Robinhood App Review

In the world of commission-free trading apps, Robinhood packs quite a punch. It permits trades at $0 and is one of the easiest to use mobile trading apps available for both iOS and Android platforms.

The app is registered with SIPC and FINRA, and is regulated by the SEC. This gives the app a green flag when it comes to being safe, which is of huge importance because you’d be playing with real money.

The app launched back in 2014 as an invite-only beta version and had a long list of users waiting for it to become public (the waitlist accounted for some 700,000 users as per The Fortune). In fact, it is the first ever finance app that bagged the Apple design award for its innovative, friendly and easy to use design.

A year later in March 2015, it became open for the public and just 8 months later, it managed to pass transactions worth $1 billion. The app has gained so much popularity that the number of users have doubled since the past year, reaching to 5 million.

Today we gonna look at this app in detail to know what the noise is all about:

Robin Hood Introduces Cryptocurrencies

Commission-Free Cryptocurrency Trades: The app introduced cryptocurrency trades in Feb 2018 by the name of Robinhood Crypto and is now offering 4 kinds of cryptocurrency trading including bitcoin cash, litecoin, ethereum and bitcoin. The company charges no fees or commission, however you might have to pay some government fees levied on every order.

How Does it Work?

It works almost in the same way as stocks and other options do. When you place a market order, the app displays the best available prices on currencies based on exchanges it is connected to.

There is no commission for buyers and seller. Plus, you also get great protection in the form of order limits (1% for buys and 5% for sells.) However, it should be noted that it is only available in a few U.S states including Michigan, Mississippi, Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Indiana, Massachusetts, Missouri, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, Texas, Utah, Virginia, and Wisconsin.

Besides this , the app offers some other amazing features and benefits as well:

Features Of The App

Watchlist And Smart Notifications:

The app lets you create a watchlist for both stock options and cryptocurrencies to track them. Moreover, you can enable the Smart Notifications feature to get instant updates on your account.

Linking Bank Accounts And Transferring Funds:

You can easily link the app with your bank account. The process to transfer funds into your account is also safe and easy. Plus, you get emails regarding all transactions to keep you in the loop. However, you can opt out of these emails.

Withdrawal is also pretty easy, but you can only withdraw from the same method that you used to invest. Moreover, funds remain in your account for five days before they can be withdrawn. This is done to prevent money laundering. However, deposited funds are available for trading right away for as long as you have an active account.

Personalized Account:

This app really strives to show you options that you want to see. You can pick you what you are interested in doing on the app so that you only get relevant updates.

This is a great option as it keeps you updated about latest prices and market changes.

Buy Cryptocurrency: Once you sign up for the Robinhood Crypto, you get access to buying and selling four cryptocurrencies. When you click on any of the cryptocurrency, it shows you the volatility of the currency with respect to time. It shows a 24 hour, 1 week, 1 month and 1 year’s data.

Underneath the volatility, it displays buying power as well.

Buying a cryptocurrency is very easy. Click on the buy button under the currency you wish to purchase and move ahead with the process.

It shows you the estimated price based on how much you are trying to buy. Moreover, you can also see how much of a specific currency you can buy within your budget. Other that that, you get to choose from two types of market orders including Market Order and Limit Order.

Before clicking on the buy button, you can also review your purchase and see an order summary regarding the price and amount you’re about to buy.

When you click on buy, it sends the order and a window is displayed showcasing information that includes amount of cryptocurrency purchased, price, new position and price per unit. After that, you can go to your portfolio and see the newly bought currency under the cryptocurrencies tab.

Once you buy a currency, the selling option also enables and the process is almost the same as buying.

Easy Option To Search For A Stock:

Whether you want to search for a stock or a cryptocurrency, the process is very simple. All you need to do is click on the magnifying glass icon on the left top corner and start typing the name of the stock you want to check.

Click on the stock you want to know more about and it will display information including price etc.

If you want to buy a stock or a currency, search for it and select it. Once you’ve done that, it takes you to the selected stock’s page from where you can buy it.

When you click on the buy button, it takes you to the order page where you are asked to type in the number of shares you want to buy and choose the type of order.

There are four kinds of order types you can choose from including Market, Limit, Stop Loss and Stop Limit.

Market Order: This order is for immediate buying at the prevalent prices.

Limit Order: You are asked to specify the price per share. When the stock hits the price that you have specified, it is converted into a market order so that you can buy it.

Stop Loss: This is to prevent a major loss. The shares you have purchased will automatically get sold on the market if the price falls below your set price.

Stop Limit: This type of order converts your order into a limit order. From there, it goes through the process of being converted into a market order so basically, it’s a two-step order.

When done, click on the review button to see what you have chosen as it displays an order summary. When satisfied, swipe up on the screen where it says “Submit”. This is how easy the process of buying is with this app.

Premium Accounts Available

While the basic version of the app is available for free, users have the option to opt for a paid package that comes with additional benefits. The cost of gold package depends on how much money you have in your account and what level of leverage you require.

Click here to check their complete payment schedule.

After Hour Trading and Margin Trading

It is one of the few platforms that offers after-hour trading to its customers, however this option, just like margin trading option, is available only to premium customers.

This is a great option that can help investors make a good amount of money since most big news break after hours.

Popular Stocks Feature:

This feature lets you know about top trending stocks, including stock that are being traded heavily. This can help you make buying and selling decisions.

Pros and Cons Of Robinhood

The app comes several benefits, the most common being the ability to start with $0 stock trades. Moreover, it is also very easy to use and works on all popular platforms, including web. Other than this, it is very safe to use and offers a variety of orders and a large collection of stocks and cryptos.

However, on the downside, the app for now is only available in the US. Moreover, there are no tools to perform fundamental research and you might have to gather information from third-party sources when buying or selling a property on the app. It’s also important to note that you can’t withdraw any of the cryptocurrencies offered on the app. Robinhood Crypto allows you to have exposure to the asset class but doesn’t give you control of your crypto.

Conclusion

Robinhood, founded in 2013 by Baiju Bhatt, and Vladimir Tene, is a US based financial servicing company that has grown by leaps and bounds in the last few years.

What started as a small company haas now amazing presence in the US. One of the major reasons why it has grown so much is due to its ability to provide users with what they want.

The number of stocks and cryptos offered on the platform have gradually increased. Plus, it is now more than just a mobile app thanks to a web version that works quite well as well.

The app faces competition from several other platforms, most importantly Coinbase. While Coinbase is currently the top app in this niche, Robinhood appears to be planning to give it competition based on how it is expanding. Plus, Robinhood is a commission free trading app while Coinbase charges 1.50% per $100, which serves as Robinhood’s USP.

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