I've learned a lot through Robinhood, trading from a couple of hundred bucks to about $15k (not all gains, a lot of it is deposited), I've gained confidence and knowledge as the platform has grown.
Not sure if $7B is valid but the company is disrupting the status quo of commission based trading.
In September 2018, Logan Kane, a contributor to Seeking Alpha, stated that Robinhood's payment for order flow generated ten times the revenue as other brokers receive from market makers for the same volume. Bloomberg has analyzed Robinhood's reports to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and calculates that Robinhood generates almost half of its income from payment for order flow. Robinhood's lack of transparency on this issue is troubling. Beyond that, payment for order flow is slowly being regulated out of existence, so a brokerage that depends on generating income by selling order flow to market makers will find itself in trouble within 5 years.
Just remember that you are trading in an upmarket. All your knowledge will be worth nothing in a downturn. It's a totally different game. Learned that in 2000 :-)
Not sure if $7B is valid but the company is disrupting the status quo of commission based trading.