Gamestop mania: Robinhood, Citadel spar with lawmakers over retail trading

The exchange elicited a mea culpa from Tenev, who admitted the brokerage fell short of meeting its customers' needs

House Democrats sparred with the leaders of Robinhood Markets and Citadel on Thursday, with lawmakers pressing the firms on whether they’re profiting at the expense of retail investors and complaining that they got few satisfying answers.
 
At a closely watched hearing before the Financial Services Committee, Robinhood’s Vlad Tenev and Citadel’s Ken Griffin took fire on issues ranging from trading halts provoked by capital shortfalls to whether “free trades” are really free. At times, the chief executives’ long responses were cut off and met with derision. They were both adamant that their businesses have helped small-time investors access markets