Employees Struggled to Keep Robinhood Floating in January 2021 Meme-Stock Frenzy, House Report Finds

Robinhood markets struggled to handle large volumes of stock trading and sparred with the main customer, market maker Citadel Securities, during the week of January 2021 when meme shares exploded, according to a report by the Democratic staff of the House Financial Services Committee.

The committee held hearings in February 2021, asking questions to the top executives of Robinhood and Citadel Securities, as well as the meme-stock hero Keith Gill and Gabe Plotkinthe hedge fund manager who lost billions by betting against GameStop and other hot stocks. The staff reviewed tens of thousands of pages of internal documents, including sharp communication within and between the companies.