Robinhood Bitcoin Spread Nears 2% as Traders Flag Hidden Costs

Buying and selling Bitcoin (BTC) through Robinhood's default crypto order path costs roughly 2% in total. The company's filings reveal the charge is embedded in the price rather than listed as a separate fee.

Delphi Digital co-founder Tommy Shaughnessy highlighted the number this week. He shared a screenshot showing a Bitcoin spread of $1,426.03 and asked Robinhood's CEO for an explanation.

Where the 2% Cost Comes From

The spread represents the difference between the purchase price and the sale price of an asset. Robinhood earns revenue from that gap.

Hey @vladtenev why is the spread for buying or selling $BTC via agentic trading 2% on Robinhood?

Kinda of criminal levels of slippage on an asset this big https://t.co/KgoKeaQMsn pic.twitter.com/3V74Yif7vI

— Tommy (@Shaughnessy119) September 17, 2026

The default option, known as market maker routing, directs crypto orders to an external trading firm instead of an exchange. Robinhood Crypto receives $0.95 for every $100 of volume processed through that route.

That payment is included in the quoted prices. Buyers pay the higher figure and sellers get the lower one. A complete buy-and-sell cycle thus costs nearly 2% before any market change.

What the Screenshot Showed

Shaughnessy's agent showed a bid of $75,361.72 against an ask of $76,787.76 on Thursday. That difference amounted to 1.87%, which he described as criminal for an asset of that size.

“for anyone doing agentic crypto trades on Robinhood from the jump you are using the default market making approach so you are going to effectively pay 1% to buy and 1% to sell…,” wrote Shaughnessy.

Robinhood Says a Cheaper Route Exists

Johann Kerbrat, senior vice president and general manager of crypto at Robinhood, highlighted an alternative called Smart Exchange Routing. That option comes with a disclosed fee between 0% and 0.95%.

That fee decreases as a trader's 30-day volume increases. Kerbrat also disputed a separate claim that users must sell their coins before moving them off the platform.

“withdrawals to an external wallet don’t require selling first. You can transfer BTC (or any supported crypto asset) directly out of your Robinhood Crypto account,” wrote Kerbrat.

Robinhood also prevents agents from transferring, staking, or lending crypto. Two company engineers were charged in an insider trading case related to Hyperliquid this month.

The platform opened agentic trading to crypto earlier this year, allowing external AI agents to trade through a separate account. How much traders will pay for that convenience remains unclear.