Robinhood Review 2024: Pros & Cons (2024)

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Robinhood is very easy to use and its educational content is a joy to read. As a pioneer in making investing fun and accessible to beginners, it has inspired other brokers to improve their offerings for novices. Even in today's more competitive environment for brokers catering to new investors, Robinhood still stands out with a trading app that is quick, incredibly user-friendly, and provides a fun and colorful presentation.

Pros & Cons

Overall summary

Feature
Overall
Investment Options
Commissions & Fees
Mobile Trading Apps
Platforms & Tools
Research
Customer Service	N/A
Education
Ease Of Use

--> View Robinhood Features List

Investment options

Robinhood offers stocks, ETFs, options, and cryptocurrency trading. Mutual funds, fixed income, closed end funds, and preferred stocks aren’t supported, nor is futures trading. Robinhood has limited support for OTC stocks. I was able to get quotes for a few of the larger over-the-counter U.S. stocks, but not many. There are 650 OTC American Depository Receipts available.

Fractional shares: On the platform, most stocks worth over $1 per share with a market cap over $25 million are eligible for fractional share orders. Robinhood’s recurring investment tool enables you to automatically invest a fixed dollar amount periodically, such as once per week. Like most other brokers, if you enable dividend reinvestment (DRIP) in your account, Robinhood automatically reinvests any earned dividends from stocks or ETFs, provided the related symbols support fractional share trading.

Cryptocurrency: Robinhood has a strong crypto trading platform. Though many brokers have dramatically reduced their crypto roster over the past year, Robinhood still allows users to trade 15 cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin and Ethereum, with no commissions, fees, or markups and markdowns. Instead, it makes money from selling order flow. Among the best brokers for crypto that we review, only eToro offers more coins (and they charge a 1% fee per trade along with the spread cost). Robinhood also allows crypto transfers, an unusual feature among the brokers we review.

Feature
Stock Tradinginfo	Yes
Margin Trading	Yes
Fractional Sharesinfo	Yes
OTC Stocksinfo	Yes
Options Tradinginfo	Yes
Complex Options Max Legsinfo	4
Bonds (US Treasury)info	No
Futures Tradinginfo	No
Forex Tradinginfo	No
Mutual Funds (Total)info	0
Crypto Tradinginfo	Yes info
Crypto Trading - Total Coinsinfo	15
Traditional IRAsinfo	Yes
Roth IRAsinfo	Yes
Advisor Servicesinfo	No

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Commissions and fees

Like many other $0 commission-free brokers, Robinhood charges no commission for trading stocks, ETFs, options, or cryptocurrency. Robinhood makes money from payment for order flow, or PFOF, a common practice in which the broker sells a customer’s order to wholesale market makers.

Penny stocks: Robinhood has constraints on over-the-counter stocks. I tried to get quotes for several U.S. OTC stocks priced between $1 and $5, but no dice. I guess that’s a nope on penny stocks. But if you want to invest in international equities, there are 650 American Depository Receipts available that do trade on the OTC.

Robinhood Gold: Robinhood Gold is a really good deal if you actually use some of the features it offers. For only $6.99 a month or an annual subscription of $75 (you may find promo pricing of $5/month too), Gold customers get:

• Bonuses on their IRA contributions.
• A lower margin rate (currently 8%) for balances over $1,000.
• 5% interest on uninvested cash.
• Level 2 streaming quotes.
• Morningstar reports.

Note: There’s a Robinhood Gold credit card coming that looks very compelling with 3% cash back/5% on travel, and other high-end perks.

If you’re fully invested, don’t want another credit card, aren’t socking away money in an IRA, or investing on margin, there’s no real benefit to Robinhood Gold that you won’t find elsewhere for free.

Robinhood Gold costs $6.99 per month to gain access to Morningstar reports, Level 2 streaming quotes, and much better margin rates and uninvested cash interest rates. Competitors Fidelity, E*TRADE, and Charles Schwab all offer more stock research and trading tools and much better customer service for the same $0 per stock trade price. You can find a beginner-friendly investing experience (though not as friendly as Robinhood’s) without paying a $6.99 monthly charge.

