How Does Robinhood Work? Complete Guide to the Robinhood App

Last Updated: November 3, 2026

Quick Answer: The Robinhood app is an investing and trading app from Robinhood Markets (NASDAQ: HOOD) that lets US customers buy and sell stocks, ETFs, options, futures, cryptocurrencies and prediction market event contracts from one account, with no commission on US stock and ETF trades and investing from $1. Robinhood works like an online brokerage on your phone or computer: you open an account, add money from a bank, pick an asset and place an order, while Robinhood earns money mainly from market maker rebates (payment for order flow), interest on customer cash and margin loans, event contract and crypto trading, and its $5 a month Gold subscription. In its third quarter 2026 results, published on October 27, Robinhood reported 28.7 million funded customers and $396 billion in total platform assets.

Key Takeaways

• What it is: a US brokerage and crypto app for stocks, ETFs, options, futures, more than 90 cryptocurrencies and prediction markets, with $0 commissions on US stocks, ETFs and their options and a $1 minimum to start
• Scale: 28.7 million funded customers, $396 billion in platform assets, 5.2 million Gold subscribers and a record $1.42 billion in revenue in the third quarter of 2026
• How it makes money: $867 million from trading in Q3 2026 (options $399 million, event contracts $173 million, equities $121 million, crypto $120 million), $415 million in net interest and $142 million in other revenue, including Gold subscriptions and Trump Account services
• Robinhood Gold ($5 a month): 3.6% APY on eligible brokerage cash, a 3% IRA contribution match, discounted index options and futures fees, margin at 4.2% to 5.25% after the first $1,000 interest-free, and access to Robinhood Banking
• Protection: SIPC covers securities and cash up to $500,000 (including $250,000 in cash), with extra Lloyd’s of London coverage; swept cash is eligible for FDIC insurance up to $2.5 million ($5 million for joint accounts); crypto and futures are not covered by SIPC or FDIC
• Outside the US: EU customers get more than 2,000 Classic Stock Tokens, 90+ crypto assets and perpetual futures with up to 10x leverage; crypto trading launched in the UK in Q3 2026, and a Middle East rollout from Dubai is planned for 2027
• Coming next: at HOOD Summit on September 29, 2026, Robinhood announced Robinhood Agents, crypto perpetual futures for eligible US customers (still a planned offering in its October 27 results) and weekend trading in select US stocks from early 2027

What Is Robinhood?

Robinhood is a US financial services company, Robinhood Markets, Inc. (NASDAQ: HOOD), based in Menlo Park, California, and the Robinhood app is its main product: a mobile and web platform for investing, trading, retirement saving, crypto and, for Gold members, banking. Vlad Tenev and Baiju Bhatt founded Robinhood in 2013, and its app, launched in 2015, popularized commission-free stock trading in the US.

In November 2026, one Robinhood account can hold stocks, ETFs, options, futures, crypto and prediction market positions. Robinhood also runs managed portfolios (Robinhood Strategies), retirement accounts with a match, credit cards, a self-custody crypto wallet and its own blockchain, Robinhood Chain, and it owns Bitstamp, the global crypto exchange behind more than half of Robinhood’s crypto trading volume in Q3 2026. Robinhood completed its acquisition of Bitstamp in 2025.

Robinhood’s US products come from separate regulated subsidiaries: Robinhood Financial, a registered broker-dealer and SIPC member, for stocks, ETFs and options; Robinhood Derivatives, a CFTC-registered futures commission merchant, for futures and event contracts; Robinhood Crypto, licensed by the New York State Department of Financial Services, for crypto; and Robinhood Asset Management, an SEC-registered investment adviser, for Robinhood Strategies.

What Are the Main Features of Robinhood? Investment Services Overview

Robinhood’s main features in November 2026 are spread across these investment platforms and services:

• Self-directed investing: stocks, ETFs, options and IPO Access, with $0 commissions on US stocks, ETFs and their options
• Trading tools: the Robinhood app and Robinhood Legend, an advanced trading platform on desktop and mobile at no added cost
• Crypto: trading in 91 coins in the US app, staking for some coins, transfers, the separate self-custody Robinhood Wallet and Robinhood Chain
• Derivatives: futures and prediction market event contracts through Robinhood Derivatives
• Managed portfolios: Robinhood Strategies, from $50, for 0.25% of assets a year
• Retirement: Traditional and Roth IRAs with a 1% match on contributions, or 3% with Gold
• Cash, banking and credit: a brokerage cash sweep, Robinhood Banking for Gold members, the Robinhood Gold Card with 3% cash back and a Platinum Card
• Other accounts: joint, custodial and trust accounts, plus custody of Trump Accounts for children
• Private markets: Robinhood Ventures Fund I (RVI) and Robinhood Ventures Fund II (RVII), which have invested in private companies such as Crusoe and Cognition and in Y Combinator startups

