Figma stock went to the moon after its IPO. Some Robinhood users say they could only buy 1 share

Figma’s initial public offering this week was a boon for investors. Well, some investors.

When shares of the design software startup started trading on Thursday, they immediately went to the moon. After being priced at $33, the stock closed at $115.50 a share, an increase of around 250%. That meant some serious returns for investors, at least the ones who were able to get in on the action.

But complaints and reports surfaced yesterday among some Robinhood users who say missed out, as they were not able to purchase as much Figma stock as they would’ve liked.

Several users took to social media to air their grievances, claiming that they had tried to buy many Figma shares when they hit the market via Robinhood, but were only granted a single share. For instance, one user, posting on X, claimed to receive only one share after requesting 3,000.

The issue sparked a number of memes throughout the day on Thursday as Figma’s blockbuster IPO dominated financial headlines.

It may have happened because Robinhood, like other trading platforms, only receives a certain number of shares when a company goes public.

“We receive a limited number of shares for each IPO,” reads an article from Robinhood’s support team. “We use the number of shares, customer demand, and other factors to determine how many shares you’ll get. You may get the full number of shares you requested, a partial amount, or none at all.”

So Robinhood does make it fairly clear that just because a user is requesting shares, it doesn’t mean that they’ll necessarily get them. In this case, as demand outstripped supply—likely exceedingly so—the company may have had to divvy the stock out accordingly, regardless of how many users actually requested.

Fast Company has reached out to Robinhood for comment and clarification.

A few days before Figma’s listing on Thursday, Bloomberg reported that its IPO was approaching 40 times oversubscribed, reflecting what was largely expected to be enormous demand for the stock.

Robinhood has drawn the ire of users in the past due to concerns around the limited trading of certain stocks. Notably, it happened in 2021, when the platform restricted purchases of GameStop and AMC shares (among others) during the so-called meme stock rally. 

But the Figma IPO is perhaps another example of how retail investors, relative to institutional investors, can end up getting the short end of the stick.

There may not be much that investors can do about that, but for those who missed out on Figma’s IPO price, it’s a reminder that access to the markets—as a retail investor using a trading app or platform—may not be as unfettered or democratic as we’d like to think.

Figma shares opened even higher on Friday, at one point hitting close to $143.