Tech firm aiming its sights at brokers: Robinhood - free brokerage

aleks

aleks

Well-Known Member
Silver Stacker
https://www.robinhood.com

They have a platform that offers free trades and realtime data currently in its beta phase, and no minimum trade size?

This has the potential to tear down alot of barriers to entry in financial markets

Our mission is to democratize access to the financial markets.

How does Robinhood make money?

Robinhood Support April 02, 2015 17:20
Robinhood makes money in many of the same ways as traditional online brokerages. These include:

- Collecting interest from customers who choose to upgrade to a margin account. We are testing margin in beta and will offer margin accounts later this year.

- Accruing interest from customers' uninvested cash balances. It is important to note that our customers are not charged.

Robinhood has raised $16 million from Index Ventures, Ribbit Capital, Google Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, Social Leverage, Box CEO Aaron Levie, Path CEO Dave Morin, Jared Leto, Snoop Dogg, and Nas, which gives us the freedom to focus on building an outstanding experience rather than short-term profits.
Click to expand...
 
It could certainly change the dynamics of share trading.

I always maintained that silver, at currently say $24 an ounce ,is a bite size way to accumulate; however, to be able to buy a single BHP share et al, is an attractive proposition.
 
sammysilver said:
It could certainly change the dynamics of share trading.

I always maintained that silver, at currently say $24 an ounce ,is a bite size way to accumulate; however, to be able to buy a single BHP share et al, is an attractive proposition.
Click to expand...


SLV ETF one ounce at a time, GLD is a tenth of an ounce
 
I just opened an account with Robinhood but have yet to make any trades. I've been using Loyal3 for a few months but it has a very limited selection of stocks. It is more like a DRP platform than discount brokerage. Loyal3 has several stocks that I was interested in buying anyway though so it has worked for me for now. There are a few sectors that aren't represented on Loyal3 that I want exposure to so Robinhood seems like a good place to try. When I make my first trades I'll report back.
 
That's actually a really neat idea. Makes stock purchases for someone with say $100 a month to invest realistic without copping a 10% instant hit from brokerage fees.

Stock portfolios don't seem prone to "hacking theft" type incidents that plague nascent Bitcoin exchanges still figuring out security.
 
The thing I do like about Loyal3 is that it allows you purchase fractional shares (again why I feel like it more of a DRP platform service vs a brokerage). It allows the investor to dollar cost average and opens up doors for smaller players to get in the game. It allows a small guy to create a somewhat diversified portfolio pretty quickly with a small budget.

I'm excited to try out Robinhood but I need to download the app on my wife's phone, since mine is a little out of date for the software. OnceI get the app I'll start making some trades and see what happens. I'm glad these platforms are out there now. I started to realize most of my assets were in metals, job pension, 401k and bonds. I needed a little more direct stock exposure but wasn't able to drop the cash most places required to open an account.
 
Being able to buy the SP500 and the ASX200 ETFs one share at would be great for people who only have the capacity to invest a three figure sum of money at a time, the only other way I can see someone doing this is through the vanguard funds that let you deposit a minimum $100 at a time but you still need a minimum $5K initial investment
 
Ok, so Robinhood works. Took three days for my initial funds to clear, but today my at-market order for 1 Disney stock was filled.

Only works on iOS at the moment, so I need to run the iPhone app on the iPad, they're saying an Android app is coming. The UI is pretty simple to figure out, but the watchlist/portfolio screens could use some work - it's a little "too" simple. Looks like there's permanent items on the watch list like Google and Apple that you can't remove, only add your stocks to watch at the end of.

Given it's only a 4 digit pin between a lost phone and your stock portfolio, I wouldn't recommend it for large portfolios, but for dollar-cost-averaging in with small budgets, it looks like a winner.

Note I'm writing this from a US perspective.
 
I just got an email stating my funds cleared today as well. My phone has an older version of iOS so I have to wait til I get off work to use my wife's phone. I'm excited to see how it works. I have a few stocks I've been researching so when i pull the trigger on Robinhood I'll report back.
 
Well it works. I made a purchase of some Old Republic Int. (ORI) stock with Robinhood. It was quick, easy and painless. I agree with GP that it might be a little too simplistic. I'm not sure I would use it as a research tool, but for what it is I'm happy. Going forward I will be using Loyal3 and Robinhood. I like Loyal3 because it has several stocks I like and it lets me dollar cost average like a DRP. For those other stocks I want Robinhood will be my go to platform. Let's hope they both stay free.
 
goldpelican said:
Given it's only a 4 digit pin between a lost phone and your stock portfolio, I wouldn't recommend it for large portfolios, but for dollar-cost-averaging in with small budgets, it looks like a winner.
Click to expand...

I don't see how full disk encryption wouldn't stop the average person who has picked up your phone if you loose it
 
aleks said:
goldpelican said:
Given it's only a 4 digit pin between a lost phone and your stock portfolio, I wouldn't recommend it for large portfolios, but for dollar-cost-averaging in with small budgets, it looks like a winner.
Click to expand...

I don't see how full disk encryption wouldn't stop the average person who has picked up your phone if you loose it
Click to expand...
Does it even have facilities for managing a large portfolio?
 
Website says they are a member of FINRA with $500K insurance on securities, I can't see any deposit limits on their website but if you did have the capacity to invest millions you would probably be using something else
 
Nice! I was about to send them an email and ask them this, now they just need to hurry up and roll out their android app.
 
This will be a great way to accumulate shares in a SMSF. Accumulating VAS and SPY every time your super gets a deposit without getting destroyed by fees.
 
I've made a few more purchases on Robinhood and so far I've been very happy with it. I hope they get it down to you guys because it makes stocks super accessible. There have been a few times already when I've skipped eating out and used that extra cash to purchase a stock or two. Something I couldn't justify previously. I know other brokers have tried to offer 0 fee trades and failed. Hopefully these guys get it right and we keep this service around for a while.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top