The home screen of the Robinhood website on a smartphone.
Gabby Jones | Bloomberg | Getty Images
The restrictions on Robinhood traders became stricter throughout the day on Friday, allowing only customers to buy a single GameStop share.
The stock trading app also expanded its list of restricted stocks from 13 earlier in the day to 50.
“The table below shows the maximum number of stock and option contracts for which you can increase your positions,” wrote Robinhood. CNBC recreated the table.
The shortlist tells customers how many shares and option contracts they can buy for a given security. Robinhood customers can purchase only one share and up to five GameStop option contracts; however, if a customer already owns one or more GameStop shares, they cannot purchase more shares.
Robinhood’s restrictions can take the breath away from point-and-click merchants trying to raise the GameStop price. Robinhood, however, will not sell shares of any GameStop customer that are already above the limit of a share from a previous position.
The stock, which closed at a 67% high, was out of its session highs with the implementation of new stricter limits. Earlier in the day, customers could buy five GameStop shares.
The maximum number of shares that customers could buy from any of the 50 shares was five. Customers without existing shares can buy only one share and 10 option contracts at AMC Entertainment, which is a drop from the previous 115 shares. AMC Entertainment’s stock closed up 53%, but was also well below its daily highs. Customers can purchase only one share of American Airlines, Bed Bath & Beyond and Koss.
The stock trading app has also expanded its list of restricted stocks. Some of the new names include Advanced Micro Devices, Starbucks, Novavax, General Motors and Beyond Meat.
On Thursday, Robinhood told customers that it was only allowed to sell shares, not buy new ones, in certain securities that were attracting the attention of Reddit crowds on social media. The company has also increased margin requirements, or the amount of money in a customer’s account when they will use leverage to buy a security. Robinhood’s decision was met with outrage, with many users taking their complaints to Twitter.
Robinhood said the trade restrictions were risk management decisions to protect Robinhood and its clearing houses, but announced that the restrictions would be eased on Friday.
The free trade pioneer raised $ 1 billion in cash from investors and took advantage of more lines of credit overnight so his clients could trade names like GameStop and AMC Entertainment on Friday.
However, restrictions became stricter throughout the trading day, as the list of limited securities grew and the number of shares customers could buy decreased for certain shares.
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