Not upheld: Service failures generally complaint against Robinhood U.K. Ltd

Decision detail

Summary

Mr M placed a stop sell order for Stock X at 4:59pm U.S. Eastern Time on 1 April 2025, outside regular market hours (9:30am-4pm ET). The order was not executed that day and the stock price fell significantly by the next day. Mr M complained that Robinhood failed to warn him that stop orders only execute during market hours and that the visual explanation of stop orders was misleading. Robinhood did not uphold the complaint, citing industry practice and the availability of detailed information in its Help Centre. The ombudsman found the market hours limitation was fair and reasonable, justified by low trading volume and wide spreads, and that Robinhood had clearly signposted detailed information through its customer agreement and Help Centre, making it reasonably available to customers.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman found that Robinhood's limitation of stop orders to regular market hours was fair and reasonable, consistent with industry practice, and justified by low trading volume and wide spreads outside those hours. The ombudsman determined that the visual chart was not misleading as it provided a broad explanation, and that detailed information was clearly signposted through the 'i' button and customer agreement, making it reasonably available. The ombudsman rejected the argument that allowing other trading in extended hours made the stop order limitation unfair, as all customers faced the same restriction.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website