>Robinhood cannot use customer funds to satisfy their collateral requirement
Of course they can. That's literally what they're for. When I buy 100 shares of SPY, the brokerage requires that Robinhood attaches a percent of required margin to submit the order to the settlement clearing house. Ideally, that's a percentage of my money, or their money, or whatever.
>And somehow naked shorts exist, which means that it’s possible to sell stocks without first posting 100% of that stock as collateral.
Naked shorting is illegal. You cannot sell shares you aren't able to locate and purchase. The GME clusterfuck happened because people bought GME and sold them short to somebody who turned around and sold those same shares short again.
>The fact that Robinhood needs to come up with external funding to secure a customer cash stock purchase (if I’ve understood the current rules correctly) is, IMO, bizarre at best.
They need to come up with cash due to the fact that they don't require your funds to settle before you trade with them. Basically they're fronting the settlement fee for you assuming that your money will clear before the settlement clears. ACH takes 24 hours, trades settle in T+2, there's some time for it all to happen. When the clearinghouse required 100 percent margin, it meant that Robinhood needed to put up 100 percent of the cost of the share you purchased before they had a single penny of your money. It's not that they won't settle at some point, but RH has to float large sums of money for a few days in the interim.
Of course they can. That's literally what they're for. When I buy 100 shares of SPY, the brokerage requires that Robinhood attaches a percent of required margin to submit the order to the settlement clearing house. Ideally, that's a percentage of my money, or their money, or whatever.
>And somehow naked shorts exist, which means that it’s possible to sell stocks without first posting 100% of that stock as collateral.
Naked shorting is illegal. You cannot sell shares you aren't able to locate and purchase. The GME clusterfuck happened because people bought GME and sold them short to somebody who turned around and sold those same shares short again.
>The fact that Robinhood needs to come up with external funding to secure a customer cash stock purchase (if I’ve understood the current rules correctly) is, IMO, bizarre at best.
They need to come up with cash due to the fact that they don't require your funds to settle before you trade with them. Basically they're fronting the settlement fee for you assuming that your money will clear before the settlement clears. ACH takes 24 hours, trades settle in T+2, there's some time for it all to happen. When the clearinghouse required 100 percent margin, it meant that Robinhood needed to put up 100 percent of the cost of the share you purchased before they had a single penny of your money. It's not that they won't settle at some point, but RH has to float large sums of money for a few days in the interim.