Robinhood has become a dominant force in the investing industry - offering commission free trades to its users, the ability to trade options and even crypto currency, and more. It's also gained a lot of negative press as well, for people "betting it all" on hot stocks and options. The app bills itself as the future of money (both investing and banking) - with $0 trades, a fancy smartphone app, and a bunch of fancy investment-backers that would make it the envy of any Wall Street firm. But as a customer and investor, is it's commission-free trading platform worth it? Should you give it a try as an investor? Here are my honest thoughts on Robinhood. If you want to skip the Robinhood review, the bottom line is that there are better free alternatives for long term investors. We recommend Fidelity and TD Ameritrade because they both offer $0 commission-free trades, $0 minimum IRAs and are full service. They are a better solution because they offer many more tools and resources for the long term. And they both have great apps. Bonus: When you sign up with Robinhood, you can get a free share of stock! Open an account here >>

Quick Summary Free investing app that allows stocks, options, and crypto trading

Premium features include margin and after-hours trading

Lacks a lot of support, and doesn't have a full set of features and accounts OPEN AN ACCOUNT

Robinhood Details Product Name Robinhood Investing App 💵 Min Investment $0 💰 Stock Trades Free 💰 Option Trades Free 💵 Account Types Taxable 💰 Promotions Free Stock

What Is Robinhood? Robinhood is an app-based investing platform (it also has banking options) that is commission-free. It is a tech-based start-up that has been focused on changing the investment game. And, honestly, it's been working. Robinhood made a name for itself by offering $0 commissions on stock, ETF, and options trading. When it first was launched, this was unheard of. However, today, almost every major stock broker offer $0 commissions and no fees. So, how do they compare today? Honestly, there are becoming more of a novelty for young traders than a true investment platform for the long term - and most users will likely be better served elsewhere. But if you're interested in Robinhood, here's what you need to know. Robinhood offers the following main options: Commission-free investing for stocks, ETFs, and options

Commission-free limited cryptocurrency trading

Fractional Share Investing

They offer a premium subscription called Robinhood Gold that offers low-priced margin trading

Robinhood Cash Management - which is a cash management account with a debit card Let's dive in more in this Robinhood review. Setting Up The Robinhood App Robinhood does everything through it's smartphone app. Even if you sign up on their website at Robinhood.com, you still have to download their app. Once I signed up on the website, I received an email with a link to download the Robinhood app. I followed the link and got started.

Once I downloaded the Robinhood App for my iPhone, I opened it up. After you login with your information, it asks you to create a Watchlist. I didn't really understand what was even happening at this point - I seriously just entered my login information and it started populating a Watchlist. I wish it didn't do that (and you don't have a choice to skip it that I saw).

The next screen asks if you want Smart Notifications for the app. I opted out of this because I hate notifications on my iPhone. I'm sure others will find this feature useful though:

The next screen asks you to fund your account. Out of every app I have ever used, this has been the most intuitive part of the process. I find linking bank accounts can be a challenge, even on a desktop computer, but Robinhood made this easy. Once your account is funded, you'll receive a confirmation email and an alert on the iPhone app. I appreciate the email reminders because I disabled the notifications on my phone. Here's what your account screen looks like:

However, before I could do anything else, Robinhood once again asked me to setup a bunch of investment objectives. I didn't really understand the purpose of these, as they don't seem to have any software or help to customize a portfolio or trade. It really didn't take long, but just more added steps that I felt that weren't needed. It was all pretty standard stuff, but seemed like a robo-advisor:

How To Use The Robinhood App Now that you have your account funded, you can start using the Robinhood App to look up and trade stocks. They have some very elegant ways to look up stock information. Here's what I started with, looking up Abbott Labs (ABT). Once you look up the stock symbol, it gives you a quote, basic chart, and other basic information about the stock. This is all trading information - they don't have any fundamental information about the company:

Before you can make a trade, Robinhood does have this cool feature that lets you look at "Popular Stocks" based on what others are doing on their app. While I don't like to base my investment decision on what others are doing, a little voyeurism is always fun:

When I went to make my first trade, I thought I'd keep it simple and just invest in SPY. So, I typed in the symbol for SPY and got a quote. I then clicked the big Buy button on the screen and it brought me to the order screen. It's very intuitive and easy to use to place an order. You simply type in the shares you want to buy and the price. If you don't want a market order, you can tap the "Market" and switch it to a limit order. After that, you review your order. Then, you just swipe up to submit. Personally, I hate having to swipe to access features on a phone. Just let me push a button.

Robinhood Gold Robinhood Gold is their premium product. You can get access to gold starting at $5 per month. Robinhood Gold gives you: Margin Trading : They call this feature "Gold Buying Power", but honestly it's just 2x margin on your account. However, unlike other margin accounts, you don't pay interest. Your margin power is based on the flat monthly fee you'll pay

: They call this feature "Gold Buying Power", but honestly it's just 2x margin on your account. However, unlike other margin accounts, you don't pay interest. Your margin power is based on the flat monthly fee you'll pay Pre & After Hours Trading: You can get access to pre market and after hours trading

You can get access to pre market and after hours trading Bigger Instant Deposits: You can get instant access to your money, including when you sell a security, you don't have to wait the few days for the settlement(they call this "Instant Reinvestment")

You can get instant access to your money, including when you sell a security, you don't have to wait the few days for the settlement(they call this "Instant Reinvestment") Level II Market Data and Pro Research: You can get access to more information and research than on the standard level. Here's where it gets tricky. The pricing for all of this is pretty high in my opinion. Of course, this is always subject to change (and please let us know in the comments if it does change):

