5 ms·

Ask HN: What Are the Alternatives to Robinhood?

70 points by vira28 6y ago

I have used Vanguard, Etrade and M1 finance (https://www.m1finance.com/). I heard good things about Interactive Brokers. What are the other ones. Would love to see some research on this. What about Ally or Alpaca? Can one trade using those banks (api) ?

vira28 6y ago
Just saw a post on M1 using Apex and not allowed to trade certain stocks. https://twitter.com/M1_Finance/status/1354837064072753152 https://twitter.com/M1_Finance/status/1354837064072753152
- nitrogen 6y ago
  Darn, if Apex is blocking at the clearing house level, then the platform I would have recommended is also not going to work. Edit: just checked, and yeah, there's a message that Apex has blocked buying, plus an investor warning about significant losses. Weirdly my test trade (I'm not involved in this game, just spectating) was accepted though.
  - vira28 6y ago
    Right. Certainly one needs to have some level of crypto on their assets?
sloaken 6y ago
I was surprised to hear about Robinhood blocking trades on some companies. Can they do that?
- PKop 6y ago
  They can do whatever they want if no one stops them. The question is simply who is the sovereign and who makes and enforces the rules. It should be clear that financial oligarchy has a prominent position doing just that in our society in the US at least.
mfkp 6y ago
Webull is great alternative to RH. Edit: removing link since people are flagging this post.
- arilotter 6y ago
  Webull is also blocking purchases of GME right now: https://twitter.com/WebullGlobal/status/1354828729713881091 https://twitter.com/WebullGlobal/status/1354828729713881091
  - mfkp 6y ago
    Dang, they must use Apex too (as Apex blocked these stocks). Trade went through fine for me this morning.
PKop 6y ago
An alternative is invest some portion of money in crypto assets, and Defi which can be a sort of decentralized alternative to established financial players. Obviously this isn't the stock market but this incident should raise scrutiny of the merits of being involved in that rigged casino in general.
sschueller 6y ago
There is a list on wsb of which still allow you to trade. https://www.reddit.com/r/wallstreetbets/comments/l6wrig/you_can_still_buy_gme_bb_on_webull_etrade/ https://www.reddit.com/r/wallstreetbets/comments/l6wrig/you_...
dragontamer 6y ago
Interactive Brokers is a monthly payment. Only if you're VERY active in trading (many trades every month) should you consider IB. But yes, they're very premium service, but I don't think they're for typical investors (who might only trade once or twice a month). Your standard brokerage firms all work: E-Trade, TD Ameritrace, Schwab, Fidelity etc. etc. Stocks are easy, they all got them covered. It really doesn't matter who you go with for stocks. Fidelity is a bit better with bond offerings. TD Ameritrade is known for their nicer interface (Think or Swim), especially for options trading. E-Trade IIRC has some good international offerings but still has a pay-per-trade business model. It depends on what you want. But... stocks are real easy, everyone does stocks just fine. Its more about asking what your secondary investments are going to be: Forex, Options, Bonds, and the like
- solumos 6y ago
  Interactive Brokers also offers a "Lite" version that is pointed at a similar market to RobinHood (no fees, no comissions). Also worth noting that they run their own clearing house. https://www1.interactivebrokers.com/en/index.php?f=45196 https://www1.interactivebrokers.com/en/index.php?f=45196 https://www1.interactivebrokers.com/en/index.php?f=45500 https://www1.interactivebrokers.com/en/index.php?f=45500
  - justin66 6y ago
    > Interactive Brokers also offers a "Lite" version that is pointed at a similar market to RobinHood (no fees, no comissions). Who charges fees or commissions on stock trading anymore?
    - wrboyce 6y ago
      Most brokers who don’t go down when the market opens.
      - krallja 6y ago
        Pretty much all the household brokerages stopped charging fees about a year ago.
rcdexta 6y ago
I think it is better to prefer brokers that have their own clearing house https://investorjunkie.com/stock-brokers/broker-clearing-firms/ https://investorjunkie.com/stock-brokers/broker-clearing-fir...
vira28 6y ago
Update: Just got an email from Alpaca that even they are also stopping trading on some stocks.
- qorrect 6y ago
  Looks like they just lifted it, with conditions*.
unstatusthequo 6y ago
thinkorswim or tastytrade. Though both did the same or similar as Robinhood with stopping opening positions. I just got an email from tastytrade saying that restriction was lifted.
karlzt 6y ago
See this: https://alternativeto.net/software/robinhood/ https://alternativeto.net/software/robinhood/
anderspitman 6y ago
Index funds.
qorrect 6y ago
I wanted to use IB but the api was hideous, ended up going with Alpaca.
simplemen 6y ago
Fidelity, I daytraded GME today without any issues. I also have accounts with Tastyworks and Think or Swim. Tastyworks sent email that their clearinghouse had blocked certain stocks but ToS didn't sent any email. So assuming ToS is also safe to use for high risk trading.
jklepatch 6y ago
crypto!