S&P 500 adds Robinhood and excludes MicroStrategy on September 22, 2025
The S&P 500 included Robinhood on September 22, 2025, while MicroStrategy was not added, a change that moved prices and sparked discussion about how the committee combines numerical rules with industry risk assessments. The episode highlights the committee’s mix of official eligibility criteria and judgment about financial health and industry balance.
How the S&P 500 committee decides
The S&P 500 committee applies official rules on company market value and available shares but also exercises judgment on financial stability and industry composition, meaning numerical eligibility is necessary but not always sufficient for inclusion, and the committee weighs broader considerations about a company’s connection to volatile assets.
Why Robinhood was included
Robinhood was chosen because it follows the market rules, has sufficient available shares and a diversified fintech business model with a history of steadier earnings, and its financials showed less direct linkage to the up-and-down movements of cryptoassets, which made it a better fit for the index’s stability criteria.
Why MicroStrategy was excluded
MicroStrategy was not selected because the committee viewed its earnings as highly tied to the price of Bitcoin despite meeting numerical thresholds, and the committee prioritized companies with less exposure to a single volatile asset over those with concentrated crypto-related balance sheets.
Market reactions and practical outcomes
Inclusion typically triggers automatic purchases by index-tracking passive funds, which can push the stock price up, while exclusion or omission can reduce demand during rebalances, so the decision led to immediate flows into Robinhood and potential lower demand pressures on MicroStrategy, illustrating a preference in benchmarks for steadier financial profiles over concentrated crypto bets.
The selection sends a clear signal that major indices favor companies with diversified revenue and lower direct exposure to unstable assets, and for crypto-linked firms the practical lesson is to build financial resilience and business models that reduce dependence on a single asset’s price.
