New Brokerage Company - RobinHood

[Insanity]

I am an avid reader of HackersNews (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6906146) and there appears to be a new company that is starting to hit.  It is called RobinHood (https://www.robinhood.io).  This is supposed to be a $0 commission based site.

Check out, see what you think, leave comments.. It'll be interesting to see where it goes from here.

Here is my referral link, btw. 

https://www.robinhood.io/?ref=DcwnpX.

Please note - this is not fully active site yet.  The referral is for early access, but there is information on it. The referral is ONLY to move ahead and potentially get earlier access (so please use mine as much as you want ;-) ).

[Honest Abe]

Pretty cool.. I signed up just to see what it's about, even though I'm putting all my new cash into Betterment. Thanks!

[wtjbatman]

The fact that it's a .io domain kind of weirds me out.

.io is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for the Indian Ocean Territory. Internationalized domain names may also be registered.[1]
Google currently treats .io as a generic top-level domain (gTLD) because "users and webmasters frequently see [the domain] more generic than country-targeted".[2]
.io domains are popular with new startup companies.[3]

Source: Wikipedia

Still odd to me. Definitely wouldn't be giving them any of my money!

[Supertaster]

Their name implies that if I get rich using their service, they're just going to steal my money and give it to the less fortunate.

[Khan]

"How does Robinhood make money?
Robinhood will offer margin trading as well as API access. We also plan to offer premium services for active investors in the future. Robinhood is venture-funded by Google, Andreessen Horowitz and many others, which affords us the freedom to focus on building a wonderful brokerage experience rather than short-term profits."

http://blogs.marketwatch.com/thetell/2013/12/18/google-backed-brokerage-robinhood-to-offer-free-trades/
http://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/news/2013/04/18/google-ventures-backed-app-makers-test.html?page=all

It's under the "Seed" portfolio tab of google ventures.
http://www.gv.com/portfolio/

So I guess it's not a scam(biggest concern). Interesting idea, if they produce a rich enough atmosphere I'd happily switch. Won't switch anytime soon though, remember this glitch that cost 410 million dollars?
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10000872396390443866404577564772083961412

[Insanity]

Being backed by Google and a few other ventures was one of the things that made me decide to post it.  I do *try* to monitor for scams and such.  (not to say I don't blame others for doing their own research, I would recommend it)

The main thing, for me, is I've been doing mainly index funds (stocks and bonds) and only a couple of single stocks (mainly for things that I need and a lot of people buy - medical type companies).  So, this might not even be something I do.  But, I used my throw away e-mail address for it so I don't care if it gets spammed.  Figured it was worth looking into.

[wtjbatman]

I wish we could see a list of securities, but I guess it doesn't matter since there is a waiting list to sign up anyway. But as of right now, their website lists "Over 5,000 stocks and ETFs" but the article at the Silicon Valley Business Journal says there are only 3,000 securities available.

At least now that I see they are being partially funded by Google Ventures keeps me from worrying too much that it's a scam.

[wtjbatman]

Any new info on this company?

The only thing I know is that since signing up a month ago and getting placed in their queue, I've actually fallen farther behind. There are almost double the amount of people in front of me than there were 30 days ago. I assume it has to do with the fact you get bumped up in line when you refer people to sign up. I haven't even tried to get any referrals. Definitely a smart way to run a business.

[dragoncar]

Sounds real hypey. 

[taperted]

Hmm ... I'll be interested to see how they do this. There used to be a brokerage called Freetrade that offered commission free trades up to a certain level of trading, but ultimately they had to start charging I think and then they were bought by TDAmeritrade. Sharebuilder had some system too that I can't recall how it worked, but they eventually started charging a commission.

Currently, at Merrill Edge, you can get 30 monthly commission-free trades if you have an account at BoA and keep a substantial balance ($25,000 in cash or $50,000 in cash or securities):

http://www.merrilledge.com/pricing