Robinhood added to S&P 500 with AppLovin, stocks surge 7%

Shares of Robinhood and AppLovin jumped nearly 7% on Friday evening after S&P Global confirmed both companies will officially join the S&P 500 index before the market opens on Monday, September ￰0￱ information came straight from S&P Global’s index committee, which announced the change in a public statement released after trading ￰1￱ will replace Caesars Entertainment, while AppLovin is set to take over the slot currently held by MarketAxess ￰2￱ reshuffling is part of the index’s regular update ￰3￱ companies drop out, fund managers tracking the S&P 500 are forced to buy the replacements. That’s why both stocks rallied in after-hours trading. Fund-driven buying happens automatically, no emotions ￰4￱ announcement closed a frustrating chapter for both firms.

Robinhood, which was left out of the June quarterly rebalancing, saw its stock slide 2% at the time. AppLovin, meanwhile, had its name dragged through mud by Fuzzy Panda Research, a short seller that asked S&P’s committee in March to block the company from entering the ￰5￱ AppLovin was passed over in December in favor of Workday, its shares sank 15%. But both companies hung around long enough to get picked this ￰6￱ replaces MarketAxess while Robinhood takes Caesars’ place Robinhood, the commission-free trading platform, launched on the Nasdaq in ￰7￱ quickly gained a loyal base of retail traders who pushed meme stocks like AMC Entertainment and GameStop into the ￰8￱ its annual general meeting in June, a shareholder asked Vlad Tenev, Robinhood’s co-founder and CEO, if getting listed on the S&P 500 was part of the plan.

“It’s a difficult thing to plan for,” Vlad replied. “I think it’s one of those things that hopefully happens.” He added that he believed the company was ￰9￱ did ￰10￱ fast. AppLovin, which also went public in 2021, has had a different ￰11￱ stock has delivered absurd gains: 278% in 2023, followed by a 700% explosion in ￰12￱ of Friday’s close, shares are up another 51% in 2025, though it’s slowed compared to the last two ￰13￱ company sells software that plugs into apps and mobile games to deliver targeted ￰14￱ didn’t just coast to the ￰15￱ made bold moves along the ￰16￱ this year, it made an offer to buy the ￰17￱ of TikTok from ByteDance, the Chinese parent ￰18￱ sale is still ￰19￱ Donald Trump has repeatedly extended the sale deadline, with the most recent extension happening in ￰20￱ and DoorDash joined earlier while Caesars and MarketAxess exit The S&P 500 already leans heavily toward large tech ￰21￱ and DoorDash were both added earlier this year, pushing the index deeper into the software and data services ￰22￱ entry of Robinhood and AppLovin just keeps that trend rolling.

It’s not ￰23￱ that are growing fast, pulling in volume, and making noise usually end up on the committee’s radar sooner or later. That’s bad news for MarketAxess and ￰24￱ two companies are out, and they’ve been under pressure for months. MarketAxess, which focuses on fixed-income trading, has seen its shares fall 17% year-to-date. Caesars, the casino and resort chain, is down 21% in the same ￰25￱ company has posted the kind of growth or investor interest needed to hold onto a place in the large-cap ￰26￱ in the S&P 500 isn’t just symbolic, as funds that mirror the index must buy the incoming names.

That’s why AppLovin and Robinhood rallied within minutes of the news breaking. It’s ￰27￱ Difference Wire helps crypto brands break through and dominate headlines fast