Robinhood joins election betting market with Harris and Trump contracts
Robinhood announced on Monday it is tapping into a growing politics prediction market by allowing users to trade Kamala Harris or Donald Trump contracts on the 2024 presidential election.
Users were able to start trading as long as they met certain qualifications, like being a US citizen, the investing platform said in a press release. The event contract is being offered by Robinhood Derivatives and ForecastEx.
The contracts will be priced between two cents and 99 cents, earning a $1 payout if the user guesses the winning candidate.
Users can purchase up to 5,000 election contracts, meaning Robinhood users can win up to a $5,000 payout if they guess correctly, company spokesperson Christina Trejo told Forbes.
Robinhood is one of the most recognizable firms to join in the election betting industry. The move comes after Kalshi and Interactive Brokers won a ruling against the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to allow election outcome trading. The CFTC is appealing the ruling.
Since the ruling, Interactive Brokers has launched various political contracts.
In a neck-and-neck race, more eyes have looked to the political betting markets to predict who will win the presidency. Wagering platforms overwhelmingly bet on a Trump win. It is unclear how betting markets compare to polls when it comes to outcome prediction accuracy.
Election betting markets faced controversy last week when political gambling platform Polymarket confirmed that four accounts that collectively bet more than $28 million on Trump were controlled by a single trader.
The company told CNBC the trader was a French national with “extensive trading experience and a financial services background.”
Polymarket, which is currently banned for US traders, said there was no evidence the trader was trying to fluff Trump’s odds on the betting markets.
For users looking to trade the Harris and Trump contracts, trading will be open nearly 24/7 during the week of the election, with a 15-minute-long no trading period at 5:00 p.m. ET each day.
The contracts will pay out Jan. 7-8, 2025.
