Who Robinhood Is Good For
Originally, Robinhood was invented to help Millennials get started investing without giving up a majority of their earnings to commissions. But Robinhood could also be good for:
- Beginners without a lot of capital to invest.
- Active stocks, ETFs, and options traders.
- Those who want to try trading cyptocurrency.
If you don’t require a great deal of research and are confident to make investments on your own, Robinhood could be a great way to get started.
Is Robinhood good for beginners?
- No bank transfer fees
- No account transfer fee
- No returned check, ACH, wire & recall/stop payments fees
- SEC: $20.70 per $1,000,000 of principal .
- FINRA Trading Activity Fee: $.000119 per share .
Some account fees you may encounter are:
- $75 account transfer fee
- $20 domestic overnight mail
- $5 paper statements
How does Robinhood make money?
- From their paid Robinhood Gold account, which is their margin trading service. This starts at $5 a month.
- From interest earned on your cash balances.
- Rebates from market makers and trading venues
Robinhood only has these trading options:
- Stocks
- Options
- Cryptocurrencies
The only account you’re able to open is an individual taxable account. There are no retirement accounts or college savings options.
If you’re looking for a more robust crypto alternative, check out Coinbase. This popular exchange supports more cryptocurrencies and has an easy-to-use interface.
Will All Of Your Assets Survive The Transfer
Robinhood says on its website that all full, settled shares of stocks and ETFs should transfer to your other brokerage. When it comes to fractional shares, though, Robinhood;sells them and transfers them as cash during the brokerage change. In addition, if you’re a regular options trader, you won’t have to worry about any of your options contracts not making the cut.
But for cryptocurrencies, Robinhood says the following:
Another thing to note is that if you’re trading on margin and borrowing money to invest, you’ll need to ask your other brokerage about its policies regarding margin transfers. And if you decide that you’d like to cancel any outgoing transfers, you can do so by contacting your other brokerage.
Rickie Houston is a wealth-building reporter at Personal Finance Insider who covers investing, brokerage, and wealth-building products.
So How Do I Open A Robinhood Account And Get Up To $1000 In Free Stock
To open a Robinhood account, all you need is your name, address, and email.;If you want to fund your account immediately, you will also need your bank account routing and account number.
As its current promotion, Robinhood is giving away a FREE STOCK to anyone that opens a new account this month if you click on the promo image below.; Then, once you open and fund YOUR account with at least $10, you will receive more free stock for referring your friends and family. The more people you refer, the more you get.
Bonus Tip:; Use this link to get a share of stock stock for free when you open and fund your account with at least $10:;;, you’ll get one share of a stock that is valued between $5 and $500. FURTHERMORE, for each friend that you refer, you will receive ANOTHER free share of a stock valued at up to $500. This is perfectly legit and you WILL get more free shares for every friend or family member you refer.
Why do they give away so much free stock? Because they spend their advertising dollars this way instead of buying TV, radio, print, or online ads! They WANT you to refer friends!
All of this is great
but
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Capital One Quicksilver Cash Rewards Credit Card
The Capital One Quicksilver Cash Rewards Credit Card earns 1.5% back on all purchases. Although it earns slightly less back than the Double Cash, there is no redemption minimum or foreign transaction fee. Plus there isnt an annual fee.
New cardholders can earn a one-time $200 cash bonus after spending $500 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
Learn more: Cash Back Credit Cards
Why Is Robinhood Controversial

Robinhood has been in the news a lot lately, and the subject of many complaints and several lawsuits. In December 2020, the Securities and Exchange Commission charged Robinhood with misleading customers by executing their trades at higher prices than its competitors. Robinhood agreed to pay $65 million to settle the charges. That same month, Massachusetts filed a complaint against Robinhood, accusing it of aggressively marketing to often inexperienced investors and encouraging frequent trading by making its ;app gamelike.
In addition, Robinhoods decision to temporarily halt trading of GameStop and several other heavily shorted stocks in January 2021 has led to several class-action lawsuits. A large portion of the Reddit users who drove up the price of GameStop are Millennials and Robinhood is their trading platform of choice.
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Buying And Holding Index Funds On Robinhood
If you have the ability to hold the money in index funds for long periods of time, you should consider leaving your money invested for the long-term.; Said differently, this means you should not invest money you will need in the near future.;
When you do withdraw your money , Robinhood allows you to do so for free.
And in case you are asking, How long does it take to withdraw money from Robinhood?, after you sell your investments, the customary time for the trades to settle is 2 business days.
This means the broker does not need to receive the funds from the person who bought your sold investments until 2 business days after the transaction.
After the transaction proceeds settle and you then withdraw your money, it can take 4 more business days for the money to be transmitted to your bank account.
From there, your bank can take 12 days to approve the transaction. All told, from the moment you sell your investments in Robinhood to the time the funds become available, it can take approximately 78 business days.
