Robinhood scales down list of restricted stocks from 50 to 8, but users can still buy only 1 one share of GameStop

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• Robinhood narrowed down the list of stocks with trading restrictions from 50 to 8 on Monday.
• Users can still buy only one share in GameStop, according to the latest update.
• If a user already holds a higher number than the permitted limit, their positions will not be sold or closed.
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Robinhood reduced its trading restrictions on 50 companies to 8 on Monday, ahead of the market open.  

Companies on the list now include GameStop, AMC Entertainment, BlackBerry, Express, Genius Brands International, Koss Corp, Naked Brand Group, and Nokia.

Opening new positions in securities are limited, according to the latest update. The brokerage posted the maximum number of shares and options contracts a user can hold. Traders can still only buy one share of GameStop.

Robinhood

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If a user already holds a higher number of shares or contracts than the mentioned limits, their positions will not be sold or closed. “However, you will not be able to open more positions of each of these securities unless you sell enough of your holdings such that you are below the respective limit,” Robinhood said.

The brokerage had restricted the number of stocks traders can buy in 50 companies on Friday in order to comply with “financial requirements.” Those include SEC net capital obligations and clearing house deposits, which it said protected investors and the stock market.

But several business people and lawmakers criticized its move to restrict trading in Reddit-touted stocks that surged after being driven up an army of retail investors. On Monday, billionaire Elon Musk asked Robinhood CEO Vladimir Tenev to “spill the beans” on what actually went down with the investing app.

“What happened last week? Why couldn’t people buy the GameStop shares? The people demand answers and they want to know the truth,” Musk said to Tenev in an interview on Clubhouse.

Tenev said the company raised over a billion dollars in capital last week, so that they could relax stringent restrictions on trading when markets opened on Monday.

After last week’s decision, the company said: “This was a temporary decision made to best continue serving you, and was not an easy one to make. We know it’s led to frustration and confusion, and wanted to provide some clarity.”

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