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I think that companies like Robinhood gamifying highly risky trading strategies are super irresponsible. There should definitely be a higher burden to educate e

I think that companies like Robinhood gamifying highly risky trading strategies are super irresponsible. There should definitely be a higher burden to educate end users, and to more tightly limit crazy shit like leveraged positions.

abvdasker 8y ago
Robinhood sells shares in a bunch of ETFs as well as individual stocks. Their selection isn't as good as a Fidelity or a Vanguard but the value proposition is the lack of transaction fees. There's nothing inherently irresponsible about Robinhood (except maybe how easy it is to get a margin account). It allows individuals to make the same mistakes as any of the larger investment banks.
- sammycdubs 8y ago
  You can absolutely get lower risk investments through Robinhood, but they actively market things like margin trading under the "Robinhood Gold" banner. I don't think most investment banks would let you do things that risky, and you'd still have an advisor in the middle. You can always lose money while investing, it's just Robinhood makes it feel like you're losing at Candy Crush while you're doing it. Certain financial transactions shouldn't be as frictionless as Robinhood makes them, and I can't help but feel that their platform is irresponsibly built. Their "Checking and Savings" debacle show how fast and loose they play with regulations and educating consumers.
QuackingJimbo 8y ago
Thank you -- you're one of the few Robinhood critics who recognizes this (rather than their routing of orders to HFT) as the real problem Robinhood disgusts me. 99% of their users should not be trading individual stocks (or worse)
njarboe 8y ago
On the other hand, letting people access cheap trading when they are young might let them learn about the stock market the only way it sticks. The hard way. With the current retirement system in America they will be in control of their, hopefully, very large retirement account at some point. It would be better for people to learn early about trading and experience a few business cycles before they transfer $1 million out of their employees plan into their own E-Trade IRA account at age 55. A lot of older people lost much of their retirement fund in both the dot com and 2008 crashes. Buy high, sell low is the natural behavior of the human animal.

abvdasker 8y ago

Robinhood sells shares in a bunch of ETFs as well as individual stocks. Their selection isn't as good as a Fidelity or a Vanguard but the value proposition is the lack of transaction fees. There's nothing inherently irresponsible about Robinhood (except maybe how easy it is to get a margin account). It allows individuals to make the same mistakes as any of the larger investment banks.

sammycdubs 8y ago
You can absolutely get lower risk investments through Robinhood, but they actively market things like margin trading under the "Robinhood Gold" banner. I don't think most investment banks would let you do things that risky, and you'd still have an advisor in the middle. You can always lose money while investing, it's just Robinhood makes it feel like you're losing at Candy Crush while you're doing it. Certain financial transactions shouldn't be as frictionless as Robinhood makes them, and I can't help but feel that their platform is irresponsibly built. Their "Checking and Savings" debacle show how fast and loose they play with regulations and educating consumers.

QuackingJimbo 8y ago

Thank you -- you're one of the few Robinhood critics who recognizes this (rather than their routing of orders to HFT) as the real problem Robinhood disgusts me. 99% of their users should not be trading individual stocks (or worse)

njarboe 8y ago

On the other hand, letting people access cheap trading when they are young might let them learn about the stock market the only way it sticks. The hard way. With the current retirement system in America they will be in control of their, hopefully, very large retirement account at some point. It would be better for people to learn early about trading and experience a few business cycles before they transfer $1 million out of their employees plan into their own E-Trade IRA account at age 55. A lot of older people lost much of their retirement fund in both the dot com and 2008 crashes. Buy high, sell low is the natural behavior of the human animal.