'You Can't Have a Functional Market Without Speculators,' Robinhood CEO Says -- WSJ

Dow Jones05-06 00:40

By Hannah Erin Lang

"You can't have a functional financial market without speculators. If everyone's just hedging, the market is going to break... As long as you have a strategy, and it's systematic, who am I to say that you shouldn't engage in trading with that asset class?"

That's Robinhood chief executive Vlad Tenev at the WSJ's Future of Everything conference, in response to a question from an audience member about whether he considered prediction markets to be the same gambling.

The online brokerage was one of the first to move into the world of prediction-markets, which allow traders to make yes-or-no wagers on the outcome of future events, from football games to Fed meetings. A recent WSJ analysis found that a small number of accounts on Polymarket and Kalshi take home the majority of profits.

This item is part of a Wall Street Journal live coverage event. The full stream can be found by searching P/WSJL (WSJ Live Coverage).

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 05, 2026 12:40 ET (16:40 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2026 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.

At the request of the copyright holder, you need to log in to view this content

Disclaimer: Investing carries risk. This is not financial advice. The above content should not be regarded as an offer, recommendation, or solicitation on acquiring or disposing of any financial products, any associated discussions, comments, or posts by author or other users should not be considered as such either. It is solely for general information purpose only, which does not consider your own investment objectives, financial situations or needs. TTM assumes no responsibility or warranty for the accuracy and completeness of the information, investors should do their own research and may seek professional advice before investing.

