Overview of Robinhood and J.P. Morgan Chase
Robinhood and J.P. Morgan Self-Directed Investing both make for a good comparison because both firms emphasize low-cost trading with minimal
services in return. This article will attempt to figure out which one is the better bet.
Cost
| Broker Fees |
Stock/ETF
Commission |
Mutual Fund
Commission |
Options
Commission |
Maintenance
Fee |
Annual IRA
Fee |
|
Robinhood
|
$0
|
na
|
$0 per contract
|
$0
|
na
|
|
Chase
|
$0
|
$0
|
$0 per contract
|
$0
|
$0
|
|
WeBull
|
$0
|
na
|
$0 per contract
|
$0
|
$0
|
Services
| Broker Review |
Cost |
Investment Products |
Trading Tools |
Customer Service |
Research |
Overall Rating |
|
Robinhood
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Chase
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
WeBull
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Promotions
Robinhood: Get one FREE stock when you open an account.
Webull:
3 FREE stocks valued $3-$3,000 give-away at Webull.
Chase:
Commission-free online stock and ETF trades.
Customer Support
Robinhood traders can reach a company rep during market hours. These are 9:30 am till 4:00 pm, New York time. Because there are no market hours on the weekend or on holidays, the broker-dealer is closed during these times. If you plan to call the company, be sure to use your cell phone because its number is not toll-free. We were further disappointed not to find any branch locations or an online chat feature.
J.P. Morgan Chase performs a little better here. The brokerage firm’s hours are 8:00 am till 9:00 pm, Eastern Standard Time, Monday through Friday. Unlike Robinhood, J.P. Morgan Chase offers a Saturday session, which is 9 to 5. There is no chat service on the J.P. Morgan Chase site, and there are currently zero branch locations. But with one of America’s largest bank networks, maybe in the future Chase will add some J.P. Morgan Chase services at some locations.
Trading Software
This is going to be another weak category for both companies. During our testing, we found J.P. Morgan Chase’s website to be very basic. It doesn’t have a trade bar or browser platform. Moreover, Chase does not yet have a desktop platform, so all trading takes place on the website, which as we mentioned, isn’t very developed.
Order forms on the J.P. Morgan Chase site are fairly simple. There is no ability to route orders to specific exchanges. We found only four order types (market, limit, stop, and stop limit). Time-in-force options include day and on-close. Bonds and mutual funds have a similarly simple interface.
Charting on the J.P. Morgan Chase site isn’t much better. A stock’s profile overview has a very small chart with three time scales (1 day, 3 months, and 1 year). There are no tools of any kind here. A chart tab has been added to allow for more in-depth charting. However, a chart here cannot be displayed full screen. We counted only 20 technical studies and 0 drawing tools. Company events are available, as are comparisons. There are 4 graph styles.
Charting on Robinhood is somewhat less developed. There are only 2 graph styles on the mobile platform and only 1 on the website. Forget about company events, technical indicators, or comparisons. You would be better off using a free service like MarketWatch or Google.
As for trading, the broker’s ticket is equally simple. There is no direct-access routing of course. There are 2 time-in-force options (GTC and day). We found market, limit, and stop orders.
One trading feature on the Robinhood site that we do like is the ‘Price Paid’ feature. This shows what the broker’s clients have recently been paying for a stock or ETF and then compares it to what traders elsewhere have been paying.
Mobile Platforms
Neither broker-dealer has forgotten about the busy lives their customers undoubtedly live. Securities can be traded on mobile platforms, but we found neither to be very sophisticated. The Robinhood app is a carbon copy of the broker’s website. The same interface and features are present (charting comes with one extra style). We didn’t find bill pay, mobile check deposit, or streaming video news.
J.P. Morgan Chase’s app is the Chase app, but several features were missing inside our brokerage account. There is no mobile check deposit, nor is there any bill pay or even funds transfer. The app’s trade ticket is very simple. Account information and statements are available.
Apple Watch users can use Robinhood’s watch platform to submit orders and access price information on stocks and ETF’s. J.P. Morgan Chase has not rolled out anything in this department yet.
Mutual Funds and ETF’s
J.P. Morgan Chase clients can trade any of the 2,614 mutual funds that appear on the broker’s platform. All of them have zero transaction fee and zero load. While this list is rather small judged by industry standards, it is actually larger than Robinhood’s. The broker does not offer any mutual funds, and we hope this changes in the future. Both firms offer ETF trading.
Research and Education
Traders who need research or educational tools will be disappointed with either brokerage house. We did find market news in the form of links on both platforms. The J.P. Morgan Chase site displays market indices and news articles from Comtex. Robinhood has links to multiple sources.
For security research, both platforms are fairly limited. The Robinhood app shows volume, P/E ratio, 52-week range, and dividend yield. Earnings history of an entered symbol is also shown. A link to a company’s most recent earnings announcement is included. We were disappointed not to find any screeners on either of Robinhood’s trading platforms.
J.P. Morgan Chase is very deficient in this category as well, although less so than Robinhood. There are screeners for mutual funds, ETF’s, and bonds. Market movers are shown. News for a specific stock can be found by entering the appropriate ticker symbol. A stock’s profile page is more in-depth than what we found at Robinhood.
Promotions
Robinhood: Get one FREE stock when you open an account.
Firstrade: Get 2 FREE stocks and $0 commission in ALL trades!
Chase:
Commission-free online stock and ETF trades.
Recommendation
For mutual fund traders, we’re obviously going to suggest J.P. Morgan Chase over Robinhood for reasons
already discussed. We also recommend J.P. Morgan Chase for bond traders, since Robinhood doesn’t offer
those securities. On the flip side, we propose Robinhood for cryptocurrencies because J.P. Morgan Chase
hasn’t yet added those products.
Neither broker would be ideal for beginners, although J.P. Morgan Chase has slightly better customer service and learning materials. Traders who need good charting should choose J.P. Morgan Chase over Robinhood.
Active traders would receive good commissions at either firm. Retirement savers should definitely go
with J.P. Morgan Chase, as Robinhood doesn’t offer IRA’s.
JP Morgan Chase vs Robinhood - Results
J.P. Morgan Chase and Robinhood
offer ultra-low-cost trading, but this comes at a price as neither broker has much else to bring to the table. Most investors will
be better off with another $0-commission broker called Webull (review).
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