How Robinhood Works: The Basics

Investing with Robinhood works in four steps: open an account, fund it, choose an investment and place an order, then track and manage what you own. This is how to invest using Robinhood as a US customer in November 2026:

1. Open an account. Download the Robinhood app for iOS or Android, or sign up at robinhood.com, and enter your personal details, including your Social Security number, for identity verification. You need to be at least 18 to open your own account; parents can open custodial accounts for children, and two people can open a joint account.
2. Fund your account. Link a bank account and deposit cash; Robinhood’s fee schedule lists no fee for deposits. Instant deposits let you invest before a bank transfer settles, and Gold members can get instant deposits of up to three times their portfolio value. You can also move an IRA, an old 401(k) or crypto from another wallet into Robinhood.
3. Choose an investment and place an order. Search for a stock, ETF, coin, option, futures contract or event contract, enter an amount in dollars or units, choose an order type such as a market or limit order, and confirm. Stocks and crypto can be bought from $1.
4. Track, manage and withdraw. Follow positions, charts and news in the app or in Robinhood Legend, and withdraw cash to your bank. Standard bank transfers carry no fee on Robinhood’s fee schedule, while instant withdrawals to a bank or debit card cost up to 1.75% (minimum $1, maximum $150).

How Trading on Robinhood Works

Robinhood trading happens in the Robinhood app or in Robinhood Legend. When you place a stock or ETF order, Robinhood’s smart order router sends most orders to market makers, which pay Robinhood rebates to compete with exchanges for the trades, and a small share to exchanges, according to Robinhood’s explanation of how it makes money. Trading hours on Robinhood depend on the asset:

• US stocks and ETFs: regular and extended market hours, plus the 24 Hour Market, where hundreds of popular stocks and ETFs trade commission-free 24 hours a day, five days a week
• Weekend stock trading: Robinhood said on September 29, 2026 that weekend trading in select US stocks would arrive in early 2027
• Crypto: 24 hours a day, seven days a week
• Futures: nearly 24 hours a day, from 6 p.m. to 5 p.m. ET for stock index contracts, while contracts with 24/7 hours stay open around the clock

Options trading needs approval. Robinhood warns that options are high risk: buyers can lose their whole investment quickly, and some complex strategies can lose more than the amount invested.

Can You Use Robinhood on a PC or Mac?

Yes. Robinhood works in a web browser at robinhood.com, so customers can use it on a Windows PC or a Mac; Robinhood calls the browser version web classic. Robinhood Legend, its advanced trading platform, runs on desktop and mobile at no added cost, and its charts are also available in the mobile app. The main Robinhood app is for iOS and Android phones.

What Can You Trade on Robinhood in 2026?

The types of investments available on Robinhood in the US in November 2026 are stocks, ETFs, options, futures, cryptocurrencies, prediction market event contracts, managed portfolios, retirement accounts, IPO shares through IPO Access and Robinhood Ventures funds. The table below summarizes each type and is based on Blockchainreporter’s review of Robinhood’s US product, pricing and support pages on November 3, 2026.

Availability depends on where you live. Some coins are restricted in New York and Texas, and products outside the US are different, as the regional table further down shows.

What Are the Most Popular Investment Options on Robinhood?

By trading activity, stocks and options are the most popular investments on Robinhood. In the third quarter of 2026, customers traded a record $992 billion in equities and a record 905 million options contracts, and options produced Robinhood’s largest trading revenue, $399 million. Prediction markets were the fastest-growing category, with a record 16.4 billion event contracts, while crypto volume fell 38% to $50 billion. This guide does not rank or recommend individual stocks.

Stocks and ETFs

Robinhood offers commission-free trading in US-listed stocks and ETFs, and its fee schedule also lists $0 commissions for closed-end funds and OTC securities. Fractional trading lets customers invest from $1 in companies with high share prices, such as Amazon or Alphabet.

