeting young, unsophisticated investors with its zero commission platform and “gamified” interface.” With the pandemic forcing people to shelter at home—including Kearns, who was a college student—many began trading. During the first quarter alone, Robinhood attracted 3 million new accounts.

In a statement on Friday, Robinhood co-founders Vlad Tenev and Baiju Bhatt said that they were “personally devastated by this tragedy,”

and pledged to “improve Robinhood’s customer experience.” The company is looking at making adjustments to its platform around option flows involving multi-leg exercise and assignment. 

Robinhood is also working on changes to its user interface, namely the way buying power is displayed: In Kearns’ case, although his account showed a balance of $16,000, he misinterpreted his negative $730,000buying power and cash balance as debt that he owed.