Robinhood Trading Hours Theme

✋ What is it?

This is a solution found in the Robinhood apps. When a user opens the app, the UI will get rendered with a white UI theme for when the market is open (trading hours), and with a dark UI theme for when the market is closed (no trading hours).

🤲 How does this interaction or solution work?

Robinhood is the most popular stock trading app. One of its iconic interactions is their approach to show when the market is open or closed. Instead of relying on a simple UI affordance to show the user if the market is trading, Robinhood uses the UI theme itself to represent these concepts.

When the market is open and trading, the app uses a light (white and green) theme.
When the market is closed, and in after-market hours, the app uses a dark (black and green) theme.

This concept allows Robinhood to create a robust mental model around the idea of trading hours.

🙌 How does this interaction or solution work?

Reducing Cognitive Load

Robinhood builds a mental model that links the app appearance with the concept of market hours. Since stock transactions in general only happen during trading hours, it's essential for Robinhood users to understand at what time are they executing their trades.

This solution helps Robinhood users to acknowledge trading hours with minimal effort and very low cognitive load.