Feature
Minimum Deposit	$0.00
Stock Trades	$0.00
Penny Stock Fees (OTC)info	N/A
ETF Trade Fee	$0.00
Options (Base Fee)	$0.00
Options (Per Contract)	$0.00
Options Exercise Fee	$0.00
Options Assignment Fee	$0.00
Futures (Per Contract)	(Not offered)
Mutual Fund Trade Fee	N/A
Broker Assisted Trade Fee	N/A

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Mobile trading apps

If you seek ease of use and simplicity in a trading app, Robinhood has you covered. Robinhood's mobile app is fast and simple. On those qualities, it’s one of the best. For occasional stock trading, Robinhood has the functionality required to be productive: watch lists, stock quotes with charts, analyst ratings, recent news and a basic order trade entry. More experienced investors who frequently trade and want more bells and whistles may be better served by more sophisticated competitors.

Watch lists: Robinhood's focus on simplicity leads to several notable drawbacks. Other than automatically syncing across devices, the watch list functionality is slim. In comparison, TradeStation, tastytrade and Schwab's thinkorswim offer hundreds of column choices for their watch lists. Admittedly, few investors ever need more than a dozen columns, but it’s nice to know they’re available.

Charting: When pulling a stock quote, charts cannot be modified beyond six default date ranges and two chart types. There are only six technical indicators and landscape mode is not supported for horizontal viewing.

Trading tools: Knowledgeable traders will find Robinhood a mighty small sandbox to play in. Trading-focused brokers offer more studies, chart types, customization, automated chart analysis, and even specialized desktop platforms and mobile apps. You won’t find those on Robinhood.

Tap to see a demo of Robinhood's trading app.

Feature
iPhone Appinfo	Yes
Android Appinfo	Yes
Apple Watch Appinfo	Yes
Stock Alertsinfo	Yes
Charting - After-Hoursinfo	Yes
Charting - Technical Studiesinfo	6
Charting - Study Customizationsinfo	Yes
Watch List (Streaming)info	Yes
Watch Lists - Create & Manageinfo	Yes
Watch Lists - Column Customizationinfo	Yes

Other trading platforms and tools

Robinhood is designed for individuals who are new to investing and want to start with the core basics. At that, it excels. As your account size and investing confidence grows, you may find Robinhood too limiting. There are no 529 plans, custodial accounts, or individual bonds, and financial planning tools are most noticeable by their absence. Expect to be focusing entirely on stocks, fractional shares, IRAs, ETFs, options, and cryptocurrency instead.

Platforms overview: In addition to the mobile app, there is a web-based platform that is similar to the app. That makes it an attractive trading platform for beginners and frustrating for experienced investors.

Trading tools: The trading tools and features available on Robinhood's website are minimal compared to category leaders, but beginners will find that what it does have is very easy to use. Like the mobile app, charts are rudimentary and come with just six technical indicators, but at least the six are the most popular ones. There are no bracket orders or hotkeys, and Level 2 quotes are an additional charge. Chart traders routinely mark up charts with lines and notes, but that’s not available here.

Options trading: Options trading in Robinhood is easier than falling off a logarithm. Its option chains are unorthodox, but we like them and expect many beginners will prefer them to the traditional chain layout. The options watch list is a standout feature. It makes it simple to watch option price changes before investing. Many brokers allow options on watch lists, but Robinhood presents them exceptionally well.

The drop-down for each option does include the Greeks and you can build multi-leg option strategies very easily. When you do, you are presented with an “expected profit and loss” diagram, as well as the max profit, the max loss and the breakeven, all of which are very useful and clearly presented.

IRA accounts: In late 2022 Robinhood began promoting “Robinhood Retirement,” which offers a 1% bonus on IRA contributions. The premium Gold plan sweetens the offer to 3%, which might make Gold attractive to big retirement savers. You can see a detailed rundown of the options in our Robinhood IRA review on investor.com.

