Robinhood
- Best for: Investors who want a simple, commission-free app; options traders who want no contract fees on stock and ETF options
- What Sets It Apart: Up to a 3% IRA match with Gold; trading in hundreds of stocks and ETFs around the clock, five days a week; Robinhood Legend desktop platform at no extra cost
- Cost: $0 commissions; Gold $5 a month or $50 a year; $100 to transfer your account out
- Features: Fractional shares from $1; 3.6% annual yield on uninvested cash outside IRAs with Gold; futures $0.75 a contract ($0.50 with Gold); index options $0.50 a contract ($0.35 with Gold)
- Pros: No contract fees on stock and ETF options; Gold’s IRA match can pay more than its fee; stocks, options, futures, and crypto in one app
- Cons: No interest on uninvested cash without Gold; IRA match taken back if you drop Gold or withdraw early; no mutual funds or individual bonds; basic research
Open a Robinhood account if you want a simple app for trading stocks, ETFs, and options without commissions. Add its $50-a-year Gold membership only if the 3.6% it pays on your cash, plus the extra 2% it adds to your IRA match, earns more than the fee.
The same app trades futures and crypto too, though not mutual funds or individual bonds, and it suits investors who care more about low costs than deep research. Gold, the $5-a-month membership, adds interest on cash and triples the match on IRA contributions.
Key Features
- $0 commissions on stocks, ETFs, and options
- Fractional shares from $1 and automatic recurring buys
- Gold at $5 a month or $50 a year, with a 3.6% annual yield on uninvested cash outside IRAs and the first $1,000 you borrow on margin interest-free
- IRA match of 1% on contributions, 3% with Gold, and 1% on transfers and rollovers
- Futures commissions of $0.75 a contract and index option fees of $0.50 a contract, cut to $0.50 and $0.35 with Gold, plus exchange fees
Pros
- No contract fee on stock and ETF options, just a combined $0.04 regulatory fee per contract
- A 3% Gold IRA match that pays $150 on a $5,000 contribution, $100 more than the standard 1%, which covers Gold’s $50 annual fee twice
- Trading in hundreds of stocks and ETFs around the clock, five days a week
- Robinhood Legend, a desktop trading platform with advanced charts, at no extra cost
Cons
- No interest on uninvested cash in your own trading account without Gold
- The extra 2% IRA match taken back if you drop Gold within a year, and up to the whole match if you withdraw it within five years
- $100 to move all or part of your account to another broker, and fractional shares can’t move, so a full transfer sells them
- Basic research, with analyst ratings shown as buy, hold, and sell percentages and AI-written summaries only for Gold members
- A broker that earns more when you trade more, as its own disclosure says
Open Robinhood if low costs matter more to you than research. Add Gold once idle cash passes about $1,400 or IRA contributions reach $2,500 a year, the points where its 3.6% rate or its extra 2% match covers the $50 annual fee, by my math.
Learn more about Robinhood or see how it compares to the best online brokers.
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