Robinhood doesn’t have an account minimum, which means investors can get started right away. Of course, in order to invest, you’ll need enough to purchase the investment you have your eye on.
Robinhood provides 100% commission-free stock, options, ETF and cryptocurrency trades, making it attractive to investors who trade frequently. Still, these days many big-name brokers also offer free trades, so it makes sense to compare other features when picking a broker.
Robinhood’s commitment to low-cost trading is especially apparent in its options trading offering — Robinhood is among the handful of brokers that don’t charge a per-contract fee.
One of the biggest fees Robinhood charges is the $100 outgoing ACAT transfer fee — that cost is on the high end. (An ACAT transfer is when you want to transfer your investments to another broker; there's no fee for selling your investments and having the money transferred via ACH to your bank.)
Robinhood also puts a sort of penalty on IRA withdrawals, beyond the IRS's penalties: if you take money out of a Robinhood IRA after less than five years, Robinhood will take back the corresponding amount of the 1% match that you withdrew.
Robinhood Gold, the broker's premium account tier, costs $5 per month.
Robinhood's free accounts pay investors an annual interest rate of 1.5% on uninvested cash — which, although not astronomical, is still higher than the default interest rate at many other brokers. However, Gold accounts earn 5% per year or uninvested cash — hence Robinhood's high rating for this category.