Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Stock trade app Robinhood raising at $5B+, up 4X in a year

techcrunch.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

11–20 of 207 posts

Re: Stock trade app Robinhood raising at $5B+, up 4X in a year

#11

Post by halflings »

SSilver2k2 wrote: post #6

My biggest issue is their customer support. Downloaded the app, went through all the sign up information, used an affiliate link so I should get one free random stock. Never heard anything. My account was never activated. After 2 months of waiting I emailed support, and they said my account raised a flag and that's that. Nothing more I can do. With Capitol One Investing going away I wanted to send my portfolio over.…

Same situation here. They actually deactivated my account when I asked them why it still wasn't enabled after 3 months (even if I did send them all the info they asked for; even had to send it twice!)

Re: Stock trade app Robinhood raising at $5B+, up 4X in a year

#12

Post by serf »

cloakandswagger wrote: post #10
SSilver2k2 wrote: post #6

My biggest issue is their customer support. Downloaded the app, went through all the sign up information, used an affiliate link so I should get one free random stock. Never heard anything. My account was never activated. After 2 months of waiting I emailed support, and they said my account raised a flag and that's that. Nothing more I can do. With Capitol One Investing going away I wanted to send my portfolio over.…

Hello fellow Capital One Investing refugee. I too was thinking about moving my portfolio over to Robinhood, but they'll need a web app before I'll make the jump. I'd say I'm only a semi-active trader (maybe 2-3 trades a day) and it's still hard to envision doing that on a mobile device.

they now have a web-app.

it might be invite-only, not sure, but I have been using their web app for 3 weeks.

Re: Stock trade app Robinhood raising at $5B+, up 4X in a year

#13

Post by jonknee »

lawrenceyan wrote: post #7
chrisabrams wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You do realize you pay fees it’s just baked into the price? It’s pretty impressive how they’ve worked it out.

That's only true in the most technical of senses. Yes, there is a spread, but other brokerages take a spread AND additionally charge you another fee on top of that which is often an outrageous $5-10.

That outrageous $5-10 probably helps the average person make money in the long run by not overtrading.

Re: Stock trade app Robinhood raising at $5B+, up 4X in a year

#14

Post by ipsin »

I wonder if they're able to separate their cryptocurrency risk from the rest of their brokerage. I figure I'm insured to the $500k limit by their SIPC/FINRA insurance, but it'd be annoying if they lost millions of dollars of tokens and went out of business because of it.

Or are they somehow insured against that risk? I'd find that hard to believe.

Re: Stock trade app Robinhood raising at $5B+, up 4X in a year

#15

Post by sagiv6 »

kylehotchkiss wrote: post #3

I can't wait to access their web/desktop version! Phone has been nice. As far as monetization goes, even if robin hood was $5-10/month it'd still be fun for a beginner investor like myself, i just dread the idea of per-trade fees on my single-stock purchases.

There's a free open source desktop version already available: https://www.stockstalk.club

Re: Stock trade app Robinhood raising at $5B+, up 4X in a year

#16

Post by asdsa5325 »

cloakandswagger wrote: post #10
SSilver2k2 wrote: post #6

My biggest issue is their customer support. Downloaded the app, went through all the sign up information, used an affiliate link so I should get one free random stock. Never heard anything. My account was never activated. After 2 months of waiting I emailed support, and they said my account raised a flag and that's that. Nothing more I can do. With Capitol One Investing going away I wanted to send my portfolio over.…

Hello fellow Capital One Investing refugee. I too was thinking about moving my portfolio over to Robinhood, but they'll need a web app before I'll make the jump. I'd say I'm only a semi-active trader (maybe 2-3 trades a day) and it's still hard to envision doing that on a mobile device.

Their web app is in closed beta right now

Re: Stock trade app Robinhood raising at $5B+, up 4X in a year

#17

Post by asdsa5325 »

Crypto trading is the least notable reason why they are valued so high. Real reasons:

1) Large number of users

2) Large number of younger users (Millennials love Robinhood)

3) High amount of use per user (due to no fees)

They are still a growth company. If they add IRAs (they said they would soon), Website (currently in closed beta), Options (currently in closed beta), and OTC (not sure if they will), then they'll likely be the top broker for individuals.

Re: Stock trade app Robinhood raising at $5B+, up 4X in a year

#18

Post by nicholas73 »

bobcostas55 wrote: post #8
chrisabrams wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You do realize you pay fees it’s just baked into the price? It’s pretty impressive how they’ve worked it out.

Not really, just because they're selling order flow doesn't necessarily mean the customer gets a worse deal. Robinhood still has to follow reg nms, they have to fill you at the NBBO.

But is their NBBO worse than other firms (worse routing options)?

Re: Stock trade app Robinhood raising at $5B+, up 4X in a year

#19

Post by dguo »

I appreciate the zero commission trading, but at the same time, I'm worried about the attitude towards "investing" that they promote. Most people should arguably be putting their money into index funds and holding for the long term[1], not picking individual stocks and following price movements on a daily basis. I wouldn't criticize anyone for speculating (i.e. gambling) with money they can afford to lose. I've done that before, and I know how fun it can be. But it shouldn't be the primary strategy for most people. We should be signing up with Betterment/Wealthfront/Vanguard before Robinhood.

I have the Robinhood app but haven't made any trades yet. I had to turn off push notifications for things like "Snapchat declined 5% today". That kind of thing is what causes people to trade on their emotions, a great starting point for losing money in the long term. Instead of buying low and selling high, they end up doing the opposite.

[1]: https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Getting_started

Re: Stock trade app Robinhood raising at $5B+, up 4X in a year

#20

Post by nerfhammer »

lawrenceyan wrote: post #7
chrisabrams wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You do realize you pay fees it’s just baked into the price? It’s pretty impressive how they’ve worked it out.

That's only true in the most technical of senses. Yes, there is a spread, but other brokerages take a spread AND additionally charge you another fee on top of that which is often an outrageous $5-10.

depends, how big is the spread?
Post reply on HN