| > They might be a good answer for newbies that want to spend 100$ on a stock for the first time, but for anything else I will stay with Ameritrade. Thanks I don't think you're their target audience. Their marketing materials say things like "democratize markets", "investing for the rest of us" and "learn to invest in the stock market". Also notice that the screenshots of their app feature portfolios with low dollar amounts, compared to the larger dollar amounts the big-boy brokers use as examples in their marketing. Because they're targeting newbies, and because of their behavior in that context, I think Robinhood wants to be your bookie more than they want to be your broker. The marketing pitch on their landing page reads "Robinhood lets you learn to invest in the stock market for free.", but the updates they've introduced while I've been paying attention to their app seem to be aimed at encouraging people to do risky, stupid things with their money. I assume they plan to monetize this somehow. What follows are some examples of things I think are pretty scummy, given that Robinhood's target user is an investment newbie: - They pressure new accounts into paying a monthly fee for what are essentially margin trading accounts, but the vast majority of people should not be trading on margin. - They promote aggregated news stories from crap outlets like seekingalpha to their users, but curiously not educational material with sound investment advice. Another indication that their pitch about learning, which probably makes newbies feel safer using RH as a platform, is insencere. - They added the ability to trade cryptocurrencies a short time back. The vast majority of people should not be investing in cryptocurrency. I tend to agree with Nicholas Weaver that most coin funds/offerings are basically scams or thefts waiting to happen. The values of the coins are volatile, and what happens if governments decide to make it difficult to exchange them for desirable currency? At least you can buy drugs on TOR, I guess? - They recently added option trading. The vast majority of people should not be trading options. It's probably closer to straight up gambling than buying stock at random. If they really wanted to open up markets to any average Joe with a smartphone and help them learn to invest, rather than encourage them to lose all their money, they wouldn't be prioritizing the things they have. Just for contrast, you know what simple things Robinhood users can't do? They can't check the managment fees when looking at a fund. They also can't sort their portfolio into short and long term holdings before choosing to sell stock. |