Robinhood’s 24 Hour Market lets customers trade hundreds of popular stocks and ETFs 24 hours a day, five days a week, so they can react to news and earnings outside regular hours. Robinhood’s trading page does not publish a fixed list of 24 Hour Market stocks. At HOOD Summit on September 29, 2026, Robinhood announced 24/7 trading of select US equities, with weekend trading due in early 2027.

Sellers pay small regulatory fees that Robinhood passes through: the SEC fee of $20.60 per $1 million sold (effective April 4, 2026, and not charged on equity sales of $500 or less) and FINRA’s trading activity fee, which FINRA has paused from October 1 to December 31, 2026.

Stock Tokens: In the European Union, the Robinhood app offers more than 2,000 Classic Stock Tokens linked to US stocks and ETFs such as NVIDIA, Apple, Alphabet and the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF. Robinhood describes them as derivative contracts between the customer and Robinhood that track the price of the underlying security without giving any rights to it, and warns that investors may lose their full capital. Separately, the Stock Tokens on Robinhood Chain are tokenized debt securities issued by Robinhood Assets (Jersey) Limited and are not available in the US, Canada, the UK or Switzerland. For background, see our guide to what tokenized stocks are.

Options

Robinhood charges no commission on stock and ETF options. Customers pay a combined options regulatory and OCC clearing fee of $0.04 per contract, plus FINRA’s trading activity fee on sales when it applies. Robinhood warns that options can lose their entire value quickly and that complex strategies can lose more than the original amount.

Index options cost more. Robinhood charges $0.50 per index options contract, or $0.35 with Gold, plus exchange fees that range from $0 to $0.75 per contract depending on the index and premium, for example $0.57 to $0.66 for SPX. Robinhood offers index options on SPX, NDX, RUT, VIX, XSP and other indexes. Buying 10 SPX contracts with a premium of $1 or more costs about $12.00 in fees without Gold and $10.50 with Gold, counting the Robinhood fee, the exchange fee and the $0.04 regulatory and clearing fee.

Futures

Robinhood offers futures to US customers through Robinhood Derivatives, a CFTC-registered futures commission merchant. Its futures page lists stock index, energy, currency, metals and crypto contracts, including E-mini, Micro and Nano versions of the S&P 500, Nasdaq-100, Dow and Russell 2000 futures, which trade nearly 24 hours a day from 6 p.m. to 5 p.m. ET. Gold members pay $0.50 per contract, and exchange, NFA and subscription fees apply on top of commissions.

Perpetual futures: In the EU, Robinhood offers perpetual futures on ETFs, commodities, currencies and crypto with up to 10x leverage. In the US, perpetual futures are still planned. Robinhood announced crypto perpetual futures for eligible US customers at HOOD Summit on September 29, 2026, and its October 27 results still describe the US product as a planned offering.

Futures and perpetual futures use leverage, which can magnify losses, and futures held through Robinhood Derivatives are not protected by SIPC or FDIC insurance.

Cryptocurrency

Robinhood Crypto lists 91 coins for trading in the US app, from Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), XRP, Solana (SOL) and Dogecoin (DOGE) to stablecoins such as USDC, according to its coin availability table on November 3, 2026. Availability varies by state: 33 of those coins are not offered in New York, and USDC and Global Dollar (USDG) are not offered in Texas.

Crypto trades 24/7 on Robinhood from $1. US customers can buy, sell and transfer coins, stake some of them, and use the separate self-custody Robinhood Wallet app, which supports transfers and swaps of some crypto that the main app does not offer.

Crypto fees and spreads: Robinhood offers two ways to route crypto orders. Market maker routing is the default for standard app trades; Robinhood does not list a separate fee or spread for it, and it receives variable volume rebates from trading venues. With exchange routing, available in the app and in Robinhood Legend, Robinhood charges a visible fee of 0.00% to 0.95% that falls as your 30-day trading volume rises, with a lower maker fee for some limit orders. Robinhood says all-in costs may be higher or lower with either method and that neither guarantees better execution.

Robinhood Chain: Robinhood Chain is a permissionless layer 2 blockchain developed on Arbitrum’s infrastructure for financial services and tokenized real-world assets, including Stock Tokens. In the third quarter of 2026, its first quarter on mainnet, Robinhood said the chain handled more than $80 billion in decentralized exchange volume and generated more than $50 million in chain fees, making it a top-five chain by revenue and volume.

