from Hacker News

Robinhood: At a Play Store Near You

by busterc on 8/13/15, 1:33 PM with 45 comments

  • by acyacy on 8/13/15, 2:59 PM

    Robin Hood is dangerous for the young millennial. Short term trading is really risky and if you have some cash saved up it can make a big difference in the longer term if you don't blow it up or lose it. Being young matters.

    If you're in Australia and looking for something longer term access to Berkshire Hathaway shares or ETFs https://getfirststep.com is another service too [no individual shares] its more like wealthfront/betterment/acorns.

    They fractionalise the investment so you don't need huge amounts which is quite nice.

  • by larrythedog on 8/13/15, 2:12 PM

    The way they market this app makes me pretty concerned. It seems like they're advocating short-term trading -- pretty risky behavior. I guess they don't explicitly do this, but the nature of a mobile-only platform, with what looks like no portfolio/risk analysis tools screams short term. Also, the only real reason a commission-free account would be helpful is if you're trading pretty frequently or in very small amounts. I'd rather pay $10/trade for something like Fidelity, Etrade, or the like, and have access to some mediocre portfolio analysis, risk analysis, and research tools, than have only a Buy/Sell button. However, I'd bet that uninformed investors would see this deal and jump right in without considering these things.

    I guess my TLDR here is that a trading platform's selling point (for the general public) should be tools first, price second; not price first, aesthetics second.

  • by yummyfajitas on 8/13/15, 2:26 PM

    I just installed Robinhood. $0 commissions is a pretty nice rate, so I'll probably transfer my IRA to them. (For prop trading I'm on IB.)

    But why such a user hostile interface? It's almost as if this thing is made for a techcrunch press release rather than actual use. When signing up, I can't tilt the screen into "I have big thumbs" mode. And mobile-only trading - no webapp. It also only asks me to type my password once on my mobile device, with my fat thumbs. I'm sure that this sounds great to a techcrunch journalist who only has a 401k - "mobile trading for the flexible millenial workforce" - but it's pretty terrible for anyone who actually wants to make real trades.

    Also simply lovely; I look at a stock chart in the mobile app, and I can't see data older than 1 year. The default is 1 day. But I can watch SPY's last price ticking up and down in realtime, woot! I'm sure I'll also get push notifications for trades. (Disclaimer: I haven't tried to trade yet).

    I really hope this is a "lean startup" only beta and will be rapidly improved. Right now, the price tag is the only good thing about it.

  • by fixxer on 8/13/15, 4:13 PM

    Does anyone else have concerns about the linked bank account? I refuse to give up credentials.

  • by tvanantwerp on 8/13/15, 2:03 PM

    I may be alone here, but I feel a little uncomfortable trading stocks solely on a mobile device. Maybe I'm just having an old man moment, but I'd rather do something like this on the desktop with easier simultaneous access to data and research.

  • by Someone1234 on 8/13/15, 3:13 PM

    I read the "How we make our money" page, and if I am reading it right, they only make money on the uninvested balances? It is free ($0) to invest and free to de-vest ($0, 0%), is that right? Seems too good to be true...

    Also how legal is this company? I've read about small StartUps based on the stock market who then wind up getting in trouble with the FTC.

    Honestly if this is free investment, then I might start doing some micro-investment. I am been put off the stock market by the overheads of investing/de-vesting (e.g. $20/trade). Although the hassle of filing taxes might still put me off.

  • by LukeB_UK on 8/13/15, 2:29 PM

    It says this is incompatible with all my devices, I have a Nexus 4 and a Nexus 7. Is it because I'm in the UK?

  • by kcbanner on 8/13/15, 2:08 PM

    I have an HTC One ( the first one ) and this app is listed as incompatible. How do I find out why?

  • by omouse on 8/13/15, 5:52 PM

    Robinhood is limited to users in America right?

  • by quiet-observer on 8/13/15, 2:53 PM

    best app ever