Coinbase通过股票交易挑战Robinhood：一切交易对你的钱意味着什么

Coinbase Global Inc. (NASDAQ:COIN) just made a bold play that changes the trading platform game. The crypto exchange announced Wednesday at its System Update event in San Francisco that it’s launching traditional stock trading, complete with 24 hour access five days a week and zero commissions. Translation? Coinbase wants to be your one stop shop for everything from Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) to Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) shares.

But here’s the real question: Can a crypto focused platform actually compete with Robinhood Markets Inc. (NASDAQ:HOOD), which already owns this space? And more importantly, what does this mean for where you park your trading account?

The David Vs. Goliath Setup

Let’s start with the uncomfortable truth. Robinhood’s market cap sits at roughly $107 billion right now, while Coinbase clocks in around $66 billion. That’s a 60% valuation gap, and it exists for a reason. Robinhood has years of experience executing stock trades, a massive user base that trusts it for equities, and it’s already integrated crypto without messing up its core business.

Coinbase’s announcement sent its shares up about 1% in after hours trading Wednesday. Interestingly, Robinhood also climbed 1.5% after hours, which tells you the market isn’t panicking about Coinbase stealing Robinhood’s lunch money anytime soon.

The timing matters though. Coinbase shares have dropped nearly 8% over the past month as crypto tumbled, even though the stock’s still slightly positive for the year. When Bitcoin tanks, Coinbase’s revenue evaporates because the company makes most of its money from trading fees. Stock trading gives them a hedge against those painful crypto winters that gut their business every few years.

The Tokenization Play Everyone’s Missing

Here’s where things get interesting, and frankly, where Coinbase’s real bet lives. CEO Brian Armstrong told CNBC that traditional stock trading is just the opening move. What he actually wants is tokenized equities, stocks that live on blockchain networks instead of through traditional exchanges.

Think about what that could mean. Stocks trading 24/7, not just during market hours. Near instant settlement instead of waiting two days for your trades to clear. Lower costs because you’re cutting out middlemen. It’s the kind of market structure change that could actually matter, not just another incremental improvement.

Coinbase is already seeking SEC approval for blockchain based stocks. Early next year, they’re rolling out perpetual futures for stocks, available outside the U.S. These are derivatives that don’t expire, a concept the crypto world pioneered that’s now crossing over into traditional finance.

But here’s the catch, and one analyst nailed it. Brian Huang from Glider, a Coinbase backed portfolio manager, questioned why Coinbase isn’t just building tokenized stocks from day one. If tokenization is the future, why launch traditional stock trading that looks exactly like Robinhood? His take: regulatory realities probably forced Coinbase’s hand. Getting SEC approval for tokenized equities is still a heavy lift, even with a more crypto friendly administration coming in.

So we’re getting the bridge product first while Coinbase builds toward what they really want to launch. Makes sense strategically, but it also means Coinbase is competing on Robinhood’s turf with Robinhood’s playbook rather than using their supposed advantage.

What You Actually Get From This

Enough big picture stuff. What does this mean for your actual trading account?

The convenience factor is real. If you’re already on Coinbase trading crypto, you can now buy Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) shares in the same app using the same login. No more juggling Robinhood for stocks and Coinbase for Bitcoin. Your whole portfolio lives in one place, which simplifies tax reporting and account management.

24 hour trading five days a week matters more than you’d think. Bad news drops at 2am and tanks your stocks? You can sell immediately instead of watching helplessly until 9:30am. That’s genuinely useful for anyone who works weird hours or just wants more control over when they trade.

Zero commissions are table stakes now, not a competitive advantage. Both platforms offer this, so execution quality becomes what matters. Robinhood’s gotten heat over the years for its order routing, especially during the GameStop chaos in 2021. Coinbase has a chance to compete on transparency here, but they’ll need to prove they can handle volume without the platform falling over.

The feature war benefits you. Wednesday’s announcement included way more than just stocks. Coinbase integrated Kalshi for prediction markets, letting you trade on election outcomes, sports results and economic indicators for as little as $1. They launched Coinbase Advisor, an AI tool that helps build portfolios and explains how news affects your holdings. They rolled out improved futures trading and direct Solana token swaps through Jupiter.

These additions force Robinhood to respond with its own innovations, which means better tools and more features for traders on both platforms. Competition works.

The Valuation Gap Tells The Story

That $40 billion difference in market cap between Robinhood and Coinbase isn’t arbitrary. The market’s telling you something.

Analysts have been cutting Coinbase price targets recently. Barclays dropped theirs to $291 from $357. Mizuho cut to $280 from $320. The concern? Bitcoin ETF flows have weakened significantly, with BlackRock Inc.’s (NYSE:BLK) iShares Bitcoin Trust seeing over $2.7 billion in outflows over five weeks. Standard Chartered even slashed its end of 2025 Bitcoin price target to $100,000 from $200,000.

When institutional money leaves Bitcoin ETFs, it creates a vicious cycle for Coinbase. Lower Bitcoin prices mean less trading activity. Less trading means lower revenue. Lower revenue means analyst downgrades. It’s ugly, and it’s why diversifying into stocks makes so much sense for Coinbase’s business model.

But diversification and execution are different things. Robinhood’s proven it can deliver. Coinbase is still proving itself outside the crypto world.

Should You Care?

Honestly, probably not yet. Don’t rush to move your entire portfolio to Coinbase based on Wednesday’s announcement. Watch how they execute over the next few months first.

Test the platform with small positions. See how order execution compares to what you’re getting elsewhere. Check if the platform stays stable during volatile market days. Look at whether the AI advisor actually helps or just generates generic advice.

The real value here isn’t Coinbase suddenly becoming better than Robinhood overnight. It’s the competitive pressure forcing both platforms to improve. More features, better tools, aggressive pricing. That benefits you regardless of which platform you ultimately prefer.

Here’s what actually matters for your decision making. If you’re deep into crypto and already use Coinbase for that, the convenience of managing stocks in the same app might be worth it. The 24 hour trading is legitimately useful if you work nights or travel internationally. The prediction markets and AI advisor are interesting additions that might become valuable once they mature.

But if you’re happy with Robinhood and mostly trade stocks with occasional crypto on the side, there’s no compelling reason to switch right now. Let Coinbase prove itself first.

The Bigger Picture

Financial markets are changing faster than most people realize. The line between crypto and traditional assets is blurring. Tokenization is moving from concept to reality. Platforms are racing to build infrastructure for this new financial system, and regulations are slowly catching up under a more crypto friendly administration.

Coinbase’s announcement is one step in that evolution. Whether it succeeds in becoming the everything exchange depends entirely on execution. Can they deliver stock trading that actually competes with established platforms? Can they navigate the regulatory maze to launch tokenized equities? Can they manage multiple complex businesses simultaneously without dropping the ball?

Those are open questions. What’s not in question is that competition benefits traders. You get more choices, better features and platforms that have to fight harder for your business. Use that to your advantage. Test both platforms. Move your money to whoever serves you best. The switching costs are low, so there’s no reason to be loyal to a platform that’s not delivering.

Keep watching how this plays out over the coming months. The trading platform wars just got more interesting, and you’re the one who wins when companies are fighting for your attention.

Benzinga Disclaimer: This article is from an unpaid external contributor. It does not represent Benzinga’s reporting and has not been edited for content or accuracy.