Crypto trading has cooled at Robinhood. Crypto revenue fell 55% from a year earlier to $120 million in Q3 2026, and crypto volume in the Robinhood app fell 48% to $21 billion. On November 3, 2026, Bitcoin traded at about $76,897 on CoinMarketCap at 10:40 UTC, down 3.5% over seven days, and the Crypto Fear and Greed Index from alternative.me read 26 (Fear) on November 3, down from 37 a day earlier.

Robinhood’s crypto lineup also differs by region. Robinhood EU listed Floki Inu in April 2025, and a January 2024 report looked at on-chain data on Robinhood’s Shiba Inu and Bitcoin holdings.

Prediction Markets

Robinhood’s prediction markets hub lets US customers trade event contracts, whose value depends on whether an event happens. Prices are shown in cents or as percentages, which reflect how likely traders think an outcome is. In November 2026, the hub lists contracts on sports (NFL, NBA, NHL, college football and basketball, soccer, tennis, golf, MMA and more), economics, politics and elections, crypto, climate, metals, commodities, entertainment, technology and financial markets. Event contracts are offered by Robinhood Derivatives, LLC, a registered futures commission merchant.

Prediction markets are Robinhood’s fastest-growing business. Customers traded a record 16.4 billion event contracts in Q3 2026, more than seven times as many as a year earlier, and event contract revenue rose more than sixfold to $173 million, overtaking crypto’s $120 million. Robinhood opened its prediction markets hub in March 2025 with contracts on Federal Reserve rate decisions and college basketball tournaments, and by November 2025 more than 1 million customers had traded 9 billion contracts, according to Robinhood.

To run its own venue, Robinhood formed a joint venture with Susquehanna International Group that bought MIAXdx, a CFTC-licensed exchange and clearinghouse; the deal closed on January 20, 2026, with MIAX keeping a 10% stake. Robinhood said the venture, Rothera, passed $100 million in annualized revenue in its first full quarter, Q3 2026, with more than 6.4 billion contracts traded since launch. In September 2026, Robinhood also teamed up with Crypto.com and OG.com to expand access to prediction markets.

An event contract that settles against you is worth nothing, so you can lose the full amount you paid for it.

Robinhood Gold: Is It Worth It?

Robinhood Gold is a $5 a month subscription, billed every 30 days after a 30-day free trial, that adds higher interest on cash, a bigger IRA match, cheaper contract fees and access to Robinhood Banking. These are Gold’s main benefits in November 2026, according to Robinhood’s Gold page and its fee pages:

Whether Robinhood Gold pays for itself depends on how much cash you keep at Robinhood and how you use it. As an illustration, $10,000 of swept cash at 3.6% APY would earn about $360 a year before tax, against about $60 a year in Gold fees, and a Gold member who contributes the full $7,500 to an IRA in 2026 gets a $225 match instead of $75. Rates are variable, the full IRA match requires keeping Gold for a year and the assets in the IRA for five years, and this example is not a recommendation.

New 2026 Features

Robinhood launched or expanded these products in 2026, according to its newsroom and its October 27 third quarter report:

• HOOD Summit (September 29, 2026): Robinhood Agents and Agent Apps, earnings contracts in the prediction markets hub, crypto perpetual futures for eligible US customers (still planned) and 24/7 trading of select US equities, with weekend trading due in early 2027
• Agentic Trading: by the end of Q3 2026, about 200,000 customers had opened Agentic Trading accounts, in which AI agents trade from a dedicated account, with more than $1.6 billion in notional volume
• Robinhood Chain and Rothera: Robinhood’s own blockchain completed its first quarter on mainnet, and Rothera, its exchange venture with Susquehanna, passed $100 million in annualized revenue (details in the crypto and prediction markets sections above)
• Robinhood Banking: nearly $5 billion in deposits from more than 350,000 funded customers, about 40% of them with direct deposit
• Trump Accounts: Robinhood custodies Trump Account assets; the U.S. Treasury’s automatic enrollment had set up accounts for nearly 70 million children, about 25 million of them with $250 invested, and October net deposits topped $13 billion month to date, including $6 billion from the Dell family’s contribution to Trump Accounts
• Trust accounts: more than $300 million in assets, with an average account above $400,000
• Credit cards: the Robinhood Gold Card reached 1.3 million customers and more than $19 billion in annualized payment volume; Robinhood’s product menu now also lists a Platinum Card and an Agentic Credit Card
• Robinhood Social and Cortex: a social product for investors and Gold’s AI insights tool, both listed among Robinhood’s products
• International: crypto trading in the UK, authorization from the Dubai Financial Services Authority with a regional headquarters in the Dubai International Financial Centre, and a new Toronto office for Robinhood Canada

