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Robinhood launches 3% checking account

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Re: Robinhood launches 3% checking account

#281

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Their whole business is to encourage folks that should not be day trading to day trade Less cynically, it’s building a book of investors who have likely never lost money in the stock market.

Or Forex market. With carefuul activity Forex can make an 'easy' 20% per year. Stocks I would assume would give a 7-10%. Knowing that RH gambles your money, it gives them plenty of profit :)

[deleted]

Re: Robinhood launches 3% checking account

#282
post #245

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From what I understand Robinhood ban people who day trade.

The SEC and FINRA (regulatory agencies) don't allow day trading for accounts with balances less than $25,000. If you exceed 3 (?) day trades in the past 5 days, your account is locked from day trading for 90 days (so if you buy a stock you will be unable to sell it that day). All exchanges enforce this rule, not just Robinhood.

I hope this gets challenged in court at some point. The rules went into effect on September 28, 2001 as a knee-jerk reaction to the dot bomb and 9/11:

http://www.finra.org/investors/day-trading-margin-requiremen...

The real story is that the plebes realized they could make 2% per day by day trading and selling short. I did this with my dad and we were up about $40k before 9/11 wiped out most people's gains (this was back when Apple stock was in the $12-20 range). Edit: my dad never sold short because he felt it was unsupportive of companies, but had he done it to balance each of the buy/sell targets I gave him, he would have been up $80k.

I remember being demoralized that I couldn't trade on margin because I would likely never be able to save $25k with my student loan and credit card debt. But if I read the rules correctly now, I don't even think you can sell short anymore unless you have $25k.

This keeps the real day trading profits back in the hands of the rich and I feel that it could/should be challenged as discrimination. Also it breaks the ZOI rule so doesn't sit right with me..

Re: Robinhood launches 3% checking account

#283

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Right, but that incentive is only substantial if you’re going to park a lot of money there, which is exactly the sort of customer they don’t want according to the comment I replied to.

They may be playing this on two sides: the more obvious one which is acquiring customers to feed their trading business, and simply trying to evolve into a financial institution, which should bolster their valuation in their inevitable IPO in 2019 or 2020. Their backers might be content to burn money for a year or so to get a larger multiplier at some point in the future.

They might be able to actually make a profit off the float in this case, too

Or maybe they're going to be able to sell people's transaction histories...

Re: Robinhood launches 3% checking account

#284
This whole checking account / savings account, credit card/ debit card system that Americans have to deal with is so cumbersome and backwards.

For Europeans that don't know: Most Americans have (at least) those two accounts, and those two cards. They usually spend from their checking account with their credit card, and save on the savings account. When they spend on their credit card, they sometimes "earn" points, depending on what agreement their bank has with the major retailers. Salary is inserted on the checking account. Some people still receive salary on old fashioned paper checks. Some people still pay in stores using paper checks. Almost everyone, has a lot of paper dollars in their wallet since there are plenty of places in which you need it. Now, on regular intervals, for example at the end of the month, Americans then transfer money from their savings account to their checking account if the salary is not enough to cover. If they forget, they pay high interests and fees. Generally speaking, it's a hassle to transfer money to people you know and fees are hefty. When you use your credit card, no pin code is usually needed. There are regularly issues with your credit card being abused.

In the three European countries I have lived in, people have one account, and one card. Depending on your agreement with the bank, it can dip into negative (in which case you pay some interest, but usually not much). If it dips below the agreed max, let's say minus EUR 5,000, then you can't withdraw more until you receive your salary or until you insert money otherwise. People have one card attached to that card. When the balance on the account is positive, it is essentially a debit card. When the balance on the account is negative, it's a credit card. Usually, no points are earned on any spending. In most of Europe, you use your pin code if you use your credit card. Where in America, you regularly spend time on the phone talking to robots and objecting to expenditures you didn't make, that's almost never the case in Europe. People transfer electronically without any fees from account to account. If you go out, and your friend pays dinner, you can transfer your half directly from your smart phone using just his phone number (so essentially just using the contacts on your phone). You don't need Apple or Google pay or similar. It's your bank's app. No fee is charged.

