Ahead of its market debut on Friday, Robinhood priced shares at the low end of its range, valuing the stock trading app at about $32 billion. Despite this, shares were already down more than five per cent, at around $36 in early trading.
The firm initially set a price range of between $38 and $42 a piece for the 55 million shares up for grabs but had settled on $38, with the aim of raising around $2 billion. It is offering about a third of the shares to its own users.
In early trading the share price dropped 10% before steadying. By 2:00pm EST, shares were hovering at around the $36 mark, down five per cent.
Robinhood has emerged as one of fintech's most successful, but controversial, stars in the last year, reporting soaring user numbers during the pandemic.
The company has 22.5 million funded accounts as of the second quarter, up from 18 million in the first quarter. Second quarter revenue is estimated to be up to $574 million, up from $244 million in Q2 2020. However, the firm expects to record a net loss of up to $537 million.
While the IPO valuation is considerably lower than the initially floated $40 billion, it is still up from $11.7 billion at Robinhood's Series G funding round in September.
The listing comes after a tumultuous year for the company. Last month it was slapped with a $57 million fine by the Finra, which also ordered it to pay approximately $12.6 million in restitution, plus interest, to thousands of "harmed customers".
In December it was hit with a $65 million fine by the SEC for misleading customers about payment for order flow practices that cost traders over £34 million in lost gains.
Then in February, it emerged that US regulators had made inquiries about the trading restrictions the app put on stocks such as GameStop during the Reddit-led rallies earlier this year.