Feature
Active Trading Platforminfo
Desktop Trading Platforminfo	No
Desktop Platform (Mac)info	No
Web Trading Platforminfo	Yes
Paper Tradinginfo	No
Trade Journalinfo	No
Watch Lists - Total Fieldsinfo	3
Charting - Indicators / Studiesinfo	6
Charting - Drawing Toolsinfo	0
Charting - Study Customizationsinfo	1
Charting - Save Profilesinfo	No
Trade Ideas - Technical Analysisinfo	No
Streaming Time & Salesinfo	No
Trade Ideas - Backtestinginfo	No

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User experience

Robinhood initially led the way in the field in terms of ease of use when it came to its mobile app. Now that others have caught up in this realm while offering more features, Robinhood is finding it more difficult to stand out. It’s still one of the easiest to use, though.

Robinhood’s relatively sparse information won’t win over professional or even serious investors, but there’s enough for casual investors to get started and it’s a hoot to use. There’s color, motion, and urgency. The downside to the party-like atmosphere is that you might be tempted into gambling-like behavior.

Research

Robinhood's overall research experience is severely lacking across the board and trails industry leaders Charles Schwab, E*TRADE and Fidelity, who all also offer $0 trades.

Stock and ETFs research: Robinhood offers analyst ratings, "people also bought" recommendations and sections such as "about" for company profiles. It's a cut-and-dried experience focused on simplicity. There are also lists on Robinhood, which are akin to predefined stock screeners with few information points such as market cap size and current prices. This is adequate for some; most will want more.

Gaining access to Morningstar research reports requires subscribing to Robinhood Gold for $6.99 per month ($75/year). At competitors such as Fidelity, Charles Schwab, or E*TRADE, customers have access to third-party reports for free.

Got Snacks?: If there is one highlight with Robinhood's research, it is the Snacks newsletter. Snacks is produced by Sherwood Media (get it?), a subsidiary of Robinhood Markets. The Snacks editorial team summarizes the market each day in an easy-to-understand, digestible (snacks, digestible… get it?) format. Whether or not you decide to open an account at Robinhood, we do recommend you at least grab… read… a Snack.

Feature
Research - Stocksinfo	Yes
Stock Research - ESGinfo	No
Stock Research - PDF Reportsinfo	0 info
Screener - Stocksinfo	No
Research - ETFsinfo	Yes
Screener - ETFsinfo	No
Research - Mutual Fundsinfo	No
Screener - Mutual Fundsinfo	No
Research - Pink Sheets / OTCBBinfo	Yes
Research - Bondsinfo	No

Education

Robinhood has investing education unlocked. It’s kept light, but it’s still worth your time and a pleasure to read or watch.

Alongside the standout Snacks newsletter and podcast, Robinhood’s education is aimed primarily at beginner investors, but the rapidly growing library has plenty of interesting articles for advanced investors, too.

Learning center: The library contains a range of articles with beginners in mind, including topics such as “What is a stock?” and “What is a crypto wallet?” The writing is engaging and it might be the best in the business. Few brokers have educational pieces that open like this: “Short selling is kind of like Opposite Day.” The reason why so few brokers do it is because so few writers are that good.

The disappointing thing about Robinhood Learn is how poorly it’s organized. Browsing through Robinhood Learn is akin to seeing Tiffany jewelry stocked in a dollar store. There are gems of articles on important and fascinating topics, but the only way you can find topics you’re specifically looking for is through browsing. Competing brokers should hope Robinhood doesn’t spend the few hours it would take to index their content.

Robinhood's YouTube channel has only 17,500 subscribers, which might be why new content hasn’t been added recently. That’s a damn shame, because the ones I checked out are superb. The options videos explain a complicated topic clearly and present risks right along with the potential upside. Do they want to lead you to open an account and trade on Robinhood? Most definitely. But there’s enough value in the proposition to make them a “must watch” for options beginners.

Feature
Education (Stocks)info	Yes
Education (ETFs)info	No
Education (Options)info	Yes
Education (Mutual Funds)info	No
Education (Bonds)info	No
Education (Retirement)info	No
Paper Tradinginfo	No
Videosinfo	No
Webinarsinfo	No
Webinars (Archived)info	No
Progress Trackinginfo	No
Interactive Learning - Quizzesinfo	No

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Banking services

Robinhood is not a traditional bank with branch offices, credit cards, mortgages, wire transfers, and the like. For a list of brokers that are also banks, read our guide to the best brokerages for banking services.