What Changed Since 2025

• Customers: funded customers rose from 26.8 million in Q3 2025 to 28.7 million in Q3 2026, and Gold subscribers from 3.9 million to 5.2 million
• Prediction markets: from 9 billion contracts in the year to November 2025 to 16.4 billion contracts in Q3 2026 alone
• Crypto: Robinhood bought Bitstamp in 2025, but its crypto revenue fell 55% year over year in Q3 2026
• IRA limits: the contribution limit rose from $7,000 in 2025 to $7,500 in 2026 ($8,000 to $8,600 at age 50 and over), lifting the maximum Gold match from $210 to $225
• Cash protection: Robinhood’s sweep terms put FDIC coverage on swept cash at up to $2.5 million for individual accounts and $5 million for joint accounts as of January 15, 2025, above the $2.25 million figure older guides cite
• Managed portfolios: Robinhood Strategies, whose track record starts on January 31, 2025, had more than $2 billion in assets by Q3 2026

How Many Customers Does Robinhood Have? Q3 2026 Results

Robinhood had 28.7 million funded customers at the end of September 2026, up 1.9 million (7%) from a year earlier, according to its third quarter 2026 results, published on October 27, 2026 and filed with the SEC. Total platform assets, the value of the equities, options, crypto, futures and other assets customers hold on Robinhood, reached $396 billion.

The October 27 release did not give a date for Robinhood’s fourth quarter 2026 report; results, webcasts and transcripts are posted on Robinhood’s investor relations site, investors.robinhood.com. For more on the quarter, read our report on Robinhood’s Q3 2026 crypto revenue and record results.

How Robinhood Makes Money

Robinhood makes money even though most stock and ETF trades are commission-free. In the third quarter of 2026, Robinhood earned $1.42 billion in revenue from three sources: transaction-based revenue from trading ($867 million), net interest ($415 million) and other revenue ($142 million).

1. Payment for order flow (rebates). Robinhood’s smart order router sends most stock and ETF orders to market makers, which pay Robinhood rebates to compete with exchanges for the trades, and Robinhood is also paid by exchanges when its orders provide liquidity. This is usually called payment for order flow, and it is how $0 commission trades still earn Robinhood money.

2. Net interest. Robinhood earns interest on margin loans (a record $22.1 billion margin book in Q3 2026), interest on customer cash it holds, fees from program banks for swept cash, and income from lending securities. Net interest was Robinhood’s largest single revenue line in Q3 2026 at $415 million, even after a 9% fall caused by lower securities lending activity and lower short-term rates.

3. Crypto. Robinhood Crypto earns variable volume rebates from trading venues and charges 0.00% to 0.95% on exchange-routed orders, and Robinhood also owns the Bitstamp exchange. Crypto revenue fell 55% to $120 million in Q3 2026 as crypto volume in the app dropped 48%.

4. Event contracts. Prediction market trading brought in $173 million in Q3 2026, more than six times a year earlier and more than crypto.

5. Robinhood Gold and other revenue. Gold subscriptions ($5 a month from 5.2 million subscribers), Trump Account service revenue and other fees make up other revenue, which rose 61% to $142 million in Q3 2026. Robinhood also earns interchange fees when customers spend with its debit card.

Robinhood IRAs and Retirement Accounts

Robinhood offers Traditional and Roth IRAs with a match on contributions: 1% on annual contributions without Gold and 3% with Gold. Robinhood also pays a 1% match on IRA transfers and old 401(k) rollovers into self-directed IRAs, with no cap and no Gold membership required.

• 2026 limits: the contribution limit is $7,500, or $8,600 at age 50 and over, up from $7,000 and $8,000 in 2025
• Maximum match in 2026: $75 without Gold or $225 with Gold ($86 or $258 at age 50 and over), according to Robinhood’s IRA match FAQ
• Conditions: assets that earned a match must stay in the IRA for at least five years, and Gold members must keep Gold for at least a year after the Gold match, or Robinhood charges an IRA match removal fee
• Managed IRAs: IRAs managed by Robinhood Strategies do not currently get the contribution match

Robinhood Retirement held a record $36.6 billion in assets under custody at the end of Q3 2026, up 51% from a year earlier.

