Robinhood Streaming Quotes
Investors at Robinhood receive free real-time streaming stock quotes, also called Level I quotes.
Level II Quotes at Robinhood
Level II quotes or NASDAQ TotalView, which provide more in-depth information and used by professionals who trade for living, are available only at Robinhood
Gold account which comes with $5 monthly fee. Robinhood does not provide IRA accounts, mutual funds, bonds, dividend reinvestment plan (DRIP) and an automatic investment plan. Its main $0 commission competitor,
Ally Invest offers all of these services and more.
The lack of free Level II quotes at Robinhood is especially a disappointment when compared to some of the brokers' competitors,
who do offer this useful service for free. TD Ameritrade clients,
for example, receive Level II data at no charge. TD Ameritrade also charges $0 for stock and ETF trades.
TD Ameritrade Promotion
Open TD Ameritrade Account
Robinhood Overview
Robinhood Financial is a unique brokerage firm established in 2013. Offering stock and ETF trades for free,
it is one of the cheapest brokers in the industry.
Robinhood Stock Trading Technology
The first thing traders will notice is that the Robinhood site has little on it. There is no research or educational tools available. In fact, the broker's customers can't even place a trade on the website. All trading takes place on the broker's mobile app, which is available for Apple and Android tablets and phones. There is also a Robinhood platform for Apple Watch.
The app is fairly basic, and charting is very simple. There are no technical studies or drawing tools. In comparison, the low-cost
Firstrade has a few technical studies available on its app, and the more expensive TD Ameritrade has approximately 400 studies. Robinhood's chart cannot be displayed horizontally. A chart's line (there are no candlesticks or OHLC bars) is green if the return is up over the period shown and red if it is down.
There is no financial information displayed for a company, so security research is not possible on the app. Combined with the fact that security research is also not available on the website, the broker's customers obviously can't use the firm to do necessary stock research. Even low-cost brokers like Firstrade and Merrill Edge have educational material, at least on the website. Obviously, free trades come at a price.
Robinhood Stock Trading on the App
Using the app to place a trade is fairly simple. A search field will hunt for a stock after the user enters a company's name or ticker symbol. Clicking on a plus sign adds a stock or ETF to a watch list. Tapping on a security's name produces a simple profile page. The chart's timeline can be displayed between one day and 5 years. A 'Buy' button appears at the bottom of the profile page. Tapping on it generates a simple order ticket. There are four order types available: market, limit, stop loss, and stop limit. The app's description of a stop loss order seems somewhat confusing. The price entered on a stop loss order should be below the current market price, although the app says it should be "above the current price". The order ticket also has a field to enter any number of shares desired. Based on the current market price, the order ticket estimates how much the order will cost.
Currently, only stocks and ETF's can be traded using Robinhood. Options, bonds, and mutual funds are not available. The lack of these products will surely disappoint many investors. Short selling is also not possible.
Account Management
Both margin and non-margin accounts are available. The broker also offers a feature called Robinhood Instant. This is a semi-margin account that allows investors to trade with unsettled funds. These are proceeds from sales of stock that have not yet cleared. Also, up to $1,000 of a deposit of cash from an external bank can be used immediately in a Robinhood Instant account.
Linking a bank account is easy using the mobile app. Some banks, such as US Bank and Wells Fargo, have icons on
a banking link. Tapping on one of the icons produces a login for that bank that will link a deposit account to
the Robinhood securities account. Banks that are not listed can be added by submitting routing and account
numbers.
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