Nowadays, investing is easier thanks to mobile-app investing and fee-free trades. However, for young millennials and complete beginners in the field, what more functionality could these investing apps offer? We are all familiar with Robinhood. A heroic outlaw who steals from the rich and gives to the poor. And like the concept of the legendary hero, Robinhood App makes investing tools easily accessible to everyone. Related reads: How to Start Investing Your Money Like a Pro- The Beginner's Guide

What is Robinhood?

Robinhood is an investing app that offers zero trade commissions, fractional shares of stocks, options trading, and cryptocurrency trading. It was launched in 2013, and today has over 13 million downloads. The app is available both in Apple Store and Google Play. Robinhood is designed with mobile investing in mind, but you can also start by signing up on their website. Robinhood App provides easy trading with zero commissions. It is considered as a number one app for beginners or intermediate investors alike. One core feature that attracts potential investors is its fractional shares of stock. It means you can now buy many or more company shares even if you don't have a lot of money to get started. Also, it's gives better chances of having a diversified portfolio. Of course, the main perk of zero trade commissions and no account minimum is the major unique proposition of the app. As always, nothing beats free. But, is it worth it? Let me guide you on getting started with Robinhood and explore its cool features in this Robinhood App Review article.

How does the Robinhood App work?

Robinhood is a simple app and seamless to use. You can sign up either on their website or download the app on your phone. The user interface of the app is easy to navigate and easy to use, a beginner investor can easily get the hang of it. Right off the bat upon signing up, you'll be awarded a free stock. Moreover, you must be:

• At least 18 years old or higher
• Have a valid Social Security Number
• Have a legal U.S. residential addressÂ
• Be a U.S. citizen, U.S. permanent resident, or have a valid U.S. visa

For technology requirements, you need iOS devices running iOS 11 and newer while Android devices, should be running 6.0 Marshmallow and newer. If you want it on a desktop browser, the app supports Chrome, Safari, Firefox, and Edge; and works on both Macs and PCs. Once you're done signing up and submitting application forms, Robinhood will ask for your level of investment experience. It is so that the app can know your investment risks. Afterward, you need to deposit some money. There's no charge to move money in and out of Robinhood, as there's no minimum requirement to fund your account, but insurance covers up to $500,000 only. Additionally, there's no annual and inactivity fee, even ACH (Automated Clearing House) Transfer Fees. (This is when you want to transfer your investments to another broker). Finally, link your bank account and start trading. Related reads: 18 Unique Ways To Create Passive Income and Boost Your Cash Flow

Features

Price	0
Fees	None
Tradeable Securities	Stocks, ETFs, Options, Cryptocurrency, Fractional Shares
Accounts	Individual Taxable Accounts only
Other Features	Cash Management, Instant Access to Fund, Recurring Investments, Dividend Reinvestment, Referral Program
Premium Account	Robinhood Gold ($5/monthly)
Platform	Mobile and Web
Educational Tools	Analysis ratings, P/E ratio, Dividend Yield, 1-5 year Company Financial Performance
Customer Support	Email, Social Media
Security	Face and Fingerprint recognition, two-factor authentication

Robinhood Gold ($5/monthly)

Now, if you want to get the most out of Robinhood App, it has what is called The Robinhood Gold. It is a premium feature of Robinhood which offers extensive features such as Margin Loans, Premium Articles, and Larger Instant Deposits.

Margin Loans

If you avail of the Robinhood premium, you get access to $1,000 margin loans. It is when you want to invest with borrowed money. Investing on Margin gives you more flexibility, extra buying power, and less time waiting to access your deposited funds However, this is too risky. Therefore, you must determine whether this type of trading strategy is right for you, given the specific investment objectives, experience, risk tolerance, and financial situation. Also, if it's over $1,000, you'll be charged 2.5% annual interest and you must pay the money back too.

Larger Instant Deposits

For gold premium, you also have immediate access to your funds or can deposit $5,000 – $50,000 when you make a deposit, depending on your account balance.

Morningstar Reports

Furthermore, as a gold member, you'll receive professional premium articles and unlimited access to in-depth stock research reports. There's Level II Quotations NASDAQ which is a faster updated quotation if you are looking at micro price moves of stocks and ETFs.

Cash Management

Mobile Investing plus Mobile Banking? Yes! Cash Management is an added feature of Robinhood which is a high-yield savings account around 0.30% APY, but of course, it might change at any time. Aside from that, it comes with free ATM withdrawals. It is ideal if you want to limit costs, since your investing and banking needs are all in one place. There are no overdrafts, account minimums, transfer fees, nor foreign transaction fees, etc. It also comes with an optional debit card (physical card or as a virtual card) that can be used with Apple Pay, Google Pay, or Samsung Pay.