As far as the amount you can withdraw per request, the app limits you to $50,000 per day. Also, as a consequence of selling your index funds, remember to set some of this money aside to cover taxes on your realized capital gains.
However, if you purchase index funds which pay qualified dividends and you have the correct amount of income, you might avoid paying taxes on this passive income.
Access To Options Trading And The Alexander Kearns Suicide
Alexander Kearns, a 20-year-old college student from Naperville, Illinois, apparently committed suicide on June 12, 2020, after his Robinhood account showed a negative cash balance of $730,165.
Kearns had been trading options on Robinhood. His suicide note reportedly expressed disbelief that the platform had allowed him to get assigned almost a million dollars worth of leverage.
News reports after Kearns death indicated he had not actually built up nearly $750,000 in debt. But it drew attention to how easy the Robinhood platform made it for new investors to make risky, complicated trades.
Robinhood users can access options trades by doing just three things:
- Signing up for a gold membership
- Depositing at least $2,000 in their brokerage account
- Answering a few questions on the Robinhood app about their trading experience
The last two requirements are enough to meet federal regulations. But other brokerage firms provide more substantial caution flags, including the offer of a phone consultation to explain the risks of options trading, a service Robinhood does not provide.
The New York Times was one of several publications to hammer Robinhood as a result, writing an editorial titled A Suicide, an App and a Time for a Reckoning.
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How Does Buying Stocks With A Credit Card Affect Your Credit
Using a credit card could potentially affect your credit scores in several ways, regardless of what you purchase or why you initiate a balance transfer or cash advance.
If you apply for a new credit card, the resulting hard inquiry may hurt your credit scores a little. The new account will also lower the average age of all your credit accounts, which could cause your scores to dip.
Whether you use a new or existing card, your credit card’s balance can have a major impact on your scores. Your is a comparison of your cards’ credit limits and balances as they appear in your credit reports. A higher utilization is worse for your scores.
Therefore, if you have a high credit card balance due to a big stock purchase, your credit scores could drop as a result. However, your score could also quickly recover if and when you pay down the balance.
Is Robinhood Margin Worth It
Robinhood Financial is an online broker platform designed to open doors to the financial markets by offering commission-free trades on an easy-to-use mobile app. It does not require any account minimums. They dont charge any fees when you open an account, transfer funds to it, or for maintaining your account.
Robinhood Gold is a premium feature that lets you buy on margin. However, this is extremely risky, particularly for new investors. You will also have to pay for a gold account. Think carefully about whether or not you need or can manage margin trading to reach your money goals.
In order to trade on margin with Robinhood, you need a minimum of $2,000 in your brokerage account. You also need a Gold subscription for $5 per month. This will cover your first $1,000 of margin. Beyond that, you will have to pay 5% interest on any additional funds borrowed. Before borrowing money, consider whether or not you really need margin.
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The Risks You Should Know About Robinhood
Investing with Robinhood is just as safe as investing with Etrade, TD Ameritrade, Schwab or any other US bank.
The question is, do you know how to invest your money?; Because if you make bad investments, you will lose your money.
So, what can you do to stay safe?
You need to arm yourself with knowledge.
Otherwise, Robinhood has the infrastructure and regulations in place to keep your money safe.
Oh, and Robinhood will keep your data safe, too.
The risks on Robinhood lie more in user error than in the app itself.; Just because they don’t charge commissions doesn’t mean you will make money.; You STILL need to pick quality stocks and build a strong portfolio.; If you need stock advice, please read our;Motley Fool Reviewsince their stocks picks have been the best over the last 4 years and new subscribers can sign up for just $99 a year.
As the customer, you must always perform your own research on the brokerage, tools, and investments.
Like any other service, Robinhood provides you the platform, but your results depend on YOU.
After that, you are good to go with Robinhood.
The company is safe, receives high safety ratings, and is safe for investing.
And when it comes to your money, just be sure that Robinhood is right for you.
Ask yourself the following questions:
- What are your objectives?
- How much money can you afford to invest?
- Do you have an emergency fund?
- Do you have debt that must be paid-off?
- Is your retirement plan on track?
If you answered YES to all of these
What Happens When I Downgrade From Cash Management Or Close My Brokerage Account
If you decide to downgrade from Cash Management or close your brokerage account entirely, youll receive the prorated interest earned that you’ve earned intra-month leading to your downgrade or brokerage account closure. Starting the day you downgrade or close your account, youll no longer earn interest on your uninvested cash.
You can downgrade from Cash Management as long as you do not have pending card transactions. Any pending card transactions will either settle or expire, depending on the type of transaction. While most pending authorizations will settle within a few days, some pre-authorization transactions may result in an extended hold. Transactions that settle will go from Pending to Complete and will appear in your transaction history. If a hold on a charge in your account expires before the charge settles, well release the money. When this happens, the charge will disappear from the Recent History section in your app.
