Robinhood vs. Stash: 2024 Comparison - NerdWallet (2024)

FAQs

Robinhood vs. Stash: 2024 Comparison - NerdWallet? ›

Robinhood: Services and features. Both Stash and Robinhood offer standard taxable brokerage accounts for investing in stocks, fractional shares, ETFs, and cryptocurrencies. In addition, Stash offers custodial accounts, bonds, and IRAs, while Robinhood offers options and margin trading.

Both Stash's app and Robinhood's app allow you to easily research stocks and purchase investments. Stash also allows you to track your Stock-Back® rewards and manage your banking account, while Robinhood offers more in-depth trading and research tools on its platform than Stash does.

While Robinhood remains a relatively minor player in what has become a highly competitive space, the company's improvements and improving financial position give the stock a long-term upside that makes it worthy of consideration to be part of a long-term portfolio.

Robinhood is a member of the Securities Investor Protection Corp. (SIPC). This means that any loss of an investor's securities (e.g., stocks and bonds) and cash held by Robinhood is protected up to $500,000 in the event the firm fails or goes out of business. This includes up to $250,000 protection for cash holdings.

FINRA is a self-regulatory body that many brokerages participate in. As you may recall, your money in Robinhood is protected by the Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC). The SIPC protects up to $250,000 for cash claims and $500,000 for securities–so 99% of investors have NOTHING TO WORRY ABOUT.

All Stash accounts are held by our trusted partner and custodian Apex Clearing, a registered broker-dealer regulated by FINRA. At Apex, your investments are protected up to a maximum of $500,000 total, including $250,000 in cash balances through the Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC).

Stash offers FDIC-insured bank accounts through Stride Bank. Your accounts with us are insured to the regulatory limits by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC).

Cons Explained

Limited research: Research tools and information at Robinhood don't measure up to competitor standards, making it difficult for traders to get the most out of the platform. There are no stock or ETF screeners available at all, and other research tools are rudimentary at best.

No mutual funds or bonds: The lack of mutual funds and bonds may make it difficult to build a truly diversified portfolio. Customers can only access bonds via bond ETFs. Limited customer support: Robinhood has made noticeable improvements to its customer service, but it's still not on par with other brokerages.

Top Budget 2024 stocks to watch: L&T, HAL, IRCON, Adani Green, Tata Power, HUDCO, ITC, PNC Infratech - BusinessToday.

What was the Robinhood scandal? ›

Robinhood misled consumers and exposed them to excessively risky trading tools, and also failed consumers when its services suffered multiple outages, the regulator said. The firm approved thousands of customers for options trading, but those customers did not satisfy the firm's eligibility criteria, FINRA added.

Your money is protected

Robinhood Financial and Robinhood Securities are members of SIPC, which protects securities for customers of its members up to $500,000 (including $250,000 for claims for cash). Explanatory brochure available upon request or at www.sipc.org.

Robinhood has a good track record of protecting users' Social Security numbers, though, so providing yours is as safe as giving it to most reputable financial apps. Unfortunately, U.S. FinCEN requires you to provide your Social Security number to your stock brokerage for identity-verification purposes.

SEC regulations mandate a two-day settlement period after a stock's sale. Your funds still need to be cleared for withdrawal. There may be a waiting period for recent deposits or bonuses.

Fidelity was picked Best for Low Costs, Best for ETFs, and Best for Cash Management. Robinhood can't compete on asset selection, trading tools, and research, but it does have a compelling case in its low costs and simplicity.

(“Robinhood”) (NASDAQ: HOOD) today reported select monthly operating data for May 2024: Funded Customers at the end of May were 24.1 million (up approximately 120 thousand from April 2024, up 960 thousand year-over-year).

Stash's Cash+ portfolio grows your money a little bit every day. Get a 5.5% effective annual growth rate (we give 31 days' notice of any change) no matter what happens to the markets.

If you're a bit more experienced at investing and want to save money on fees, consider using a $0 commission trading platform. However, the Stash Robo-advisor can be a good option for investors planning on investing more than $15,000 through the service.

The best Robinhood alternatives are Interactive Brokers, Webull, and TradeStation. While Robinhood has garnered significant attention for its commission-free trades and user-friendly interface, its reputation took a hit during the infamous GameStop saga in early 2021.

Insurance – Robinhood sweeps cash balances into F.D.I.C. insured banks each day. This means that cash balances at Robinhood are insured up to $250,000 per user. In addition, all stocks and ETFs in the platform are insured up to $500,000 through the Security Investors Protection Corporation (SIPC).