Robinhood Cash After stumbling to launch their cash account, Robinhood now offers a cash management account with a solid APY that's competitive to the top high yield savings accounts out there. The account currently pays you 0.30% APY. Like all variable rates, this could go up or down over time. The account has no minimum requirements, no monthly fee, no overdraft fee, and comes with a Mastercard debit card to easily access your money at their huge network of fee-free ATMs. The only drawbacks with this account are that they don't reimburse other ATM fees, and you do have to use their app. However, if you're good with those conditions, enjoy a great cash management product. How They Make Money I'm always leery when I see a company offering something for nothing. This company isn't a non-profit. It's venture backed and will be looking to go public and make people rich. But, in order to do so, they need to make money, so how do they do it? They break it down here. They have two models. First, they sell your information to third party companies. This is a big revenue generator for them, but it does have the potential to cost individual investors money on trades. You can read more about it in this article. Second, they have their Robinhood Gold account, which you do pay a subscription for to have access to things like margin trading. For the long term investor, these don't really matter. Paying $0.01 more (potentially) per share shouldn't impact a long-term buy and hold investor. However, if you're a trader (which Robinhood's platform isn't geared towards), this could be costly.

Other Companies Similar To Robinhood Remember, when Robinhood launched, they changed the game of investing by offer $0 commissions on trades. That was revolutionary at the time. However, today, they aren't doing anything better than anyone else - and in may ways, they are starting to lag behind the competition. Every major investment firm offer $0 commissions, and many offer a lot more features and account types. Check out our list of the best free investing apps here. Here's a breakdown of some of the competitors to Robinhood: Robinhood vs. Fidelity Fidelity is the one of the largest traditional investment firms in the United States. They offer the ability to invest in almost everything (except cryptocurrency). They also allow investors to have every type of account imaginable. Read our full Fidelity review here for more.

Header Robinhood Fidelity Trading Commission $0 $0 Minimum Investment $0 $100 Monthly Fee $0 $0 Account Types Taxable Taxable, IRA, 401k, Trust, and More Tradeable Assets Stocks, ETFs, Options, Crypto Everything but Crypto

Robinhood vs. Vanguard Vanguard is the leader in mutual funds and low-cost investing. They changed the game in lowing mutual fund expense ratios and management fees - saving investors billions. As a result, they have a cult-like following of low cost index fund investors. Read our full Vanguard review here for more.

Header Robinhood Vanguard Trading Commission $0 $0 Minimum Investment $0 $0 Monthly Fee $0 $0 Account Types Taxable Taxable, IRA, 401k, Trust, and More Tradeable Assets Stocks, ETFs, Options, Crypto Everything but Crypto

Robinhood vs. M1 Finance M1 Finance is another tech-based investment firm that is another revolutionary force for long-term investors. M1 Finance is commission-free investing - but has a unique feature that allows investors to build their portfolio allocation, automatically rebalance it, and contribute new money directly into the right places. Read our full M1 Finance review for more.

Header Robinhood M1 Finance Trading Commission $0 $0 Minimum Investment $0 $0 Monthly Fee $0 $0 Account Types Taxable Taxable, IRA Tradeable Assets Stocks, ETFs, Options, Crypto Stocks, ETFs, Options,

Robinhood vs. Webull Webull is a direct competitor to Robinhood in the app-based investing game. Webull is almost like the more "adult" version of Robinhood, offering a lot more of the robust features in terms of trading and analytics that are missing from Robinhood. Read our full Webull review here.

Header Robinhood Webull Trading Commission $0 $0 Minimum Investment $0 $0 Monthly Fee $0 $0 Account Types Taxable Taxable Tradeable Assets Stocks, ETFs, Options, Crypto Stocks, ETFs, Options

Robinhood vs. Public Public is another direct competitor Robinhood with their own investment app. We view Public as the happier, friendlier app-based investing tool. Public seeks to combine the best aspects of free trading, fractional share investing, and more - with a unique community feel. Read our full Public review here.

Header Robinhood Public Trading Commission $0 $0 Minimum Investment $0 $0 Monthly Fee $0 $0 Account Types Taxable Taxable Tradeable Assets Stocks, ETFs, Options, Crypto Stocks, ETFs

Would I Move My Portfolio Over To Robinhood? This is pretty simple: no. I don't see Robinhood as the replacement for anything. I see them as a novelty. I found the app okay to use, not great. I couldn't imagine holding a portfolio within this app/company and trying to manage it. If you trade frequently, the app may be handy, but the research features are too basic to be of any use. Furthermore, I can't image trading from a phone. Pros: Commission Free Trades

Fractional Shares and Dividend Reinvestment

Pretty App for iPhone & Android

Security: the app uses Apple Touch to login, which makes it feel secure Cons: Limited Investment Choices

Not easy for managing your holdings (couldn't see holding 5-10 positions with the app)

Too basic charts and data

Printing statements and tax documents is a hassle. You have to login to the app, email it to yourself, and then print it. Furthermore, in the last year, pretty much every brokerage has moved to free trades - so why not get full service for the same cost of $0? Check out our list of the best brokerages and learn more. Final Thoughts Robinhood has set themselves up as a game-changing mobile-first brokerage. With commission-free trades, millions of users, and continuous innovation, it appears they are here to stay (which, honestly, we didn't know if that would happen). If you're looking to get started investing with a small amount of cash, then Robinhood should be a broker you check out. If you need something a little more robust, I'd honestly recommend opening an IRA or brokerage account at a mainstream brokerage like TD Ameritrade or Fidelity. With everything being commission-free, why not get full service for the same price? What most people don't realize is that you can open an IRA with no minimum, you can get access to hundreds of commission free ETFs, and you have a great app to use. You essentially can build your entire diversified portfolio for free, on an app. Check out TD Ameritrade for yourself. Don't just take my word for it with this review, try Robinhood for free right here: Signup for Robinhood