Robinhood review Review

Robinhood was introduced to the market in 2013 and grew quickly. It offers commission-free stock, ETF and options, 0$ minimum deposit but no demo account. Robinhood can serve as a solid trading platform for those who need to get their trade done at the lowest possible cost. The company is regulated by the US Securities and Exchange Commission and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority.

What can be traded

Their product portfolio is limited to:

• Stock and Funds
• Options
• Gold
• Cash Management
• And a good selection of cryptocurrencies

They offer only one account. That’s a real downfall for investors who would like to expand their relationship but must use another broker for their other account types.

Broker regulation

It is regulated by SEC and FINRA, provides strong investor protection, and discloses its financial information. However, the broker doesn’t provide negative balance protection and is not listed on any stock exchange.

Demo account

A demo account is one of the best ways to learn. It’s a virtual account mirroring the live one. You can learn on a real platform with virtual money, that is pre-loaded. Demo accounts are usually free and unlimited, but each broker has different conditions, so don’t forget to check them out. Unfortunately, Robinhood doesn’t offer a demo account.

Broker fees

Trading US stocks and ETFs is free at Robinhood. The broker doesn’t charge sign-ininactivity, deposit or withdrawal fees. And what I liked; they have a transparent fee structure on their website. Simple and well designed.

Registration process

The account opening is easy. It`s fully digital and can be completed within a day. On the other, negative, side, the broker only accepts US clients and IRA accounts are not available. There is no minimum deposit and after registering, you automatically open a Robinhood Instant account. The sign in button is at the top of the page, so you can register at any time. Also, when you sign up and link your bank account, a surprise stock appears in your account.

I haven’t registered, because I am a beginner and I`m looking for a broker, where I can learn on a demo account.

Robinhood platform

I found out that Robinhood provides a safe, user-friendly and well-designed web trading platform but lacking customizability, but the default workspace is well designed, clear and logically structured. It has a two-step login, which is safer. Another plus is that the ​​web trading platform has an easy-to-understand portfolio and fee report function.

Robinhood website

The web is modern, clean, colourful. It’s functional, fast and you can find pretty much everything in a sec. The main points are briefly described on the main page and the rest you can go through with a menu in the top pane. You`ll find:

• Products
• Learn
• Support
• Who we are?

Going through the educational support, Robinhood provides only educational texts, which are easy to understand.

Investing Basics – What you need to know about investing from the get-go. Questions like: “what is an investment”, “What is a stock” are answered.

Library – again, here you have articles about the basics.

Snacks – A 3-minute newsletter with fresh takes on the financial news.

They have a blog, which isn’t highlighted very well, it’s in the footer of their website. I didn’t find any live chat, chatbot or anything like this. And the good old “contact us” …nowhere to be found.

Social networks

Robinhood is active on Facebook, Instagram, Linked in and Twitter. Facebook is up to date, the last post is only a few days old, so they don’t post every day. But that’s fine, the number of followers is around 240 000.

Checking Linked In, again, they are active, they have around 170 K of followers and other social accounts are pretty much the same.

Advantages and disadvantages

The biggest plus is its appealing fee structure. US stock trading is commission-free and there is no withdrawal, deposit or inactivity fee. Their website is well designed, functional and they are active on their social networks. What is a downfall is their educational support and no demo account. The product profile is limited, and I didn’t find any way of contacting them.

Pros:

• No fees
• Regulated
• Financial information is publicly available
• User-friendly platform

Cons:

• No demo account
• Bad educational support
• No ways of contacting customer service
• The product portfolio is limited

Our Score

Robinhood was introduced to the market in 2013 and grew quickly. It offers commission-free stock, ETF and options, 0$ minimum deposit but no demo account.

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