Why Cryptocurrency community is excited about Robinhood?

The US-based no-commission stock trading app, Robinhood made the headlines by announcing yesterday that it will let you buy and sell cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum. Starting in February, you would be able to trade in cryptocurrencies on this platform without any added transaction fees. Whereas other crypto exchanges such as Coinbase charges about 1.5 to 4 percent fees in the US. This aspect attracted millions of people that are ready to sign up on this platform. Moreover, users will also be able to track the news, prices along with setting up alerts on a total of 16 top crypto coins.


What is Robinhood?

Robinhood was founded in 2013 with its app coming online later on. Launched in 2015, the app was founded by Baiju Bhatt and Vladimir Tenev. Both the founders had previously built the high-frequency trading platforms in New York City for financial institutions. Later on, Bhatt and Tenev realized that these electronic trading firms and high-frequency traders don’t pay much to execute trades. This was the inspiration to bring the existing technology to the market of retail brokerage.

Robinhood, a US-based financial services company is a commission-free stock brokerage that had about 1 million customers in March 2016. It had a valuation of approximately $1.3 billion after the April 2017 fundraising. Headquartered in Palo Alto, California, this popular investment app basically lets you invest in traditional securities such as ETFs, bonds, and stocks.

Robinhood Crypto Trading without transaction fees

Robinhood operates on a mobile app that allows its users to buy and sell the stocks on US exchanges without any commission. This app is available for Android, iPhone and Apple Watch and has about 2 million users. The firm is FINRA approved broker-dealer that is registered with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. It is also a member of the Securities Investor Protection Corporation. Last August, Robinhood even offered free stocks in exchange for new user references.

The biggest advantage of Robinhood is the commission-free stock trading. Hence, the name Robinhood. To keep their costs down, the company does not provide any kind of options, analytical tools, and research reports on its platform.


The plan of the company is to operate on a break-even basis and is not planning to change their commission-free structure in the near future. The focus as of now is to grow their customer base and continue serving the existing customers much more efficiently.

How Robinhood makes money through its app?

The company is certainly not running a charity. Robinhood is worth around $1.3 billion and was built to pool the investor’s money into one single pool. The company basically earns interest from this enormous pool of capital.

Moreover, the company lends money to the people. Robinhood Gold premium tier is a premium subscription plan that is priced at $6 to $200 on a monthly basis. This subscription lets the user borrow from $1,000 to $50,000.

Recently, Robinhood added cryptocurrency trading to its mobile trading platform that has become a huge success.

Why Robinhood’s sudden interest in cryptocurrencies?

Just a day back, Robinhood announced a new platform where you can invest in cryptocurrencies. For an early access, crypto.robinhood.com is available to its users. By January 25, about 170,000 people have already signed up for this early access. This crypto trading will be added to the Robinhood’s platform in February 2018.

When it comes to ordering the cryptocurrency on Robinhood, it is pretty straightforward. With the launch of crypto features, you will be able to transfer up to $1,000 instantly from your connected bank account. Unlike other crypto trading platforms that create delays and lost opportunities, Robinhood gives you instant access to money.

Moreover, the company helps in reducing the market volatility as well. By putting a “collar” around your trade, it allows you to wait for the price to reach this collar when doing the trade. Robinhood also supports limit orders that mean you get to set a price where you can automatically buy or sell.

The coins that will be available for tracing through Robinhood are inclusive of Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple, Bitcoin Cash, Litecoin, NEO, Ethereum Classic, OmiseGo, Zcash, Monero, Dash, Stellar, Qtum, Dogecoin, Bitcoin Gold, and Lisk.

However, When the crypto trading features rolls out in February, only BTC and ETH will be available for you to trade in. Also, this feature will be available only in Montana, New Hampshire, California, Massachusetts, and Missouri. More states and cryptocurrencies will be added in the future.

Let us know your thoughts about Robinhood in our comment section below!

The presented content may include the personal opinion of the author and is subject to market condition. Do your market research before investing in cryptocurrencies. The author or the publication does not hold any responsibility for your personal financial loss.

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