Robinhood - New trading platform

[bimmerfrk]

Has any one tried to use Robinhood trading platform. Not sure what their execution is like but they charge no commission.

I work for a publicly traded asset management company and Robinhood needs a letter from my compliance office before i can proceed to test this platform.

https://www.robinhood.com/

[bimmerfrk]

opps wrong section

Mods feel free to move to off topic

[burtonsbs5114]

I have not, but is your question with Robinhood or getting the letter from your CO?

[Z K]

I use it. The app is very basic. No research, no news, nothing. I pretty much have to do all my stuff on another site and just use the app to buy and sell.

I would not recommend it for people who have never traded before. I would not recommend it for day traders because the trades are slow. They don't have limit sell/buy. Also, they only do STOCKS, no mutual funds or anything else.

Otherwise, if you know what you want to buy, its not bad. Completely free trades with no minimum balance or # of trades. I can do things I would never do on other brokerages like buy 1 share of a stock because I don't get charged on the trade.

[Flying Ace]

thought this was some revolutionary retail trading platform for cars. lol

[SunnyD]

I have an account, it's pretty good but they hold on to your money for dear life before they release it to you. Makes sense since instead of charging you commissions on trades, they hold your money so that they can earn as much interest as possible.

[bimmerfrk]

Originally Posted by burtonsbs5114

I have not, but is your question with Robinhood or getting the letter from your CO?

neither just wanted to see if anyone is on it?

[maloo]

Originally Posted by bimmerfrk

Has any one tried to use Robinhood trading platform. Not sure what their execution is like but they charge no commission.

I work for a publicly traded asset management company and Robinhood needs a letter from my compliance office before i can proceed to test this platform.

https://www.robinhood.com/

I don't recommend it. I opened a test account but closed it 3 weeks later. The app has zero features and is overly simplistic. My biggest issue is they hold your money for 3 days after you sell a stock and you cannot make a buy trade with the proceeds until after the 3 day hold from when you sold. In my other brokerage accounts, I can sell a stock and immediately roll over the proceeds and buy another stock. Yes, it's "free" but I pay less than $10 per trade in my other accounts and that amounts to a rounding error. You could potentially lose a lot more money having your money tied up in a 3 day hold period.

[BMW F22]

Heard about this last week and downloaded the app. Wanted to sign up but they required SSN and DOB. Wasn't sure how legit they are so i stopped. They have solid reviews though.

[maloo]

Originally Posted by BMW F22

Heard about this last week and downloaded the app. Wanted to sign up but they required SSN and DOB. Wasn't sure how legit they are so i stopped. They have solid reviews though.

There's not a brokerage out there that will not require your SSN and DOB to open an account. If your choice is Robinhood vs not having any brokerage accounts, then I would get an account. The stock market can be a great creator of wealth. The biggest mistake I see newbie investors make is they are not diversified enough or too diversified. My rule is never own less than 6 stocks and never own more than 12. I usually stay in the 6-9 range.

[BMW F22]

Originally Posted by maloo

There's not a brokerage out there that will not require your SSN and DOB to open an account. If your choice is Robinhood vs not having any brokerage accounts, then I would get an account. The stock market can be a great creator of wealth. The biggest mistake I see newbie investors make is they are not diversified enough or too diversified. My rule is never own less than 6 stocks and never own more than 12. I usually stay in the 6-9 range.

I'm a newbie to stocks so having to give out such info made me wary. But if that is a normal thing then I suppose I can sign up for it. Twitter stock looks good right now.

[maloo]

Originally Posted by BMW F22

I'm a newbie to stocks so having to give out such info made me wary. But if that is a normal thing then I suppose I can sign up for it. Twitter stock looks good right now.

Yeah it's legit. Uncle Sam requires they collect this information so he can get his cut at tax time.

[SunnyD]

Originally Posted by maloo

Yes, it's "free" but I pay less than $10 per trade in my other accounts and that amounts to a rounding error.

Not to mention the commissions you pay on trades are rolled up into your cost basis anyway. It's not like you're really paying $10 on top of the trade that's not accounted for. This whole "commission free trade" thing is a gimmick.

[s14_kev]

I have an account, never used it though. I used Share Builder in the past (when they were under ING Direct) and ETRADE currently. I don't know if I'll ever start using Robinhood

[Z K]

As I mentioned before, it's not good for frequent trading. I just use it to buy and hold a few stocks - the stuff I know I'll be holding for a few months or longer. I have a Scottrade account for my other stuff.

The interface stinks and the features are limited but it's not a bad way to go if you just want to buy and hold. For small amounts of money, the commissions paid can amount to a lot.