Does Robinhood owe too much to its rich backers?

The people's trading app' at the heart of the GameStop gamble has flourished thanks to Wall Street investment

Robinhood is the amateurs' share trading platform at the heart of the attempt by an army of small investors to outsmart Wall Street by buying shares in companies such as GameStop, costing hedge funds billions in the process.

The company has upset the applecart of US stock investing by waiving the commission that traditional brokers charge customers to play the markets. That, plus its user-friendly app, has made trading much cheaper and easier for ordinary people, regardless of their experience, enticing more than 13 million users at the last count.