In typical times, yes, it is "amazing" for the user, in that they get to trade more often without worrying about the underlying complexity.
People right now are complaining because they are (reportedly) being margin-called, largely yelling on the internet that they are being margin called but weren't using margin therefore Robinhood is conspiring with George Soros or some shit, even though they technically were trading with Robinhoods money.
Should Robinhood be allowed to treat something as a trade on margin when the fact that it is on margin is papered over and the user clearly doesn't understand what they're doing? Probably not.
But this isn't Robinhood "manipulating the market to support Hedge Funds (or whoever the new enemy is today[0]); this is Robinhood having a gold-plated pile of dog-shit that they've been selling as solid gold for the last couple of years, and now the cracks are showing.
[0] I heard this morning that the new enemy who is trying to manipulate the market is the DTCC. Which is just... comical in my opinion, but hey, the internet is gunna internet I guess
Ok sure, but I still don't really see what's so bad about being margin called. Like even given that unlikely occurrence where RH might margin call you, what you get out of RH doing this still seems all around great for the user.
Margin calls typically end poorly for the user because they are highly correlated with the asset being in a negative position.
If you buy a $10 stock on margin, and it raises to $15, you owe Robinhood $10, and that is secured by a $15 stock. This is extremely unlikely to get margin called. Even if it does, you're up.
If you buy a $10 stock on margin, and it drops to $5 (even if just temporarily), you owe Robinhood $10 secured by a $5 stock, which puts them in a riskier position, and may margin-call to cut their losses. You get the $5 from the sale, but still owe Robinhood the initial $10.
I'm sure you can see how this can compound to amplify drops if a large number of people have bought the same thing, all on margin, and it starts dropping for whatever reason.
Edit: Follow-on
This is particularly "bad" if your goal was to "own the stock" (at pretty much any price) just so that someone else can't buy it.
People right now are complaining because they are (reportedly) being margin-called, largely yelling on the internet that they are being margin called but weren't using margin therefore Robinhood is conspiring with George Soros or some shit, even though they technically were trading with Robinhoods money.
Should Robinhood be allowed to treat something as a trade on margin when the fact that it is on margin is papered over and the user clearly doesn't understand what they're doing? Probably not.
But this isn't Robinhood "manipulating the market to support Hedge Funds (or whoever the new enemy is today[0]); this is Robinhood having a gold-plated pile of dog-shit that they've been selling as solid gold for the last couple of years, and now the cracks are showing.
[0] I heard this morning that the new enemy who is trying to manipulate the market is the DTCC. Which is just... comical in my opinion, but hey, the internet is gunna internet I guess