Keep in mind, once you downgrade from Cash Management or close your brokerage account, your debit card will no longer work and any new transactions will be declined.
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Fund Your Brokerage Account With A Credit Card
With so many fees involved, its definitely worth exploring alternatives to buying stocks with a credit card. For starters you can get a cash-back credit card and then use the sign-up bonus to fund a brokerage account and buy stocks through that account. And although banks are no longer issuing big;mileage bonuses for funding a brokerage account, you can earn quite a bit of cash doing so.
The Current Market Environment Isn’t Normal

The springtime recovery in the stock market has attracted new investors to Robinhood and other platforms, as the boom in a number of growth stocks allowed investors to double or triple their money in a matter of weeks.
For example, Tesla , a popular Robinhood stock, jumped from a low of $350 on March 18 to a high of $1,795 on July 13, a gain of more than 400%. That surge has led to similar gains in other electric car stocks like Nikola,;Workhorse, and;NIO.
However, in a normal market environment it’s very rare for stocks, especially well-known large caps, to see gains of four or five times in just a few months. Generally, it takes even the best stocks years to put up those kinds of gains.
There’s still an unusual level of market volatility, or the extent to which stocks swing up and down. According to the market’s preferred volatility measurement, the CBOE S&P 500 Market Volatility;, better known as the VIX, uncertainty is still historically elevated, though it’s come down substantially from the height of the crisis.
For individual stocks, volatility levels are even higher, as the pandemic has created a unique situation that favors certain “stay-at-home” stocks like Netflix and;Amazon , while pressuring others like;Disney;and;Starbucks . These segments seem to move in opposite directions these days, though which way depends on the news of the day and what it portends for the pandemic.;
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Coinbase Vs Robinhood: Security
Youll find similar security features on Coinbase and Robinhood, such as two-factor authentication and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation insurance on USD balances. For FDIC insurance through Robinhood, users must opt into Cash Management. However, Coinbase has a slight edge. Coinbase keeps 98% of currencies in air-gapped cold storage and holds an insurance policy to cover potential breaches of coins in hot storage.;
Robinhood also stores coins in cold storage but doesnt provide specifics. The Securities Investor Protection Corporation covers your ETF, stock, and cash funds if Robinhood goes under.;
For Coinbase digital wallet users, an encrypted 12-word recovery phase protects your currencies. Robinhood offers device management, so you can disconnect them from your account if you see any unknown devices.;
Coinbase Vs Robinhood: Features
Robinhood and Coinbase offer user-friendly applications with just the right amount of features for new investors. Coinbase is a cryptocurrency exchange available to users in over 100 countries, including 49 states except for Hawaii. In comparison, Robinhood is an online brokerage company for U.S. users in 47 states. But, the differences dont end there.;
With Coinbase, investors can:
- Buy crypto using a credit or debit card
- Learn about cryptocurrency through educational videos and tutorials
- Track trends by watching Coinbases online newsfeed
- Set price alerts for crypto to receive a notification in your app or smartphone
- Make crypto to crypto trades on the Coinbase platform
- Withdraw currency to your hot wallet or PayPal account
- Earn cryptocurrency from watching short videos
- Use the standalone Coinbase wallet with or without trading on the exchange
Unlike Coinbase, Robinhood doesnt offer a digital wallet. You also cant buy currency using a debit or credit card. However, the largest difference between the platforms is that users cant move their coins from their accounts until its sold for cash. But you can use your coins to purchase exchange-traded funds on Robinhood, and the platform accepts limit orders. Coinbase investors must use the Coinbase Pro account to place limit orders.;
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Who Should Use Coinbase Or Robinhood
First-time investors and people who want to invest small amounts find Coinbase and Robinhood extremely user-friendly. Both platforms are excellent for beginners. However, Coinbase fees can take a chunk out of your investment, whereas Robinhood doesnt charge a commission, so users may pay less per trade.;
People who dont want to withdraw crypto and prefer a single platform to trade crypto, ETF, stock, and options use Robinhood because you can only trade crypto on Coinbase. But if you want to remove your coins or have more cryptocurrency choices, Coinbases 51 coins and digital wallet offer a better solution.;
Should You Use A Credit Card To Invest
Its tempting to use a credit card to purchase investments. You can extract money from your card, then take advantage of the interest rate to pay off that accruing interest over time. Meanwhile, you can invest that money and hopefully start collecting a return on your investment before the interest ramps up.
That sounds great in theory, but in practice, it rarely pans out. Credit card cash advance APRs are generally about 25.35% on average and often possess no grace period. Plus, youll typically need to pay a cash advance fee to withdraw that cash. In total, theres a steep price to pay to borrow money from your credit line.
Theres more bad news: The average annual return for the S&P 500 is 10%. If you adjust for inflation, that figure drops to 7%. When youre paying 25.35% APR to borrow money via credit card but only making a 7% return on your investments, you lose on the math.
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