Robinhood vs. Traditional Brokerages (2026)

Robinhood, Charles Schwab and Fidelity all charge $0 online commissions on US stocks and ETFs. Robinhood’s main differences are its $0 options contract fee, its IRA match, its prediction markets and its 91-coin crypto lineup. The comparison below comes from Blockchainreporter’s review of each broker’s published pricing pages on November 3, 2026, so check each broker for current terms.

Sources: Schwab pricing, Fidelity commissions and Robinhood’s fee pages, read November 3, 2026.

Robinhood Alternatives: What to Compare for Options Trading

Common alternatives to Robinhood include large brokers such as Charles Schwab and Fidelity and other commission-free investing apps. For options traders, these are the main points to compare between Robinhood and an alternative:

1. Per-contract fees: $0 at Robinhood for stock and ETF options, against $0.65 per contract at Schwab and Fidelity
2. Index options costs: Robinhood adds $0.50 per contract ($0.35 with Gold) plus exchange fees on index options such as SPX
3. Approval levels: options trading needs approval, and the level you get decides which strategies you can use
4. Tools: charting, options chains and risk views, such as Robinhood Legend on desktop and mobile
5. Related products: futures pricing ($0.50 per contract with Robinhood Gold, against $2.25 at Schwab), crypto and prediction markets

Competition from other apps is not new: in July 2023, Public, one of Robinhood’s US rivals, expanded into the UK market.

Robinhood Fees Summary (2026)

These figures come from Robinhood’s fee schedule and support pages, with margin rates as of September 16, 2026 and the current index options fee effective October 15, 2026. For the default crypto market maker routing, Robinhood does not list a separate fee; it receives volume rebates from trading venues and says all-in costs may be higher or lower than with exchange routing.

Where Is Robinhood Available?

Robinhood is mainly a US platform, but it also serves customers in the European Union and the UK, has opened an office in Canada and plans a Middle East launch. Products differ by region:

Details for EU customers are on Robinhood’s EU site. Robinhood Chain itself is permissionless, but its Stock Tokens are restricted in the US, Canada, the UK and Switzerland.

Is Robinhood Safe?

Robinhood is a regulated US broker with several layers of account protection, but what is covered depends on what you hold:

• SIPC: Robinhood Financial and Robinhood Securities are SIPC members, so securities and cash in a brokerage account are protected up to $500,000, including a $250,000 limit for cash, if the broker fails; SIPC does not cover market losses
• Excess SIPC: a Lloyd’s of London policy adds protection once SIPC limits are used, up to $50 million in securities per customer, including $1.9 million in cash, and $1 billion in aggregate
• FDIC sweep: uninvested cash in the brokerage cash sweep program goes to a network of 15 FDIC-insured program banks and is eligible for FDIC insurance up to $2.5 million for individual accounts and $5 million for joint accounts, at $250,000 per bank; swept cash is covered by the FDIC instead of SIPC
• Robinhood Banking: deposits at Coastal Community Bank, Member FDIC, can get FDIC insurance of up to $50 million through partner banks, subject to the $250,000 limit per bank
• Not covered: crypto held through Robinhood Crypto and futures held through Robinhood Derivatives are not protected by SIPC or FDIC insurance
• Account security: multi-factor authentication on all accounts, encryption of sensitive data such as Social Security numbers, and 24/7 support, according to Robinhood

Robinhood has also paid regulatory penalties. In December 2020, Robinhood Financial agreed to pay $65 million to settle SEC charges that it misled customers about its revenue from payment for order flow and failed to seek best execution, and in June 2021 FINRA ordered Robinhood to pay about $70 million in fines and restitution over outages, misleading communications and options approvals.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the Robinhood app?
The Robinhood app is a US investing and trading app from Robinhood Markets that lets customers trade stocks, ETFs, options, futures, more than 90 cryptocurrencies and prediction market event contracts from one account. US stock and ETF trades are commission-free and investing starts at $1. The app also offers IRAs with a match, managed portfolios, Gold membership and banking for Gold members.

How does investing with Robinhood work?
Investing with Robinhood works in four steps. You open an account in the app or on the website and verify your identity, link a bank and deposit money, choose an investment and place an order, then track your holdings and withdraw cash when you want. Standard bank transfers are free on Robinhood’s fee schedule, while instant withdrawals cost up to 1.75%, with a $150 maximum.

