Robinhood Rating: 
Robinhood Overview
Robinhood led the way to $0 commissions in the brokerage world. But today, it offers more than just free trades. Here’s what you need to know.
Bulls Highlight...
Retirement accounts: There is now an IRA service with a broker match.
Cryptocurrencies: You can trade them with a very low commission schedule.
Margin trading: The lowest margin rates in the industry are here.
Bears Highlight...
Weak software: The platforms are getting better, but still basic.
Lack of account types: Only a few account types are offered.
Limited customer service: Robinhood has made improvements but more are needed.
Investment Lineup
Robinhood customers can trade these assets:
- Stocks
- American Depository Receipts
- Real Estate Investment Trusts
- Option contracts
- Cryptocurrencies
- Exchange Traded Funds
Other investment products are not available. These include futures, forex, warrants, mutual funds, fixed income, and precious metals. Some OTC stocks are offered (like OTC ADRs), but most are not. Only U.S. exchanges can be used.
Robinhood’s crypto platform currently supports
19 coins for trading. Along with major coins, there are unique choices like Tezos and Chainlink.
The types of accounts to trade these assets are limited. Robinhood first offered only individual taxable accounts but has now added IRA and joint accounts.
There was no advisory service before, but Robinhood’s IRA program now offers a robo option. This service builds a portfolio for you once, but does not manage it after that.
Opening an Account
It’s simple to open an account using Robinhood’s website or mobile app. The process only takes a few minutes. New users may get free shares of stock by linking an outside bank account.
Robinhood Promotion
Up to $200 free stock + 3% IRA match + transfer fee refund at Robinhood.
Open Robinhood Account
Customer Support
Robinhood has had customer service issues, but things are improving. For example, there is now an online chat on the website. Go to the Account link in the upper-right corner and choose Help. Click “Contact us 24/7” and pick a topic.
Robinhood now has 24/7 service, which is a big upgrade. The company also has a call-back option for those who don’t want to wait on hold. The call-back link is on the same contact page.
However, Robinhood still has no branch offices. The website does not have internal messaging, but there is a Help Center to answer common questions.
Banking Features
Robinhood’s debit card, now called the Cash Card, comes with some good features: FDIC insurance, cash back at certain stores, and access to 90,000 fee-free ATMs. There are no monthly or foreign exchange fees, and no minimum balance is required.
The Cash Card’s best feature is round-ups, which earn fractional shares of stocks and cryptocurrencies with every purchase. Sometimes Robinhood adds a bonus to these.
The Cash Card pays no interest and is issued by Sutton Bank. It creates a separate bank account at JP Morgan Chase, and both banks are FDIC insured. There is no sweep program, so the usual $250,000 FDIC coverage applies. But in a brokerage account, free cash can be swept to several FDIC-insured banks.
Margin
In the past, margin trading was only offered through Gold. Now, you can get margin through Gold or in a regular margin account.
A margin balance costs 5.25% (for balances under $50K).
It’s easy to switch between cash and margin on Robinhood’s website. Click the Account link in the top right, go to Settings, then Investing in the left column.
Robinhood does not allow short selling, and the software does not show margin requirements for individual stocks.
Website
Robinhood’s website is simple and user-friendly. Trading and account management are done on the same system. There’s no separate advanced platform.
The dashboard, found by clicking the feather icon, shows the account’s value, updated live. The right column shows current positions. Watchlists are under the position list.
Click a watchlist entry to see its profile. An order form appears in the upper-right. The six order types are:
- Market
- Limit
- Recurring
- Trailing Stop
- Stop Limit
- Stop Loss
Add to a watchlist below the order ticket. Next to the order ticket is a small line chart. For more advanced charting, use the advanced icon. This gives a full-screen chart with a few technical studies. There are no drawing tools. You can change the chart to candlesticks here. The chart has a five-year history limit.
There is no streaming video news or alert system on the site.
Mobile App
The mobile app is similar to the website. It works with both Apple and Android. Watchlists and order types are the same as on the web. Charting is basic—actually, it’s more limited because charts cannot be rotated. Six technical indicators are offered, including MACD and Bollinger Bands.
The app does not have a check deposit tool or video news.
Pricing
Robinhood stands out for low cost. Crypto trading is commission-free with no spread. Few other brokers charge nothing for crypto trades.
Stock and option trades are also commission-free. Options have no per-contract fee, and exercises and assignments are free.
There are no ongoing account fees or minimums.
The only notable fee is the $100 outgoing ACAT transfer, which is higher than most.
Robinhood Promotion
Up to $200 free stock + 3% IRA match + transfer fee refund at Robinhood.
Open Robinhood Account
Education & Research
Robinhood does not have many resources for investors who want to learn more. For general investing education, there is a Learn hub with basic articles. The articles are short but have good graphics. Here are a few examples:
- What is a Stock?
- Getting started with options
- Volatility explained
Robinhood’s research tools for assets are also limited. There is still no stock screener on either the app or the website. Instead, Robinhood publishes groups of stocks and ETFs, but these are not as useful as real screeners. These groups are in the middle of the dashboard and include 100 Most Popular, Technology, and Pharma.
When you view an asset’s profile on the Robinhood website or app, you will see key statistics like volume and 52-week low. There are also news articles from several sources, such as Benzinga and Yahoo Finance.
Popular stocks have analyst ratings, but there are no full reports unless you are a Gold member. Gold members get Morningstar reports. For example, Coca-Cola had 26 analyst ratings, most of them buy ratings.
Farther down, there is a chart showing actual and estimated earnings reports for the last seven quarters.
At the bottom, there is a unique Robinhood feature that shows what other customers are buying.
While Robinhood offers some security analysis tools, many important ones are missing. There are no PDF reports (except for Gold), no social sentiment scores, no peer comparisons, no ESG data, and no other advanced metrics found at other brokers.
Extra Services
Extended Hours: You can trade cryptocurrencies at any time. Stocks can be traded before the market opens (from 7:00 am, NY time) and after it closes (until 8:00 pm).
Fractional-share Trading: You can buy whole-dollar amounts of stocks and digital coins. For stocks, you must use a market order and can only trade during normal hours.
DRIP Service: Dividend reinvestment is available at no extra cost.
IPO Service: Robinhood gives access to new stock launches.
IRAs: Individual Retirement Accounts are now offered.
Robinhood matches 1% of all IRA contributions. You do not need an employer to get the match, but the matched amount cannot be withdrawn for five years.
Recommendations
Active Equity Trading: Robinhood has fractional-share trading, but lacks things like short selling.
Charles Schwab has these features.
Mutual Fund Investors: We do not recommend Robinhood for mutual funds.
Firstrade has thousands of funds from many families.
Beginners: Robinhood makes trading easy for new investors.
Individual Retirement Accounts: Robinhood’s IRA program is very competitive.
Small Accounts: Robinhood is great for small accounts. You can start trading with just $1.
Long-Term Investors and Retirement Savers: Charles Schwab
offers lifecycle mutual funds, self-employed 401k plans, custodial accounts, retirement calculators, and other services Robinhood does not provide.
Robinhood Promotion
Up to $200 free stock + 3% IRA match + transfer fee refund at Robinhood.
Open Robinhood Account
Robinhood Review Summary
Robinhood has made a lot of progress in less than 10 years. It has grown and managed to survive, but there is still a lot missing. Interestingly, some of its best features are in banking, not investing.
Updated on 7/20/2025.