Source: Leverage Shares analysis

Of the two stocks, Robinhood is arguably better-diversified as it offers equities and other market instruments on its platform to its U.S. customers. However, in the crypto space, its sights are set to compete with Coinbase globally.

Robinhood’s adhesion among retail investors with small portfolios and an interest in established cryptocurrencies hasn’t been entirely missed by the market. For retail investors, Robinhood’s markups and interest earnings on balances can often work out to be substantially cheaper than the costs implied by the complex fee model Coinbase operates with.

However, both stocks broke their winning streak in the Year Till Date (YTD) starting from about a week ago, with President Trump’s tariff struggles intensifying. As the article⁴ describing the effects of President Trump’s tariff strategy outlined: while it is entirely possible that sustained tariffs might eventually promote domestic manufacturing, it will remain a pain point for U.S. citizens and businesses alike in the interim. One proxy barometer for outlook on consumption, interestingly, is Walmart’s sales outlook due to its long-standing status as a darling of the value-seeking cost-conscious American consumer.

Walmart’s relatively gloomy outlook⁵ for 2026 indicated that the retail giant expects sales to be lower, while the current fiscal year’s sales to grow by 3-4% which, when adjusted for real inflationary effects, could constitute a net decrease in total unit sales. The entire market – including recession favourites such as banks – dipped as a result on the 19th of February.

If there’s less money to be spent on supplies, there’s bound to be less money available for investments. Given that, both Coinbase and Robinhood have had a precipitous decline over the past week despite Bitcoin rising since the 18th of February, which hitherto had also led to these stocks rising.

As Robinhood’s Bitstamp acquisition completes and the two platforms are integrated, across-the-board usability will likely increase via the introduction of Bitstamp’s advanced trading features to Robinhood’s user base. If the battle for crypto dominance is framed as being between Coinbase and Robinhood, the completion of Robinhood’s Bitstamp might be the impetus needed for Coinbase to begin rationalizing its fee structure and broadening its investor accessibility. On the basis of this, the current price depression might be an opportune moment for some investors to buy into Coinbase’s stock: as line item trends trends suggest, the company’s line item efficiency is rising and poised to soar higher. Of course, Robinhood’s broadness of market instrument accessibility is no small thing, either.

All in all, neither Coinbase nor Robinhood is definitively better or worse than the other. The long-encumbered American consumer’s behavioural outlook is the trillion-dollar question.