As the tech industry rallies around AI agents, some companies are building capabilities that allow AI agents to make payments and stock trades on behalf of users.
Stock trading app Robinhood is also moving in that direction, with the company announcing Wednesday that it will begin supporting AI agent trading and a new agent credit card.
Robinhood says users on its platform can now create a separate account for the AI agent and connect it to a dedicated wallet. These agents can read and analyze users’ portfolios to come up with trading strategies and suggest investments, but they only have access to pre-loaded balances in dedicated wallets to place orders.
Users will receive notifications of every trade made by the AI agent and will be able to monitor their activity within the Robinhood app itself. For some trades, the agent displays a preview that the user must approve before the order is executed. The company also said it has built in fraud detection protections that allow Robinhood’s team to investigate suspicious transactions and help users resolve disputes.
Robinhood says users can connect the AI agent to its Model Context Protocol (MCP) service to analyze concentration risk and sector exposure, execute trades, read analyst notes, identify new investment opportunities across various sectors, and more.
The agent trading feature has started in beta and currently only allows for stock trading. The company says it plans to add support for options, cryptocurrencies, event contracts, futures, and prediction markets soon.
Robinhood is also debuting a new virtual credit card intended for use by AI agents. The card allows users to connect an AI agent to the company’s bank MCP server and make payments.
This virtual card is currently available only to Robinhood Gold Cardholders who can link their accounts to this new card.
Users can set a monthly limit on this virtual card and choose whether the AI agent will ask for approval each time it makes a payment. The company said the Robinhood Platinum Card will also receive support for similar Virtual Agent Card features when it launches later this year.
Robinhood has ramped up its AI efforts in recent years. The company acquired AI-powered research platform Pluto in 2024 and added an AI assistant to provide investment advice last year.
“We’re hearing a lot of requests from customers who want to bring their own tools, LLMs, and agents and connect them to Robinhood. That’s why we’re announcing new products,” Abhishek Fatehpuria, Robinhood vice president of products, told TechCrunch by phone.
Robinhood isn’t the only company enabling AI agent payments; major companies like Stripe, Amazon, and Google, as well as startups like Prava Pay, are also building products that allow AI agents to purchase items on your behalf.
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