Recurring Investments and DRIP

With Robinhood, you can also set schedule and invest automatically. You can also take advantage of DRIP ( Dividend Reinvestment) to boost the compounding effect of your investments

Referral Program

Spread the word and earn a reward stock for both of you and your referee. There is a stock reward lof up to $500 in stocks per year.

Options Trading

As said earlier, Options Trading is available in Robinhood with zero commission fee. Options trading entails significant risk and is not appropriate for all investors. To give you a short and simple explanation of what Options Trading is, think of it this way: An investor has risk. But, he's willing to pay someone to take away his risk and the person who gets paid now assumes his risk. Essentially, you don't have to own stock to trade options and they aren't actually physical pieces of paper. It's all done virtually; you can trade them in and out of the market within a few milliseconds t the click of your mouse.

Cryptocurrency

Calling all crypto traders (virtual assets) out there! Now, there's an easy way to trade. You can trade Bitcoin, Ethereum, Dogecoin, and other cryptocurrencies 24/7 and commission-free using Robinhood Crypto.

Does Robinhood have hidden fees?

Although Robinhood is upfront with their ads of fee-free trades, as a consumer and an investor, know that if you don't pay for anything, means you are the product. You must be aware of miscellaneous fees too. For instance, here are the following examples:

• Wire fees to send or receive – $25 for domestic wires and $50 for international wires.
• Check fees of $35 to send a domestic check overnight.
• Live broker fee of $10 per transaction, (obviously, this is the least practiced today).
• Robinhood Gold Premium Subscription of $5/monthly.
• ACAT outgoing transfer fee of $75
• $2,000 minimum portfolio balance for margin account of Robinhood Gold, (Not a fee, but a requirement minimum).

Is Robinhood App legit?

Robinhood is a legit investing platform app. It has been around since 2013 and is continuously expanding its product features. It has over 13 million downloads on mobile. Robinhood allows you to purchase fractional stock shares of $1 per share and $1 increments of cryptocurrency trading. If ever Robinhood goes bankrupt one day, your money, the value of your investment portfolio, as well as any cash you have in reserve is SIPC (Securities Investor Protection Corporation) insured so don't worry and it's unlikely to happen anytime soon.

How do I get my money out of Robinhood?

To withdraw your money from the app, you must wait three business days, depending on your bank, and there is no fee to withdraw.

What is the catch with Robinhood?

The only catch I found is that Robinhood sells your data to high-frequency and algorithmic traders. They use this data to determine whether you're a scrub retail investor so they can figure out what the big institutional traders are doing. In addition, the US Securities and Exchange Commission has fined Robinhood $65 million over its failure to fully disclose its practice of selling clients' orders to market makers. This has been controversial for a while due to business model ethics, and if you're a newbie investor, you might not get the best price for a particular stock due to market makers. If you're wondering how Robinhood makes profit despite offering its service for almost free, here's how. First, from the interest on your cash management account, from payment for order flow, and from the interest on margin loans for Robinhood Gold.

Pros and Cons

Indeed, there's a lot to love about using Robinhood, but there's also some areas for improvement.

PROS	CONS
Fractional shares – $1 per share	No mutual funds and bonds
Cryptocurrency Trading – $1 increments	No ROTH IRA, Joint Accounts, or any retirement accounts
Zero Trade Commissions, no fees for trading stocks	Not enough educational and research tools
Easy to use mobile app
Simple and convenient for beginning investors

Alternatives

When it comes to mobile investing, Robinhood is not the only one around. Check out:

• M1 Finance (See full review here.)
• Betterment

Final Thoughts

If you're someone who wants to keep your portfolio in your pocket and have assets available in a single click, Robinhood is the right investing app for you. It also offers customized news and notifications to fully engage you in your investing journey. There is also the app called the Robinhood Snacks – bite-sized educational blogs and articles to help you get basic knowledge of investing. Although in this area, Robinhood is limited. It can provide you with analysis ratings, “people also bought” view, recommendation section, and about company bios. In addition to that, you'll get stocks statistics, high and lows, market caps, and dividend yield information. On the app mobile app, you'll also see candlesticks and charting for stocks. In retrospect, Robinhood is a good app for budding investors. Although some features are limited and the issue that you might not be getting the best price for a stock due to market makers intervention, think about the free features it offers and the cost it can save you. How about you? Have you used Robinhood? What is your experience so far? Share it with us in the comments down below. If you have any questions, feel free to comment too. We hope this Robinhood App Review helped you gain insight about useful apps for investing your money.