Hi all, I'm a writer working with a national magazine on a story where I'm looking to connect with investors that are over 50 years old and doing at least some investing on Robinhood. (Note, I got the OK from your moderator to post this!) Whether you're investing a small portion of your portfolio on Robinhood or a significant amount, I'm really just curious to hear about your experience. The only requirements beyond that are a willingness to both connect offline about your experience and to discuss your trades/activity on the platform. If you're interested, I can provide more details about the story once we connect. Please let me know and thanks!
I wonder if Mr. Ryder found someone? Perhaps there are no grumpy old dudes, like myself, at Robinhood. At least, not who are also regulars on this site.
Found a few, but still interested to hear others' stories. Feel free to message me directly, if interested.
I am in the age group you are looking for. I looked at using Robinhood (maybe switching from TD Ameritrade). But 10 minutes of online research exposed some serious weaknesses in the Robinhood platform: - No access to OTC stocks - No real customer service/No phone or instant chat - No real advantage as now all major online brokers allow users to trade for free
LOL, You should start a SPAC, Id buy in. Like the customer service, where smoke signals are quicker than emails, even in a windstorm.
Robinhood is often in the news and not in a good way (the Robinhood Glitch, payment for order flow, the GameStop mess, SEC lawsuits, etc.). I have no idea why anyone other than noobs would trade on Robinhood's stripped down platform which has so many deficiencies compared to what mainstream brokerage firms offer, also at no commission.
Commission free is a big selling point. Every platform I have traded on has had growing pains, Etrade, TOS.. nobody has been perfect. People acting shocked that they sell order flow? How did they think they made money? The limiting of shares for GME was a disaster, but this was a unique situation that will probably not be repeatable.
One thing I dont understand is how easy it is to get approved level 4 options. I dont have a robinhood but my broker is one of the largest. I hold a level 4 and it takes a good chunk to even be considered and you go through effort to get approved. It seems in a way they encourage people to get in over their head with little knowledge of what options are and how they work. I pay .65 a contract but I can go in .01 increments.
One would think that brokers would be more responsible about offering Level 4 option approval but they aren't. I've read so many posts on various blogs where people are losing their shirt on option positions and asking, "Why is this happening?". Perhaps it's no more than caveat emptor, or perhaps, seller beware? Brokers want the revenue and CYA is the account holders responsibility.
I dont buy 100 contracts, but I can trade in the .01s. I can buy stocks 10.0123 to the lowest point. Obviously I pay for options and commission free across the board. BUT my broker has open telephone lines that are answered by humans and can do broker assisted trades when the systems go down and I am not trapped in a panic. There is not a broker on earth that can guarantee to be 100% online at any given time. You get what you pay for, I prefer to be secure. I can trade anything but crypto with mine, plus they are a full service bank.
Reliable phone line access is a must if one has a portfolio and the trading platform goes down. In 20+ years with mine, they're been down once for maybe 45 minutes. For that reason, I have a second broker where I can defend positions that I have at the inaccessible broker that are moving against me. I can buy or short stock or options if necessary and the only downside is some B/A slippage (principal is far more important than slippage). Where this falls apart is if I have a lot of open orders and I have no clue what, if anything, has been filled on platform one. There's no foolproof system but we can take the fools out of the it :->)
Robinhood was notorious for that, you can read the horror stories. Could you imagine been stuck and only having email customer service.