Re: Robinhood launches 3% checking account

#285

I think folks are overthinking this. The math itself doesn't matter. Have you seen recent Robinhood commercials popping up on TV? Their whole business is to encourage folks that should not be day trading to day trade. Having your money parked there just facilitates knee-jerk-reaction and follow-the-crowd trading.

Well, every broker is incentivized to get its customers to trade as much as possible, ie, “make you change your mind often.” This is why brokers promote real-time news, information, focus on earnings reports, etc.

Even on the institutional side, the business is setup to encourage investors to change their mind as much as possible. More trading equals more soft dollars equals getting a larger budget for research. More trading/using more esoteric products means you’ll get more help from Cap Intro to raise money. It takes a lot of restraint to invest like Buffett.

Re: Robinhood launches 3% checking account

#286
post #284

This whole checking account / savings account, credit card/ debit card system that Americans have to deal with is so cumbersome and backwards. For Europeans that don't know: Most Americans have (at least) those two accounts, and those two cards. They usually spend from their checking account with their credit card, and save on the savings account. When they spend on their credit card, they sometimes "earn" points, de…

In Colombia we have the USA system. Yes it seems arbitrary and backwards, and banks love to earn fees.

Each credit card is another monthly fee, and you can't do international (Netflix) purchases without one.

Re: Robinhood launches 3% checking account

#287

For folks trying to understand this, some context which may be useful: Checking accounts are loss leaders virtually everywhere, the exception being smaller community banks. Their primary revenue stream was, once upon a time, net interest income, but these days due to the extremely low interest environment and alternate sources of funding the revenue stream is more weighted towards fees (primarily NSFs, although that…

Why would they expect this account to be used as a high-velocity, low-balance account rather than a park-your-savings account, given the rate? I agree that the high rate is reasonable in that scenario, but the high rate is also actively fighting to ensure that scenario doesn’t happen. I don’t see people here thinking that Robinhood is bad at math. They’re all asking, “what’s the catch?” Because it sure seems like the…

The danger for the user is that the $10k or $100k they store there may be ripe for {$urgent FOMO} buy.

So Robinhood wants users to have their cash on hand ready to jump into the market. Will be too tempting to many.

Re: Robinhood launches 3% checking account

#288

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The SEC and FINRA (regulatory agencies) don't allow day trading for accounts with balances less than $25,000. If you exceed 3 (?) day trades in the past 5 days, your account is locked from day trading for 90 days (so if you buy a stock you will be unable to sell it that day). All exchanges enforce this rule, not just Robinhood.

I hope this gets challenged in court at some point. The rules went into effect on September 28, 2001 as a knee-jerk reaction to the dot bomb and 9/11: http://www.finra.org/investors/day-trading-margin-requiremen... The real story is that the plebes realized they could make 2% per day by day trading and selling short. I did this with my dad and we were up about $40k before 9/11 wiped out most people's gains (this was…

> The real story is that the plebes realized they could make 2% per day by day trading and selling short.

Can you please elaborate? I'm curious. Why was the money so "easy"? Simply because there were so many amateur traders?

Re: Robinhood launches 3% checking account

#289
> The checking and savings products are not technically bank accounts. They are separate balances held within a Robinhood brokerage account. Your checking and savings funds are not FDIC-insured, but they are protected by insurance from the Securities Investor Protection Corporation, up to $250,000 in cash, according to Robinhood's FAQs.

Is there any risk to the SIPC insurance vs FDIC-insured?

Re: Robinhood launches 3% checking account

#290

Earlier quoted context omitted.

With 3% interest, that would be where I park money. What information will they get from me other than I dumped $ in and it's sitting there?

Why have two checking accounts?

Why not? It doesn't cost anything extra except some time for the initial setup and you get a guaranteed short term return on your parked money.
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