Cash management: Robinhood offers a “Cash Card,” a prepaid debit card issued by a partner bank. The account carries some perks, such as direct deposit and the ability to earn bonuses that are invested in the separate brokerage account.

If you’re looking for solid credit card rewards or a good high-yield savings account, be sure to check out the comprehensive and (I don’t know how they do it) often hilarious guides on our sister site, investor.com.

Feature
Bank (Member FDIC)info	No
Checking Accountsinfo	No
Savings Accountsinfo	No
Credit Cardsinfo	No
Debit Cardsinfo	Yes
Mortgage Loansinfo	No

Final thoughts

For investors looking for a simple, easy-to-use stock and crypto trading app, Robinhood gets the job done. As its name suggests, Robinhood serves budding investors. If you're as wealthy as the Sheriff of Nottingham and King John, you can find better fits elsewhere. Here are my top takeaways on Robinhood for 2024:

1. Thanks to a clean design that focuses on the basics, Robinhood's mobile app will continue to appeal to beginner investors. See our guide for the best stock trading apps to find out who provides the best overall experience.
2. Robinhood provides a bare-bones trading experience, making it a poor choice for investors seeking the best trading platform. Also, Robinhood's stock research tools are lacking when compared to $0 commission brokers such as E*TRADE, Charles Schwab, and Fidelity.
3. At $6.99/month, Robinhood Gold can become a compelling deal, especially if you use margin or keep larger cash balances.

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About Robinhood

Robinhood 2024 Results

For the StockBrokers.com 2024 Annual Awards, announced on Jan. 23, 2024, all U.S. equity brokers we reviewed were assessed on over 200 different variables across eight areas: Commissions & Fees, Investment Options, Platforms & Tools, Research, Mobile Trading, Education, Ease of Use, and Overall.

StockBrokers.com also presented “Best in Class” awards to brokers for additional categories Beginners, Options Trading, Futures Trading, Active Trading, IRA Accounts, Investor Community, Penny Stock Trading, Banking Services and Customer Service. A “Best in Class” designation means finishing in the top five brokers for that category.

For more information, see how we test. New to investing? Check out the 5 step guide on how to invest on our sister site, investor.com.

Category awards

	Ease of Use
Rank #1	check
Streak #1	1
Best in Class	check
Best in Class Streak	1

StockBrokers.com Review Methodology

Our mission at StockBrokers.com is simple: provide thorough and unbiased reviews of online brokers, based on an extraordinary level of hands-on testing and data collection. Our ratings and awards are based on this data and our in-house experts’ deep authority in the field; brokers cannot pay for preferential treatment. Here’s more about trustworthiness at StockBrokers.com.

Our research team conducts thorough testing on a wide range of features, products, services, and tools for U.S. investors, collecting and validating thousands of data points in the process; this makes StockBrokers.com home to the largest independent database on the web covering the online broker industry. We test all available trading platforms for each broker and evaluate them based on a host of data-driven variables. All research, writing and data collection at StockBrokers.com is done by humans, for humans. Read our generative AI policy here.

As part of our process, all brokers had the annual opportunity to provide updates and key milestones and complete an in-depth data profile, which we hand-checked for accuracy. Brokers also were offered the opportunity to provide executive time for an annual update meeting.

Our rigorous data validation process yields an error rate of less than .001% each year, providing site visitors quality data they can trust. Learn more about how we test.

Robinhood fees and features data

The data collection efforts at StockBrokers.com are unmatched in the industry. The following tables show a deeper dive into the offerings available at this broker. You can also compare its offerings side-by-side with those of other brokers using our Comparison Tool.

In addition to meticulous annual data collection by our in-house analyst, every broker that participates in our review is afforded the opportunity to complete an in-depth data profile. We then audit each data point to ensure its accuracy.

