Robinhood Markets Inc (NASDAQ:HOOD) is aggressively expanding its product suite for active traders, with plans to launch index options in the fourth quarter of 2024 and futures trading, as it looks to capitalize on its growing user base and trading volumes. What Happened: During the company’s first quarter of 2024 earnings call, CEO Vlad Tenev announced the upcoming rollouts, stating “We have announced that we are going to be launching index options…index options are coming in fourth quarter. We’ll also be launching Futures as we’ve mentioned in the past.” The move to offer index options and futures represents a direct appeal to Robinhood’s core base of active retail traders. Index options, which allow trading on indexes like the S&P 500 rather than individual stocks, have grown in popularity due to their around-the-clock trading hours. “We should note index options trade round the clock, which is one of the reasons why they become so popular,” Tenev noted on the earnings call. “So, we don’t anticipate seeing a ton of cannibalization there.” Robinhood is ...