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And Robinhood becomes even more of a gambling app than it already was. This is not investing. EDIT: Sure, you can call it investing. But I would say it isn't s
by tntn 9y ago
And Robinhood becomes even more of a gambling app than it already was. This is not investing.
EDIT:
Sure, you can call it investing. But I would say it isn't sound investing.
- darkerside 9y agoAgreed with original text. Speculation is not investing.
- dsacco 9y agoSpeculation is investing. The difference in risk is a difference of degree, not category. Hedge funds, venture capitalists, real estate investors, etc. all routinely invest their or their clients’ assets by engaging in speculation. The word you’re looking for is “gambling”, which is a meaningful difference. This isn’t just pedantic - the word “speculate” has a well-established definition in financial jargon, and altering that definition clouds discussions that could benefit from precision. Moreover, it implicitly puts “Real Investing” on a pedestal of responsibility and financial acumen, while dismissing the utility of speculation. Sometimes people try to differentiate between speculation and investing by restricting their definitions to high risk trading and value investing, respectively. But in real world investing, it is extremely common for people to “invest” their money in vehicles which are “speculating” on securities of various types.
- RubberShoes 9y agoNo fees, who cares?
- djtriptych 9y agoYou have some zero-risk investments you'd like to share with HN?
- tntn 9y agoI can certainly name a number of investments with less risk than cryptocurrencies. Namely, basically every traditional investment: stocks, bonds, gold, real estate, ... I don't quite understand why saying that cryptocurrency investment is highly speculative requires me to offer "zero-risk" investments. You know as well as I that none exist.
- djtriptych 9y agoHigh-risk or speculative is way more accurate than a "gamble", which is true of all investment.
- SimbaOnSteroids 9y agoI don't understand how its anymore or less a gambling app than scott trade or any other retail investing platform. You can still do fundamentals analysis on the stocks you buy.
- jld 9y agoI was really interested by how much of Robinhood's UI is designed like a game, versus offering a way to really research or analyze stocks.
- Karunamon 9y agoIt's a mobile app intended to facilitate quick trades. I don't see how that makes it "designed like a game".
- dnadler 9y agoInvesting should be done with care and thought. Due diligence is required. At best, Robinhood's app and advertising portrays investing as easy, and at worst they portray investing as something to be done on a whim. The act of buying a security should be easy, but the thought that goes into that decision is MUCH more important. They trivialize this aspect of investing in their advertising and app, which I believe is dangerous for the retail investors who don't know better.
- nambit 9y ago>The act of buying a security should be easy That's all the app is. The purpose of the app is not to be your all encompassing trading platform. It's a simple way to buy and sell securities.
- dnadler 9y agoYes, but the advertising and image of the app is what people like me take issue with. They trivialize the other important parts of investing.
- random_rr 9y agoPlease, explain what investing is.
- platz 9y agodirect loans for capital goods to small businesses
- kaycebasques 9y agoRobinhood provides commission-free trading on every stock and ETF. This is huge for small-time retail investors like myself, who want to incrementally buy up positions on a monthly basis. I agree that cryptocurrency trading can potentially end badly, 1929-style, but I also give kudos to Robinhood for increasing competition among brokerages to make small-time retail investing less costly.
- tntn 9y agoGreat, I'm glad it works for you. I'm mostly concerned about the UI, which promotes frequent trading based on hype, and their advertising. Supporting cryptocurrency seems to be another step away from promoting sound investing for retail investors.
- skellera 9y agoWe're at the top of the market. Their capitalizing on that. Bad investors will make bad decisions on any platform. When we hit a recession, all these people will pull out just like any other recession. We'll see them back 7 years later.
- wmf 9y agoWhat would be even huger is commission-free trading only for index funds, or even a commission-free roboadvisor.
- tardo99 9y agoBe careful. Your comment probably triggered the hivemind.
- tardo99 9y agoYou guys can downvote me all you want, but until dogecoin isn't worth a billion dollars, y'all know I'm right.