Comments

We need your insight to fill this gap

Leave a comment

{"i18n":{"language":"en_US"},"isChannel":false,"data":{"share":"https://ttm.financial/m/news/2633834947?lang=en_US&edition=fundamental","thumbnail":"","is_english":true,"pubTime":"2026-05-06 00:40","share_image_url":"https://static.laohu8.com/e9f99090a1c2ed51c021029395664489","id":"2633834947","market":"other","top_or_hot":-1,"title":"'You Can't Have a Functional Market Without Speculators,' Robinhood CEO Says -- WSJ","media":"Dow Jones","content":"<font class=\"NormalMinus1\" face=\"Arial\">\n<p>\n       By Hannah Erin Lang \n</p>\n<p>\n     \"You can't have a functional financial market without speculators. If everyone's just hedging, the market is going to break... As long as you have a strategy, and it's systematic, who am I to say that you shouldn't engage in trading with that asset class?\" \n</p>\n<p>\n     That's <a href=\"https://laohu8.com/S/HOOD\">Robinhood</a> chief executive Vlad Tenev at the WSJ's Future of Everything conference, in response to a question from an audience member about whether he considered prediction markets to be the same gambling. \n</p>\n<p>\n     The online brokerage was one of the first to move into the world of prediction-markets, which allow traders to make yes-or-no wagers on the outcome of future events, from football games to Fed meetings. A recent WSJ analysis found that a small number of accounts on Polymarket and Kalshi take home the majority of profits. \n</p>\n<p>\n       This item is part of a Wall Street Journal live coverage event. The full stream can be found by searching P/WSJL (WSJ Live Coverage). \n</p>\n<p>\n  (END) Dow Jones Newswires\n</p>\n<p>\n  May 05, 2026 12:40 ET (16:40 GMT)\n</p>\n<p>\n  Copyright (c) 2026 Dow Jones &amp; Company, Inc.\n</p>\n</font>","source":null,"html":"<!DOCTYPE html>\n<html>\n<head>\n<meta http-equiv=\"Content-Type\" content=\"text/html; charset=utf-8\" />\n<meta name=\"viewport\" content=\"width=device-width,initial-scale=1.0,minimum-scale=1.0,maximum-scale=1.0,user-scalable=no\"/>\n<meta name=\"format-detection\" content=\"telephone=no,email=no,address=no\" />\n<title>'You Can't Have a Functional Market Without Speculators,' Robinhood CEO Says -- WSJ</title>\n<style type=\"text/css\">\na,abbr,acronym,address,applet,article,aside,audio,b,big,blockquote,body,canvas,caption,center,cite,code,dd,del,details,dfn,div,dl,dt,\nem,embed,fieldset,figcaption,figure,footer,form,h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6,header,hgroup,html,i,iframe,img,ins,kbd,label,legend,li,mark,menu,nav,\nobject,ol,output,p,pre,q,ruby,s,samp,section,small,span,strike,strong,sub,summary,sup,table,tbody,td,tfoot,th,thead,time,tr,tt,u,ul,var,video{ font:inherit;margin:0;padding:0;vertical-align:baseline;border:0 }\nbody{ font-size:16px; line-height:1.5; color:#999; background:transparent; }\n.wrapper{ overflow:hidden;word-break:break-all;padding:10px; }\nh1,h2{ font-weight:normal; line-height:1.35; margin-bottom:.6em; }\nh3,h4,h5,h6{ line-height:1.35; margin-bottom:1em; }\nh1{ font-size:24px; }\nh2{ font-size:20px; }\nh3{ font-size:18px; }\nh4{ font-size:16px; }\nh5{ font-size:14px; }\nh6{ font-size:12px; }\np,ul,ol,blockquote,dl,table{ margin:1.2em 0; }\nul,ol{ margin-left:2em; }\nul{ list-style:disc; }\nol{ list-style:decimal; }\nli,li p{ margin:10px 0;}\nimg{ max-width:100%;display:block;margin:0 auto 1em; }\nblockquote{ color:#B5B2B1; border-left:3px solid #aaa; padding:1em; }\nstrong,b{font-weight:bold;}\nem,i{font-style:italic;}\ntable{ width:100%;border-collapse:collapse;border-spacing:1px;margin:1em 0;font-size:.9em; }\nth,td{ padding:5px;text-align:left;border:1px solid #aaa; }\nth{ font-weight:bold;background:#5d5d5d; }\n.symbol-link{font-weight:bold;}\n/* header{ border-bottom:1px solid #494756; } */\n.title{ margin:0 0 8px;line-height:1.3;color:#ddd; }\n.meta {color:#5e5c6d;font-size:13px;margin:0 0 .5em; }\na{text-decoration:none; color:#2a4b87;}\n.meta .head { display: inline-block; overflow: hidden}\n.head .h-thumb { width: 30px; height: 30px; margin: 0; padding: 0; border-radius: 50%; float: left;}\n.head .h-content { margin: 0; padding: 0 0 0 9px; float: left;}\n.head .h-name {font-size: 13px; color: #eee; margin: 0;}\n.head .h-time {font-size: 11px; color: #7E829C; margin: 0;line-height: 11px;}\n.small {font-size: 12.5px; display: inline-block; transform: scale(0.9); -webkit-transform: scale(0.9); transform-origin: left; -webkit-transform-origin: left;}\n.smaller {font-size: 12.5px; display: inline-block; transform: scale(0.8); -webkit-transform: scale(0.8); transform-origin: left; -webkit-transform-origin: left;}\n.bt-text {font-size: 12px;margin: 1.5em 0 0 0}\n.bt-text p {margin: 0}\n</style>\n</head>\n<body>\n<div class=\"wrapper\">\n<header>\n<h2 class=\"title\">\n'You Can't Have a Functional Market Without Speculators,' Robinhood CEO Says -- WSJ\n</h2>\n\n<h4 class=\"meta\">\n\n\n<div class=\"head\" \">\n\n\n<div class=\"h-thumb\" style=\"background-image:url(https://static.tigerbbs.com/150f88aa4d182df19190059f4a365e99);background-size:cover;\"></div>\n\n<div class=\"h-content\">\n<p class=\"h-name\">Dow Jones </p>\n<p class=\"h-time\">2026-05-06 00:40</p>\n</div>\n\n</div>\n\n\n</h4>\n\n</header>\n<article>\n<font class=\"NormalMinus1\" face=\"Arial\">\n<p>\n       By Hannah Erin Lang \n</p>\n<p>\n     \"You can't have a functional financial market without speculators. If everyone's just hedging, the market is going to break... As long as you have a strategy, and it's systematic, who am I to say that you shouldn't engage in trading with that asset class?