Trading fees

Feature
Minimum Deposit	$0.00
Stock Trades	$0.00
Mutual Fund Trade Fee	N/A
Options (Base Fee)	$0.00
Options (Per Contract)	$0.00
Futures (Per Contract)	(Not offered)
Broker Assisted Trade Fee	N/A

Account fees

Feature
IRA Annual Fee	$0.00
IRA Closure Fee	$0.00
Account Transfer Out (Partial)info	$100.00
Account Transfer Out (Full)info	$100.00
Options Exercise Fee	$0.00
Options Assignment Fee	$0.00

Margin rates

Feature
Margin Rate Under $25,000	12% info
Margin Rate $25,000 to $49,999.99	12% info
Margin Rate $50,000 to $99,999.99	12% info
Margin Rate $100,000 to $249,999.99	12% info
Margin Rate $250,000 to $499,999.99	12% info
Margin Rate $500,000 to $999,999.99	12% info
Margin Rate Above $1,000,000	12% info

Investment options

Feature
Stock Tradinginfo	Yes
Margin Trading	Yes
Fractional Sharesinfo	Yes
OTC Stocksinfo	Yes
Options Tradinginfo	Yes
Complex Options Max Legsinfo	4
Futures Tradinginfo	No
Forex Tradinginfo	No
Crypto Tradinginfo	Yes info
Crypto Trading - Total Coinsinfo	15
Mutual Funds (No Load)info	0
Mutual Funds (Total)info	0
Bonds (US Treasury)info	No
Bonds (Corporate)info	No
Bonds (Municipal)info	No
Advisor Servicesinfo	No
International Countries (Stocks)info	0

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Order types

Feature
Order Type - Marketinfo	Yes
Order Type - Limitinfo	Yes
Order Type - After Hoursinfo	Yes
Order Type - Stopinfo	Yes
Order Type - Trailing Stopinfo	Yes
Order Type - OCOinfo	No
Order Type - OTOinfo	No
Order Type - Broker Assistedinfo	No

Beginners

Feature
Education (Stocks)info	Yes
Education (ETFs)info	No
Education (Options)info	Yes
Education (Mutual Funds)info	No
Education (Bonds)info	No
Education (Retirement)info	No
Retirement Calculatorinfo	No
Investor Dictionaryinfo	Yes
Paper Tradinginfo	No
Videosinfo	No
Webinarsinfo	No
Webinars (Archived)info	No
Progress Trackinginfo	No
Interactive Learning - Quizzesinfo	No

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Stock trading apps

Feature
iPhone Appinfo	Yes
Android Appinfo	Yes
Apple Watch Appinfo	Yes
Trading - Stocksinfo	Yes
Trading - After-Hoursinfo	Yes
Trading - Simple Optionsinfo	Yes
Trading - Complex Optionsinfo	Yes
Order Ticket RT Quotesinfo	Yes
Order Ticket SRT Quotesinfo	Yes

Stock app features

Feature
Market Movers (Top Gainers)info	Yes
Stream Live TVinfo	No
Videos on Demandinfo	No
Stock Alertsinfo	Yes
Option Chains Viewableinfo	Yes
Watch List (Real-time)info	Yes
Watch List (Streaming)info	Yes
Watch Lists - Create & Manageinfo	Yes
Watch Lists - Column Customizationinfo	Yes
Watch Lists - Total Fieldsinfo	3

Stock app charting

Feature
Charting - After-Hoursinfo	Yes
Charting - Can Turn Horizontallyinfo	No
Charting - Multiple Time Framesinfo	Yes
Charting - Technical Studiesinfo	6
Charting - Study Customizationsinfo	Yes
Charting - Stock Comparisonsinfo	No

Trading platforms overview

Feature
Active Trading Platforminfo
Desktop Trading Platforminfo	No
Desktop Platform (Mac)info	No
Web Trading Platforminfo	Yes
Paper Tradinginfo	No
Trade Journalinfo	No
Watch Lists - Total Fieldsinfo	3

