Robinhood added 250 global stocks to its platform on August 28, 2018 including popular companies like Adidas, Nintendo, and Tencent - only accessible via exchanges located in other countries. The move was likely made to counteract new competitors into the free trading space like J.P. Morgan Chase's upcoming YouInvest app.
Get Irked has been looking to start a position in Nintendo ($NTDOY) for some time, but we didn't want to open an account in a fee-brokerage that would give us access to the Japanese market. Robinhood's move is definitely an interesting method to access stocks usually limited from American investors.
Tencent ($TCEHY) is also a very interesting video game and electronic entertainment play, however being headquartered in China means the company is susceptible to government actions very different from a democratic capitalist society.
REMEMBER: If you decide to invest in an international company - even one based in the U.S. - take events happening in the countries where your investment is operating into account, particularly China, where the government can take action against companies in ways unlike democratic, capitalist-based countries.
For more on Robinhood, check out our review of the platform.
Source - CNBC