Ark Invest explains why they bought the dip on HOOD: Fluctuations in trading revenue are normal; the real catalyst lies in the Gold subscription service

Odaily News The fund Ark Invest, managed by Cathie Wood, recently made a significant move to buy the dip on Robinhood (HOOD). Nick Grous, Research Director at Ark Invest, posted on X today, stating that trading revenue is inherently cyclical and highly influenced by the market environment; focusing solely on this data means missing the real big picture.

Currently, Robinhood's most important narrative is its subscription service, Robinhood Gold. This is a mechanism that continuously pulls users deeper into the Robinhood ecosystem. As of the first quarter of this year, the penetration rate of the Gold service among funded users had reached 15.8%, with 40% of new users choosing to subscribe to Gold directly upon registration. In the long term, an increasing number of Gold-exclusive services will form a more stable, sustainable revenue base that is less susceptible to market sentiment. This is the core story of Robinhood evolving from a single brokerage platform into a "financial super app," and this flywheel is still in its very early stages.

Previously, Robinhood's first-quarter earnings report released last month fell short of market expectations, causing the stock to drop 13% in a single day. However, Ark Invest took the opportunity to buy the dip heavily during the downturn, spending approximately $39.7 million to purchase over 550,000 shares of HOOD. These were allocated across its three flagship funds: ARKK, ARKW, and ARKF. The stock has now become one of the top six holdings in these three funds, accounting for about 3% of their portfolios.