Trading platform stock chart features

Feature
Charting - Adjust Trades on Chartinfo	No
Charting - Indicators / Studiesinfo	6
Charting - Drawing Toolsinfo	0
Charting - Notesinfo	No
Charting - Index Overlaysinfo	No
Charting - Historical Tradesinfo	No
Charting - Corporate Eventsinfo	No
Charting - Custom Date Rangeinfo	No
Charting - Custom Time Barsinfo	No
Charting - Automated Analysisinfo	No
Charting - Save Profilesinfo	No
Trade Ideas - Technical Analysisinfo	No
Charting - Study Customizationsinfo	1
Charting - Custom Studiesinfo	No

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Day trading features

Feature
Streaming Time & Salesinfo	No
Streaming TVinfo	No
Direct Market Routing - Stocksinfo	No
Ladder Tradinginfo	No
Trade Hot Keysinfo	No
Level 2 Quotes - Stocksinfo	No info
Trade Ideas - Backtestinginfo	No
Trade Ideas - Backtesting Advinfo	No
Short Locatorinfo	No
Order Liquidity Rebatesinfo	No

Investment research overview

Feature
Research - Stocksinfo	Yes
Research - ETFsinfo	Yes
Research - Mutual Fundsinfo	No
Research - Pink Sheets / OTCBBinfo	Yes
Research - Bondsinfo	No
Screener - Stocksinfo	No
Screener - ETFsinfo	No
Screener - Mutual Fundsinfo	No
Screener - Bondsinfo	No
Misc - Portfolio Allocationinfo	No

Stock research features

Feature
Stock Research - PDF Reportsinfo	0 info
Stock Research - Earningsinfo	Yes
Stock Research - Insidersinfo	No
Stock Research - Socialinfo	No
Stock Research - Newsinfo	Yes
Stock Research - ESGinfo	No
Stock Research - SEC Filingsinfo	No

ETF research features

Feature
ETFs - Strategy Overviewinfo	Yes
ETF Fund Facts - Inception Dateinfo	Yes
ETF Fund Facts - Expense Ratioinfo	Yes
ETF Fund Facts - Net Assetsinfo	Yes
ETF Fund Facts - Total Holdingsinfo	Yes
ETFs - Top 10 Holdingsinfo	Yes
ETFs - Sector Exposureinfo	Yes
ETFs - Risk Analysisinfo	No
ETFs - Ratingsinfo	No
ETFs - Morningstar StyleMapinfo	No
ETFs - PDF Reportsinfo	No

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Mutual fund research features

Feature
Mutual Funds - Strategy Overviewinfo	No
Mutual Funds - Performance Chartinfo	No
Mutual Funds - Performance Analysisinfo	No
Mutual Funds - Prospectusinfo	No
Mutual Funds - 3rd Party Ratingsinfo	No
Mutual Funds - Fees Breakdowninfo	No
Mutual Funds - Top 10 Holdingsinfo	No
Mutual Funds - Asset Allocationinfo	No
Mutual Funds - Sector Allocationinfo	No
Mutual Funds - Country Allocationinfo	No
Mutual Funds - StyleMapinfo	No

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Options trading overview

Feature
Option Chains - Basic Viewinfo	Yes
Option Chains - Strategy Viewinfo	No
Option Chains - Streaminginfo	Yes
Option Chains - Total Columnsinfo	17
Option Chains - Greeksinfo	5
Option Chains - Quick Analysisinfo	Yes
Option Analysis - P&L Chartsinfo	Yes
Option Probability Analysisinfo	No
Option Probability Analysis Advinfo	No
Option Positions - Greeksinfo	Yes
Option Positions - Greeks Streaminginfo	Yes
Option Positions - Adv Analysisinfo	No
Option Positions - Rollinginfo	Yes
Option Positions - Groupinginfo	Yes

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Banking features

Feature
Bank (Member FDIC)info	No
Checking Accountsinfo	No
Savings Accountsinfo	No
Credit Cardsinfo	No
Debit Cardsinfo	Yes
Mortgage Loansinfo	No

Customer service options

Feature
Phone Support (Prospect Customers)info	No
Phone Support (Current Customers)info	Yes
Email Supportinfo	Yes
Live Chat (Prospect Customers)info	No
Live Chat (Current Customers)info	Yes
24/7 Supportinfo	Yes

About the Editorial Team