3 ms·

It was partially noted in past threads, and partially missed, but this 20 year old didn't actually lose the money he thought he lost. It was basically a "leaky

by waprin 6y ago

It was partially noted in past threads, and partially missed, but this 20 year old didn't actually lose the money he thought he lost. It was basically a "leaky abstraction" of the backend that bubbled up. Their total lack of any real customer support since it's not "scalable" also contributed to this tragic adn avoiadable death.

potions 6y ago
Robinhood's legacy is commission free equity trades at pretty much every single retail brokerage, whether they survive as an app or not. There is a reasonable argument to be made that whatever minute price slippage customers might experience(which I believe isn't even supposed to be legal due to NBBO and Reg NMS? not an expert) due to payment for order flow is much less than the $10 commissions at deep discount retail brokerages and certainly than the $50 trades in the old days of calling up your friendly local rent seeking broker -- for typical robinhood sized equity transactions. Robinhood has plenty of problems but they directly caused investors to be able to trade for free @ fidelity, vanguard, schwab, etc which is obviously a boon to consumers. Also imo at least robinhood is somewhat up front about like 'the market is a zany gambling game' with their UX. Contrast with IBKR and TOS who heavily market their stuff to Serious Portfolio Dads With 4 Monitors and then ALSO do sheisty manipulation appearing stuff to "protect their clients from volatility." RH targeting a smaller computer and being colorful doesn't make it any worse than other discount retail brokerages shoving derivative trading platforms at unsophisticated retail.
- rrrrrrrrrrrryan 6y ago
  100% agree. The $5 - $10 commissions that existed forever are still a great deal if you're moving around serious amounts of capital and it gets your order fulfilled a few pennies cheaper, but when you're only trying to purchase a double-digit dollar amount of stock, they're ridiculous. I really do believe Robinhood is a net positive in the world because it has provided the lower classes the ability to more easily buy a small sliver of the means of production. Most people lose money when they first start trading and investing. A lot of people are going through that the first time right now, but losing money in the market is the first step to making money in the market, and eventually I think this commission-free environment (paired with approachable apps) will build a great deal of financial competence among the general population.

by waprin 6y ago

potions 6y ago

Robinhood's legacy is commission free equity trades at pretty much every single retail brokerage, whether they survive as an app or not. There is a reasonable argument to be made that whatever minute price slippage customers might experience(which I believe isn't even supposed to be legal due to NBBO and Reg NMS? not an expert) due to payment for order flow is much less than the $10 commissions at deep discount retail brokerages and certainly than the $50 trades in the old days of calling up your friendly local rent seeking broker -- for typical robinhood sized equity transactions. Robinhood has plenty of problems but they directly caused investors to be able to trade for free @ fidelity, vanguard, schwab, etc which is obviously a boon to consumers. Also imo at least robinhood is somewhat up front about like 'the market is a zany gambling game' with their UX. Contrast with IBKR and TOS who heavily market their stuff to Serious Portfolio Dads With 4 Monitors and then ALSO do sheisty manipulation appearing stuff to "protect their clients from volatility." RH targeting a smaller computer and being colorful doesn't make it any worse than other discount retail brokerages shoving derivative trading platforms at unsophisticated retail.

rrrrrrrrrrrryan 6y ago
100% agree. The $5 - $10 commissions that existed forever are still a great deal if you're moving around serious amounts of capital and it gets your order fulfilled a few pennies cheaper, but when you're only trying to purchase a double-digit dollar amount of stock, they're ridiculous. I really do believe Robinhood is a net positive in the world because it has provided the lower classes the ability to more easily buy a small sliver of the means of production. Most people lose money when they first start trading and investing. A lot of people are going through that the first time right now, but losing money in the market is the first step to making money in the market, and eventually I think this commission-free environment (paired with approachable apps) will build a great deal of financial competence among the general population.