Commission-free investing platform Public.com launches in the UK, the Robinhood rival's first market outside of the US, letting investors trade 5,000+ US stocks
Context & Ripple Effects
Public.com's UK debut lands in a corridor that already runs both directions: Revolut opened commission-free US-stock trading to Britons back in 2019 with fractional shares, then reversed the flow by launching US stock trading for American customers in 2022. Meanwhile, Public.com's chief US rival has been circling without committing — Robinhood secured UK broker approval in August 2019 but sat on it.
That makes this launch a land grab: Public.com plants its flag in the UK before Robinhood does, giving British investors a dedicated zero-commission route to 5,000+ US-listed stocks alongside Revolut's broader-superapp offering.
First-order effects
- UK investors immediately gain a second dedicated commission-free app for US equities, competing with Revolut's existing US-stock service on breadth (5,000+ names) rather than price.
- Public.com converts its US playbook into a first-mover position abroad, arriving ahead of Robinhood despite the rival holding UK regulatory approval for four years.
Second-order effects
- The move pressures Robinhood off the sidelines — it launched UK stock trading in November 2023 with 6,000+ US-listed stocks, then began layering on depth with planned UK margin trading and exploration of retirement products and UK-listed stocks.
- Revolut, the incumbent in UK US-stock access, faces a specialist competitor whose entire product is investing, forcing differentiation beyond bundling trading into a banking app.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, UK retail brokerage consolidates around US-style platforms competing on cross-border product depth — margin, retirement accounts, local listings — rather than on commissions, which are already at zero across every entrant.
- The two-way traffic between US and UK fintechs points toward retail brokers treating each other's home markets as standard expansion targets, eroding the assumption that brokerage competition stops at national borders.
The trend: US commission-free brokers are making the UK their default first international market, turning British access to US-listed stocks from a niche Revolut feature into a contested, feature-deepening battleground.