\" \n</p>\n<p>\n     That's <a href=\"https://laohu8.com/S/HOOD\">Robinhood</a> chief executive Vlad Tenev at the WSJ's Future of Everything conference, in response to a question from an audience member about whether he considered prediction markets to be the same gambling. \n</p>\n<p>\n     The online brokerage was one of the first to move into the world of prediction-markets, which allow traders to make yes-or-no wagers on the outcome of future events, from football games to Fed meetings. A recent WSJ analysis found that a small number of accounts on Polymarket and Kalshi take home the majority of profits. \n</p>\n<p>\n       This item is part of a Wall Street Journal live coverage event. The full stream can be found by searching P/WSJL (WSJ Live Coverage). \n</p>\n<p>\n  (END) Dow Jones Newswires\n</p>\n<p>\n  May 05, 2026 12:40 ET (16:40 GMT)\n</p>\n<p>\n  Copyright (c) 2026 Dow Jones &amp; Company, Inc.\n</p>\n</font>\n\n</article>\n</div>\n</body>\n</html>\n","isBrief":false,"type":0,"news_type":1,"symbol":"HOYY","symbol_name":"GraniteShares YieldBOOST HOOD ETF","start_time":0,"source_url":"https://dowjonesnews.com/newdjn/logon.aspx?AL=N","article_id":"2633834947","we_media_id":"106","thumbnails":[],"rights":null,"url":"https://stock-news.laohu8.com/highlight/detail?id=2633834947","pubTimestamp":1777999200,"columns":[],"sourceInfo":null,"weMediaInfo":{"media_name":"Dow Jones","introduction":"Dow Jones publishes the world’s most trusted business news and financial information in a variety of media.","home_visible":0,"id":"106","head_image":"https://static.tigerbbs.com/150f88aa4d182df19190059f4a365e99"},"summary":"\"You can't have a functional financial market without speculators. If everyone's just hedging, the market is going to break... As long as you have a strategy, and it's systematic, who am I to say that you shouldn't engage in trading with that asset class?That's Robinhood chief executive Vlad Tenev at the WSJ's Future of Everything conference, in response to a question from an audience member about whether he considered prediction markets to be the same gambling.The online brokerage was one of the first to move into the world of prediction-markets, which allow traders to make yes-or-no wagers on the outcome of future events, from football games to Fed meetings. A recent WSJ analysis found that a small number of accounts on Polymarket and Kalshi take home the majority of profits.This item is part of a Wall Street Journal live coverage event. The full stream can be found by searching P/WSJL .","collect":0,"end_time":0,"defaultTopTitle":"","property":[],"viewcount":null,"language":"en","relate_stocks":{"HOYY":"GraniteShares YieldBOOST HOOD ETF","HOOI":"Defiance Leveraged Long + Income HOOD ETF","HOII":"REX HOOD Growth & Income ETF","HOOX":"2倍做多HOOD ETF-Defiance","BK4127":"投资银行业与经纪业","HOOY":"HOOD期权收益策略ETF-YieldMax","LU1861558580.USD":"日兴方舟颠覆性创新基金B","LU1861559042.SGD":"日兴方舟颠覆性创新基金B SGD","HOOW":"Roundhill HOOD WeeklyPay™ ETF","BK4539":"次新股","BK4547":"WSB热门概念","HOOZ":"2倍做空HOOD ETF-Defiance","HOOD":"Robinhood","HOOG":"2倍做多HOOD ETF- Leverage Shares","HODU":"Direxion Daily HOOD Bull 2X ETF","ROBN":"2倍做多HOOD ETF-T-REX"},"translate_title":"Robinhood首席执行官表示，“没有投机者，你就不可能拥有一个正常运转的市场”——《华尔街日报》","themeId":null,"isJumpTheme":false,"ttsUrl":"https://static.tigerbbs.com/f68f9a244fd72575eb73e84b00db2e2b","symbols_score_info":{"HOOG":0.6,"HOYY":0.6,"HODU":0.6,"HOOZ":0.6,"HOOX":0.6,"HOOW":0.6,"HOII":0.6,"HOOY":0.6,"HOOD":1.92,"ROBN":0.6,"HOOI":0.6},"content_text":"By Hannah Erin Lang \n\n\n     \"You can't have a functional financial market without speculators. If everyone's just hedging, the market is going to break... As long as you have a strategy, and it's systematic, who am I to say that you shouldn't engage in trading with that asset class?\" \n\n\n     That's Robinhood chief executive Vlad Tenev at the WSJ's Future of Everything conference, in response to a question from an audience member about whether he considered prediction markets to be the same gambling. \n\n\n     The online brokerage was one of the first to move into the world of prediction-markets, which allow traders to make yes-or-no wagers on the outcome of future events, from football games to Fed meetings. A recent WSJ analysis found that a small number of accounts on Polymarket and Kalshi take home the majority of profits. \n\n\n       This item is part of a Wall Street Journal live coverage event. The full stream can be found by searching P/WSJL (WSJ Live Coverage). \n\n\n  (END) Dow Jones Newswires\n\n\n  May 05, 2026 12:40 ET (16:40 GMT)\n\n\n  Copyright (c) 2026 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.","kind":"highlight","is_publish_news":true,"is_publish_highlight":false,"is_publish_live":false,"is_publish_wemedia":null,"editions":null,"column":"","sentiment":"0","news_tag":"","news_rank":0,"isVideo":false,"video":null,"symbols":[],"gpt_button":0,"need_auth":true,"need_login_tip":false,"code":"91000000","status":"200"},"commentList":[],"isCommentEnd":true,"newsSizeData":{"likeSize":0,"commentSize":0,"repostSize":0,"favoriteSize":0,"likeStatus":false,"favoriteStatus":false},"APP":{"userAgent":"Mozilla/5.0 AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko; compatible; ClaudeBot/1.0; +claudebot@anthropic.com)","isDev":false,"isTTM":true,"tenantId":"TBGLOBAL","deviceId":"web-server-community-laohu8-v3","version":"4.42.1","shortVersion":"4.42.1","platform":"web","vendor":"web","appName":"ttm","isIOS":false,"isAndroid":false,"isTiger":false,"isTHS":false,"isWeiXin":false,"isWeiXinMini":false,"isWeiBo":false,"isQQ":false,"isBaiduSwan":false,"isBaiduBox":false,"isDingTalk":false,"isToutiao":false,"isOnePlus":false,"isHuaWei":false,"isXiaomi":false,"isXiaomiWebView":false,"isOppo":false,"isVivo":false,"isSamsung":false,"isMobile":false},"href":"/m/news/2633834947","isCrawlerRequest":true}