Robinhood is now restricting trading on 50 stocks and is still limiting users to one share of GameStop

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Robinhood is now restricting trading on 50 stocks and is still limiting users to one share of GameStop
Co-founder and co-CEO of Robinhood Vladimir Tenev in 2016.Noam Galai/Getty Images for TechCrunch
  • Robinhood is capping the number of GameStop shares that users can buy to one.
  • The app is restricting trading on 50 other companies, including Nokia and AMC, CNBC reported Friday.
  • Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev has defended the company's decision to halt the trading of certain stocks.
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The brokerage app Robinhood implemented additional stock-trading restrictions on Friday evening, expanding limits to cover 50 companies, CNBC reported.

New companies added to the list include Aurora Cannabis (ACB), Churchill Capital (CIV), General Motors (GM), Starbucks (SBUX), and several financial, pharmaceutical, and energy companies, according to CNBC.

Earlier on Friday, Robinhood had limited the number of GameStop stocks that traders can buy, according to its website. The Wall Street Journal reported the news first.

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Robinhood traders, as of Friday, could hold only one share of GameStop compared with the five they were previously allowed. Traders are also now limited to five options contracts, according to The Journal. An additional 10 companies were added to Robinhood's list of restricted stocks, including Nokia and AMC Entertainment.

Robinhood is now restricting trading on 50 stocks and is still limiting users to one share of GameStop
Robinhood has restricted trading on 23 stocks.Robinhood

A Robinhood spokesperson confirmed the new restrictions in an email to Insider.

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The move came after Robinhood said on Thursday it restricted transactions for some stocks, including GameStop, to comply with "financial requirements" in the wake of a buying frenzy drummed up by a group of Redditors.

Read more: Robinhood user launches class-action suit against the trading app hours after it blocked purchases of GameStop

Robinhood's temporary shutdown angered the app's users, as well as lawmakers like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and people began giving the company one-star reviews on the Google Play store, dragging its overall user rating down. Google then deleted 100,000 of the negative reviews since they violated its policies, bringing Robinhood's rating back up to four stars.

Late on Thursday, Robinhood began to allow users to buy GameStop and AMC shares. Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev has defended the company's decision to halt the trading of certain stocks and said Robinhood is not struggling with liquidity issues.

Read more: GameStop has surged more than 600% in the past week. 3 experts break down where the stock could go from here as Reddit's army of traders take profits and search for their next targets.

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Robinhood said on Friday it had raised $1 billion in emergency investment to handle the surge in trading on its platform.

News surfaced on Friday that Robinhood was on the hunt for a new federal-affairs manager in Washington, DC. The job posting was created after both Democratic and Republican lawmakers called for hearings when the app shut down temporarily on Thursday.

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