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Case Studies
How Robinhood handled a crisis

How to get the most from Case Studies

BFM+Exclusive

How Robinhood handled a crisis

5 mins
about Robinhood
Robinhood large logo
  • Summary
  • 5 key takeaways
  • 1. Removing GameStop from search results

Last week Robinhood took unprecedented action and, without warning, temporarily restricted trading on immensely popular stocks like GameStop (GME).

The circumstances of these actions were controversial and upset millions of people.

But this isn’t a hit piece, and my opinion of whether the steps Robinhood took were necessary, fair or illegal are irrelevant.

Instead, this provides a perfect example of why UX matters in a crisis.

In this instance, even the best user experience wouldn’t have stopped people from being upset, but would have acted as damage limitation.

As you’ll see, the total lack of context, explanation or empathy only fuelled the mob.

So what can we learn from Robinhood’s actions / inactions?

Summary

  • 🔎

    Removing GameStop from search results.

  • ✋

    Blocking people from buying GameStop shares.

  • 💰

    Made fractional shares unavailable.

  • 💸

    Creating sell orders on your behalf.

  • 📋

    Failing to get statements.

5 key takeaways

1. Removing GameStop from search results

The first action that Robinhood took was to suddenly stop people from being able to purchase shares of GameStop.

But they also decided to actually remove GameStop from any search results.

This was an awful decision for a few reasons:

Peter Ramsey, Built for Mars Founder

Written by Peter Ramsey

Consultant to 100+ companies

Published: 01/02/2021
Last edited: 01/04/2025

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