This photo combination, created on October 25, 2024, shows U.S. Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris and former U.S. President Republican presidential candidate Kamala Harris in Houston, Texas, on October 25, 2024 Man Donald Trump in East Delval, Austin, Texas on October 25, 2024.
Roberto Schmidtsergio Flores | Roberto Schmidtsergio Flores AFP | Getty Images
upstart broker Robin Hood is jumping into the prediction betting game, announcing that on Monday users can start trading the 2024 presidential election, which is just eight days away.
Starting Monday, users can trade Kamala Harris or Donald Trump contracts, explain companies, as long as they meet certain criteria, including becoming U.S. citizens. The trade is offered through its Robinhood Derivatives unit and ForecastEx.
Robinhood has entered the suddenly crowded political prediction market space, which is growing this month after the Kalshi platform won a key ruling against the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, which sought to block trading in election results. The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is appealing the ruling. Soon after, Robin Hood’s rivals Interactive Brokers Various political contracts were launched, including electoral contracts.
This year’s election markets have sparked some controversy, with some concerned that lower volumes could skew the market. International platform Polymarket said last week that a French user was responsible for four accounts that spent millions of dollars buying Trump contracts. But Polymarket said its investigation found the deal did not manipulate the market.
“We believe event contracts provide people with the tools to participate in real-time decision-making, unlocking a new asset class that democratizes participation in events as they happen,” Robinhood said in a statement.
Odds and betting platforms do not use the methods used by traditional political polls and therefore cannot replace political polls.
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