How does Robinhood trading work?
You place orders in the Robinhood app or in Robinhood Legend, and Robinhood routes most stock and ETF orders to market makers that pay it rebates, plus a small share to exchanges. Stocks trade in regular and extended hours, and hundreds of stocks and ETFs also trade 24 hours a day, five days a week. Crypto trades around the clock, and futures nearly 24 hours.

What types of investments are available on Robinhood?
In the US, Robinhood offers stocks, ETFs, options including index options, futures, 91 cryptocurrencies, prediction market event contracts, managed portfolios through Robinhood Strategies, Traditional and Roth IRAs, IPO shares through IPO Access and Robinhood Ventures funds. EU customers can also trade more than 2,000 Classic Stock Tokens and perpetual futures. Availability of some products and coins varies by state and country.

How does Robinhood make money if trading is free?
Robinhood earns rebates from market makers that execute customer orders, known as payment for order flow, plus net interest on margin loans, customer cash and securities lending, revenue from crypto and event contract trading, and Gold subscriptions. In the third quarter of 2026, Robinhood reported $1.42 billion in revenue: $867 million from trading, $415 million from net interest and $142 million in other revenue.

Is Robinhood a good platform for beginner investors?
Robinhood is designed to be easy for new investors: there is no account minimum, investing starts at $1, US stock and ETF trades are commission-free, and the app includes Robinhood Learn lessons. Beginner investors should know that options, futures, margin and event contracts carry high risk, and options and margin need approval. An easy app does not make these products any less risky.

Does Robinhood have a crypto wallet?
Yes. Robinhood Wallet is a separate self-custody wallet app for holding, sending and swapping crypto, including some tokens the main Robinhood app does not offer. The main app also lets US customers buy, sell, send and receive supported coins, which Robinhood Crypto holds for them. Robinhood also runs Robinhood Chain, a layer 2 blockchain built on Arbitrum for tokenized assets.

What is Robinhood Gold and is it worth it?
Robinhood Gold is a $5 a month subscription with a 30-day free trial. Gold pays 3.6% APY on eligible brokerage cash, raises the IRA contribution match to 3%, cuts index options fees to $0.35 per contract, offers margin from 4.2% after the first $1,000 and unlocks Robinhood Banking. Whether Gold pays off depends on your cash balance, IRA contributions and trading activity.

Can I lose more than I invest on Robinhood?
With stocks, ETFs and crypto bought with your own cash, the most you can lose is the amount you invested. Margin borrowing, short options positions and some complex options strategies can lose more than your original investment, and leveraged futures can lose more than the money deposited. Robinhood requires approval for options and margin, and SIPC protection never covers market losses.

Is Robinhood legitimate and is my money safe?
Robinhood is a legitimate, publicly traded company whose US brokerage firms are registered broker-dealers and SIPC members. Securities and cash are protected by SIPC up to $500,000, including $250,000 in cash, plus a Lloyd’s of London policy, and swept cash is eligible for FDIC insurance up to $2.5 million. Crypto and futures have no SIPC or FDIC protection, and nothing covers market losses.

How does Robinhood compare to other investment apps?
Robinhood, Charles Schwab and Fidelity all charge $0 online commissions on US stocks and ETFs. Robinhood differs with no options contract fee on stock and ETF options, against $0.65 at Schwab and Fidelity, a 1% to 3% IRA contribution match, prediction markets and 91 tradable coins. Schwab charges $2.25 per futures contract, while Robinhood Gold members pay $0.50.

Is Robinhood available outside the US?
Yes, in some regions. Robinhood Europe, authorized in Lithuania, offers EU customers more than 2,000 Classic Stock Tokens, over 90 crypto assets and perpetual futures. Robinhood added crypto trading in the UK in the third quarter of 2026, opened a Toronto office in September 2026 and plans a Middle East rollout in 2027 after receiving authorization from the Dubai Financial Services Authority.

Data sources: Robinhood’s third quarter 2026 results (October 27, 2026, on investors.robinhood.com and filed with the SEC); Robinhood’s Gold, fee schedule, trading fees, crypto fee tiers, coin availability, cash sweep, account protection, IRA match, Strategies, Banking, futures, trading, prediction markets, Robinhood Chain, EU and newsroom pages; Charles Schwab and Fidelity pricing pages; CoinMarketCap and alternative.me, all checked November 3, 2026. This guide is for information only and is not investment advice.