The Most Important Number in Robinhood's Business Isn't Revenue. It's This.

Robinhood's (NASDAQ: HOOD) revenue growth has been impressive.

In the second quarter, the company generated $1.31 billion of revenue, up 32% from a year earlier. Earnings per share rose 48% to $0.62. Those numbers tell us Robinhood is scaling rapidly.

But they don't tell us the whole story. For that, investors should look at another number: the amount of money customers keep on the platform.

By August 2026, Robinhood held $384 billion in platform assets, up 26% from a year earlier. Customers also added $4 billion of net deposits during August, while trailing 12-month net deposits reached $74.1 billion.

That matters because it indicates the long-term opportunity Robinhood has to monetize these assets and customer relationships.

Image source: Getty Images.

It all starts with the customer

Consider a simple example. Someone opens a Robinhood account and deposits $5,000.

That customer might generate little revenue at first, but over time, the relationship can become much more valuable. The customer might buy stocks and options. They could subscribe to Gold (Robinhood's membership subscription), trade crypto, or participate in prediction markets. Every transaction generates income.

On top of that, the customer might also keep adding money to the account. That's a huge opportunity.

Robinhood doesn't need to persuade the customer to trade more stocks every year. Instead, it needs to become more useful over time, so that the customer gradually brings more of their financial life onto the platform.

Making sure the money keeps coming in

Robinhood's trailing 12-month net deposits is an important metric. It shows whether customers are continuing to move substantial amounts of money onto the platform. If the company can sustain this trajectory, it won't be long before the customer assets exceed $1 trillion.

Robinhood doesn't need all that growth to come from new customers. Existing customers can increase their balances as their incomes and savings grow. Investment gains can also increase the value of assets already on the platform.

That creates a potentially powerful combination. More customers can bring in more money. More money creates more opportunities to offer financial products, and better products can encourage customers to keep even more of their financial lives on Robinhood.

That's a very different business from one that simply relies on trading commissions or transaction activity, as Robinhood did in the past.

Robinhood is developing additional ways to monetize its customers

Relying on trading activities can be volatile. When markets run hot, customers tend to trade more. When markets quiet down, trading activity can fall.

To overcome this issue, Robinhood has been developing additional revenue streams. The company said that by Q2 2026, 13 of its business lines had reached more than $100 million in annualized revenue. Better still, average revenue per user increased 24% year over year to $187.

Those numbers indicate an important evolution in the business model. Robinhood is increasingly making money from the customer relationship, not just the trade.

A customer doesn't necessarily need to buy and sell more stocks for Robinhood to generate more revenue. The company can earn from subscriptions, interest income, card spending, crypto, prediction markets, and other products.

That gives Robinhood more ways to monetize the same customer over time.

What investors should watch over time

This is why I wouldn't focus only on Robinhood's quarterly revenue.

Revenue indicates how much the company generated during a particular period. On the other hand, platform assets and net deposits tell us how much money customers are entrusting to the platform. Neither metric guarantees future revenue, but together, they provide an important clue about the potential size of Robinhood's customer relationships.

So when Robinhood reports its next results, I'll be watching four numbers closely: funded customers, net deposits, platform assets, and revenue per customer.

If all four continue moving in the right direction, it indicates that Robinhood is on the right track of implementing its long-term strategy -- to become a place where millions of people do an increasingly large share of their financial business.

That may ultimately prove more valuable than simply getting customers to trade more stocks.

Lawrence Nga has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.