Robinhood shares pile up as investors file to sell nearly 100 million shares

Robinhood shares – which posted stunning gains earlier this week after last week’s lackluster IPO – fell as much as 17% in Thursday morning trades after a group of investors demanded the sale of nearly 100 million shares of the company.

The first shareholders of the free Silicon Valley-based trading app – including venture capitalists like Andreesen Horowitz, as well as investors who rescued the company from a liquidity crunch earlier this year – have revealed in a filing Thursday with the SEC that they have registered to sell a 97.9 million shares

Robinhood shares were recently down 14% to $ 60.22 in Thursday morning trades. A day earlier, the stock had jumped 50% amid frenzied options trading on Wednesday, pushing it into the volatile category of “meme stocks” alongside names like GameStop and AMC.

Despite Thursday’s drop, Robinhood is still up almost 30% this week. Not only is the massive stock dump likely to put pressure on stocks for multiple trading sessions, it is expected to nearly triple the number of stocks available for trading, which currently stands at just 55 million.

On the positive side, it could also dampen the stock’s volatility, according to some market participants.

“Trading today is just taking some of the foam out of the stock,” Tim Anderson, managing director of TJM Investments told The Post. “They won’t seek to destroy the share price, they will just profit from hyperbolic moves.”

The first investors in any business are looking to cash their bets, Anderson adds. In Robinhood’s case, some were companies that came to Robinhood’s rescue in January and February as the app was forced by regulators to pay money to hedge against wild market swings and s ” ensure that it had sufficient liquidity to settle transactions.

In addition to Andreessen Horowitz, cashing investors include New Enterprise Associates, which owns more than 10% of Robinhood. Others include Iconiq Capital, Institutional Venture Partners and Ribbit Capital, according to securities filings.

Outside of today, it’s been a bumper week for the popular retail app.

Moments after the opening bell on Wednesday, the stock shot up to $ 85, a staggering 81% rise from Tuesday’s closing price of $ 46.80 and briefly giving the company a market cap. over $ 71 billion. It’s more expensive than the Intercontinental Exchange, which owns the New York Stock Exchange.

The rally marked a stunning turnaround for the stock, which last week sank more than 10% in a disappointing IPO before ending its first trading session below $ 35 per share.