What is Robinhood?
Robinhood is an app that enables people to trade stocks, ETFs, options, and cryptocurrencies without paying any commission. The app is available for mobile phones as well as desktops. This is not the only app that allows you to trade with zero commissions, but it is true that apps like this one are rare. At the time of writing this review, the app has more than 5 million installs on Google Play. This shows how this app has grown in popularity and gained the interest of a wide user base.
The company behind this app is called Robinhood Markets Inc. This company has been around since the year 2013. Vladimir Tenev and Baiju Bhatt are the founders of this company.
Pros
- No Trading Fees: You can choose from a wide variety of investment options without worrying about paying any trading fees.
- Plenty of Investment Options: The app has a lot of investment options, but they can still add more options like mutual funds and bonds.
- Easy to Use: It doesn’t take a genius to figure out how to use the app. They have a really simple design that shouldn’t confuse the beginner investors.
- Margin Trading: You can trade on margin, but I don’t recommend this to beginners.
- Security: Your money is secure because this app is SIPC insured.
Cons
- Lack of Research: It can’t be denied that this app falls short when it comes to research.
- Poor Customer Service: Their customer service is not great, to be honest.
What does the Robinhood app offer?
Live Portfolio Performance: At the home page, you get to see the live portfolio performance. You can see the value of your portfolio change when the market is open. You can also review your past performance related to the past day, past week, past month, and so on.
Monitor Performance: On the home page, you can scroll down and take a look at the performance of various stocks. You can also watch the performance of stocks by adding them to your watchlist.
You can use line charts or candle charts to look at the performance of a stock. I know that these are too simple for some people, but a beginner will surely appreciate the simple depiction of the performance of a stock.
Research Stocks: You can search for stocks that you are interested in directly through the app. You can add the stocks that you find interesting to your watchlist and buy them at a later date.
You can find more information about a stock by scrolling down. You will see data related to how much of a particular stock you own and your earnings from that stock. Statistics and news about a stock can also be found on the app. Now, this information is not anything extraordinary, and there are apps like Webull that provide a lot more research.
Advanced Order Types:This app supports various advanced order types, which are market orders, stop loss orders, limit orders, and stop limit orders. These order types can be used to automate your trades as they allow you to buy and sell stocks at the prices that you choose.
Trade Cryptocurrencies:It is always nice to get a chance to trade cryptocurrencies without paying any trading fee, and this app gives you the chance to do just that. You can trade popular cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, and more. Unlike stocks, you can trade cryptocurrencies 24/7 as the cryptocurrency market never closes.
Trade Options: You can trade options without any base fees, exercise fees, assignment fees, or per-contract fees. The app facilitates advanced trading strategies such as straddles and iron condors. With the absence of any fees, you can surely increase your margins by trading options on this app.
Robinhood Gold: Robinhood Gold provides additional benefits such as the ability to trade on margin or borrowed money. You can trade for extended hours. You can trade 30 minutes before the market opens and 2 hours after the market closes. Gold allows you to get access to professional research from Morningstar, which is an independent investment research company.
How much does Robinhood cost?
There are no trading fees, but that doesn’t mean that there can’t be other fees. You need a minimum portfolio balance of $2,000 to open a margin account.
You need to pay monthly for the Robinhood Gold account. It starts at $5 per month if your margin is $1,000 or less.
The price that you have to pay for the Gold account above a margin of $1,000 depends on your margin as well as your account size. You can take a look at their commissions and fees schedule for more information.
What do the users think about the Robinhood app?
The app has managed to score a 4.4 star rating on Google Play at the time of writing this review. So, it can be said that most people like the app. Still, I can’t ignore the fact that some people are very disappointed by their customer service.
There are some errors in the app that can cause people to lose money from time to time. However, the errors are a rare occurrence, and you can contact their support for help.
Who should try the Robinhood app?
Traders who want to save money by not paying trading commissions will appreciate this app, and that is why I recommend this app to newbies and experienced traders as well. You have a lot of trading options here, and some similar apps don’t have that many trading options. So, if you want to have a lot of trading options, then this app is ideal for you.
Final Thoughts
Robinhood is a great app, and I like the fact that they don’t limit themselves to stocks and ETFs. You will surely enjoy this app, but you might need to do some additional research on your own. Apps like this one are not really for long-term investing. People who want to do short-term trading will definitely be impressed.