A 20-year-old college student killed himself after seeing a negative $730,000 balance in his Robinhood account

Alexander Kearns, 20, apparently saw a massive negative cash balance while trading options contracts.
His family wants answers from Robinhood about how this happened and how it can prevent future incidents.
Robinhood says it has reached out to the family and is "committed to continuously improving" its platform.
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A 20-year-old University of Nebraska student took his own life after his Robinhood account showed a massive negative balance, according to his family, who want answers from the popular free stock-trading app.

Alexander Kearns died by suicide on June 12, according to his obituary . Bill Brewster, a relative and family spokesperson, confirmed Kearns' death to Business Insider.

Forbes first reported on the incident, citing screenshots of a negative $730,000 cash balance in Kearns' account. In an interview, Brewster confirmed the balance, which does not reflect a user's portfolio value or debt owed. The balance was likely due to complex options trades, which can settle over concurrent trading days, leaving a temporary balance during the interim.

According to Brewster, himself a financial analyst, Kearns had left a note asking why someone so young was able to receive so much margin, or a loan against which investors can purchase stocks and options.

A Robinhood spokesperson told Business Insider that it will not be sharing any details about the account in question, citing privacy concerns.

"All of us at Robinhood are deeply saddened to hear this terrible news and we reached out to share our condolences with the family over the weekend," the company said.

Brewster commended the company for reaching out and offering a "senior level" employee for conversation. However, he also wants to know how the balance was displayed in the first place, and how Robinhood plans to mitigate any future incidents.

"This story has to be told and they need to answer the questions," he told Business Insider. "They're asking millennials to trust them with their savings and they're turning it into, in my opinion, into a game. They'renot thinking about basic design flaws anyone who cares about financial responsibility to anyone wouldn't put a negative cash balance in front of somebody without some sort of warning or reasonable customer support."

Robinhood, one of the first companies to make commission-free stock trading commonplace, is worth more than $8 billion following its latest round of funding. Qualified users can apply in the app to trade options contracts, inherently risky investments that give buyers the right, but not the obligation, to buy or sell a stock at a certain price within a period of time.

"We are committed to continuously improving our platform and are reviewing our options offering to determine if any changes may be appropriate," Robinhood said.

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