[JumpCrisscross]

> a leveraged bet and a very common vehicle in traditional finance

Former options market maker here. Taking leveraged, directional risk with options is textbook reckless trading. That Robinhood found people to swing options and crypto is not representative of traditional finance.

[nightski]

I have an options account with TD Ameritrade. It took a few clicks to get. But it's pretty convenient traditional finance can be redefined when needed.

[woodruffw]

This doesn't change what the GP said. I have an options account with my bank too, but I had to sign all kinds of disclosures and wait to be approved. I also had to demonstrate a minimum net worth.

What made Robinhood (originally) unique was stripping away those protections, or otherwise automating them away in a mobile app. We have lots of concrete examples of people losing their life's savings on Robinhood, in no small part because of how easy it made leveraging oneself.

[nightski]

You are right. If you are referring to the GP of my post I agree with them - there are many growth stocks down more than crypto at the moment. That was what I was trying to say but did so poorly. I was just clarifying what I meant by thousands of % since I was thinking of options when I wrote it.

Your knowledge around opening an options account is slightly outdated. They used to have net worth requirements and more legal forms. Some time around 2020 though at the beginning of the pandemic all of this was removed. It's a few clicks now at pretty much any major investment bank such as TD Ameritrade.