Robinhood jumps after forming joint venture to enhance its prediction markets business

Shares of Robinhood Markets are on the rise in premarket trading after the brokerage announced after the close on Tuesday a joint venture with Susquehanna to enhance its prediction market business.

The pair is launching an independent futures and derivatives exchange and clearinghouse, with Robinhood as the controlling partner and Susquehanna serving as the liquidity provider, and is expected to begin operations next year. In a related move, the joint venture is acquiring 90% of MIAXdx, a derivatives exchange that was once a part of FTX.

(Robinhood Markets Inc. is the parent company of Sherwood Media, an independently operated media company subject to certain legal and regulatory restrictions.)

Currently, Robinhood offers access to contracts with probabilities referenced or sourced from KalshiEx LLC or ForecastEx LLC. The joint venture would have the tools needed to operate an event contracts business independently and the potential to gain a bigger share of the revenues associated with this fast-growing product line thanks to the brokerage’s ample distribution network.

Per the press release:

“Prediction Markets have quickly become Robinhood’s fastest-growing product line by revenue. Just one year since launch, 9 billion contracts have been traded by more than 1 million Robinhood customers. By introducing a robust, institutional-grade exchange to the market, we’ll add more choices for consumers. We’ll also gain the flexibility to build faster and deliver more contracts and services to traders.”

Bank of America analysts recently warned that the boom in prediction markets and online gambling was creating “emerging credit risks” for some lenders.