Blanket statement like that without reason would equal please switch to self hosting git instead of using github.com cause it went down last week or so - both have their purpose / skill level / cost associated with them. So a 3rd party app went down for a bit. Happens often (as most of us know)
Individual investors are at a huge disadvantage when it comes to intraday trading.
For everything other than a child's hobby account, intended to teach emotional stability through gains and losses, a <$1,000 stock-trading account is value destroying.
Also, one need not trade a small account intraday. I make small trades, but they are always with a multi-year perspective. Give me limit orders and small commissions, and I am happy.
(N.B. I use a different broker/don't have a first-hand perspective on Robinhood.)
The key to avoiding faffing around with limit orders not filling when you want immediate execution is to place a reasonable limit that accounts for the day's volatility. At other times, I'll place a limit order and let it stand for weeks. When it fills, the counterparty and I are both happy.
I'm rarely using limit orders to shave pennies if I want quick execution. I use them to prevent the unexpected. Under normal market conditions, if the limit is set 10% beyond the expected clearing price, it provides me with free protection against a completely unexpected surprise. Something will have to have gone very wrong with my investment strategies if I'm desperate to buy/sell at any price.
In the long-game case, if I purchase a stock at $0.95 that I think can sell for $0.99, I'll immediately place the limit-order for sale as soon as I've made the purchase. No need to hide my hand -- I'll be happy if you want to buy it at that price (and I might get faster execution by being earlier in the order queue).
you want me to risk > $1000 when I don't know what I'm doing with a real brokerage that I don't know what their benefit is over something like Robinhood because.... ?
I'm willing to loose a couple hundred to learn and understand something vs giving someone I don't know thousands and "trusting" their opinion.
More so - testing the waters myself may not make me as good as someone who does this for a living - but maybe after a few hundred and a few months, at least I have a better understanding of what a real brokerage tells me to buy than to just blindly say take my money and quadruple it.
Brokers should never be telling individual investors what individual stocks to buy, at least not anyone with less than ~$500,000 in assets. If a brokerage is giving you buy/sell lines for individual securities, that's a red flag.
A good investment platform (or adviser) guides you in portfolio management. In encourages long-term strategic thinking over short-term trading highs. The former builds wealth. The latter lines professional traders' pockets.
You can learn the ropes without wasting money.
You can buy and hold, or "Invest", on any platform which, in my opinion, has to meet three minimum requirements: It should offer commission-free trading on a variety of low-cost index funds, it should offer a variety of investment account types (at minimum, taxed accounts, Traditional IRAs, and Roth IRAs), and it should be stable.
Robinhood only meets one of these three criteria. There are dozens of other brokerages out there which do meet all of these criteria: TDAmeritrade, Schwab, Vanguard, and Chase are four great ones.
Robinhood is on the same level as a betting app for sports; so, fine; use it if that's what you want. But do not even mention the word "Invest" in the same sentence as Robinhood; its grossly irresponsible.
I wouldn't advocate anyone trying to build wealth to pick individual stocks, but I do think if someone were investing $1,000 to get their feet wet I'd recommend they put a bit in individual stocks. The financial system is complex and I think it's worth stripping away one level of the complexity for educational purposes. (It's typically also a humbling experience.)
Now I have a much larger account, and I'm trading / investing with a much lower risk profile, because of what I learned on my >$1000 account. I consider that the exact opposite of wasting time.
EDIT: It seems it's completely removed now. https://www.interactivebrokers.com/en/index.php?f=4969
If you are trading much more frequently/short term, or WSB style options, then yea, I think that a proper brokerage (IB) is likely better for you.
Also perusing twitter --- lots of people were planning on executing that _perfect trade_ if only RH was up... lol
They're also known for mispricing essentially _every_ morning, showing nonsensical pricing and account values for the first 30 minutes of trading. Overall, their software is clearly lagging behind something like Think or Swim from TDA.
Robinhood kind of made sense for low-value accounts that wanted to avoid commission. They've changed the game a bit in that most brokers offer low to no commission now. I'll echo the parent comment, I just don't see the point in using them given that most of the alternatives are better.
If you want to use one of the better tools, see TDA with ToS. Schwab has great service and is a great bank for a one stop shop kind of experience. IB is one of the least expensive ways to trade if you meet their minimums.
RH OTOH has shown time and again they play a bit too fast and loose for comfort when money is involved. They have had to pull their entry into banking a couple of times now. The app seems to have issues at the worst times. From what I have read, support is abysmal. Not someone I want to deal with when it comes to my money.
Second, now your investment might be small, if it grows, and represents a portion of your savings you might not be as delighted as today, to see them being offline during such a busy day.
The fact that they’re trying to get people to increase trade volumes while being stuck to one very limiting tax strategy is bad.
If you’re buying stocks you want options and only having FIFO is not a good option