It's an excellent time to talk about the UX of Robinhood. I'm sure a team of talented and well-intentioned designers and product people behind the product, and I'm not calling them out, but we need to talk more about ethics as a community.

I remember when I downloaded Robinhood for the first time. I thought the app was so slick. Part of this slickness is the ease with which you can make trades. Robinhood created an almost frictionless experience for anyone to trade stocks.

Did anyone on the team raise or think about what it meant to give mostly untrained investors unfettered access to day trading? What ethical considerations did the team make? Did anyone say, "should we make it this easy to trade?"

Ranjan @ranjanxroy wrote this great article last year, I'll pull out some highlights to illustrate relevant points.

https://themargins.substack.com/p/robinhood-and-how-to-lose-money

"The product is built to trigger every possible dopamine receptor in a user's brain. In the early years, terms like gamified UX are considered a positive." –Ranjan

"This is a company that built a reputation on their UX prowess and I do believe they can influence behavior. And trading options can be really exhilarating. It gives you much more of the casino rush than buying and holding stocks, or even buying and selling stocks." –Ranjan

"Robinhood is just another market-making operation, but instead of a salesperson in Gucci-bit loafers getting you a tee time at Winged Foot to encourage you to deal, it's UX designers building in algorithmic nudges. But the goal is the same. Trade more." –Ranjan

A frictionless trading environment makes for easy trading. With the snap of a finger turns into high frequency or high-risk trades amongst unseasoned investors. Dopamine kicks from the rush and ease of trading. All great for business but bad for people.

Anyone can easily say that you shouldn't be trading if you don't know how to trade. Or, you shouldn't trade as much as you're willing to lose.

Is this a get out jail free card for any company selling any service to design the service with abandon?

Are we asking the right questions? Do we care about people when it comes to defining success metrics? Where is the balance between what's good for the business and what's right for people?

When you're in your product meetings, think of Robinhood and countless other services and products with business-focused outcomes. Ask better questions, think about people and ethics and challenge the status quo.

Let's do the right thing, not just the profitable thing.