Coinbase is a popular option for buying bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.
Todd Haselton | CNBC
Beware of social media, financial apps are becoming an increasingly popular form of entertainment on people’s phones.
Trading platforms Robinhood and Coinbase took the top two spots on Apple’s App Store this week as Americans turn their attention to stock and cryptocurrency markets.
Robinhood has the No. 1 spot on Friday, followed by crypto trading platform Coinbase, according to data from Sensor Tower. TikTok was third. The rise in popularity comes when Coinbase debuted on the Nasdaq on Wednesday and bitcoin first hit $ 64,000.
The surge in popularity underscores a retail boom during the pandemic and “meme stock” culture around names like GameStop. The video game retailer became a household name in January after a group of merchants caused a historic brief press on Reddit.
Typically, the best apps are social media and entertainment options such as TikTok, Reddit and Instagram. The rankings reflect momentum in downloads of a particular app, not necessarily total cumulative downloads.
This is not the first time that Robinhood has been number one. In January, at the height of the GameStop controversy, the brokerage firm was the most popular app in Apple and Google’s app stores. Webull, another trading app, was second. Coinbase, Square’s Cash App, and Fidelity also made the top 10.
Robinhood, which closed the buy side of certain stocks during the height of the GameStop frenzy, saw backlash on social media and the CEO was later testified before Congress. But Robinhood added an estimated 3 million clients in January alone, according to JMP Securities estimates.
Venture capital investors closely monitor engagement and download figures. Until recently, those statistics were mainly used to measure the success of social media apps. Robinhood investors are now using similar statistics. It was able to raise $ 3 billion in capital in a matter of days in January, which investors at CNBC say was due to its blinding growth when it faced a public relations and regulatory crisis.
Charles Schwab said on Thursday that it added a record 3.2 million new customers in the first quarter – more new accounts than in all of 2020. CEO Walt Bettinger cited “ increased market attention for certain names through social media ” as a factor that trading activity. . “
– CNBC’s Steve Kovach contributed to the reporting.