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> A lot of this critique is aimed at RH's interface/app because it is substantially better than the existing brokerages still using websites from the 1990s Wow

> A lot of this critique is aimed at RH's interface/app because it is substantially better than the existing brokerages still using websites from the 1990s Wow... you really think the criticism is just because RH is better? What, is it jealousy or something? Please. This isn't the case of someone being picked on by a schoolyard bully. RH is in the highly regulated, highly consequential consumer fintech space, and they are clearly gamifying trading. All the subsequent criticisms follow from that fact. If you want to make the claim RH isn't gamifying trading and therefore the criticisms are off base, please, I invite you to do so. But to claim RH is the target of SEC investigations simply because they're good? Come on.

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kortilla 5y ago
> But to claim RH is the target of SEC investigations simply because they're good? Come on. You make it sound like this is outlandish, but it happens nearly every time a disruptive player comes into a heavily regulated market full of old players. It is much easier to cry foul than to deal with the fact that the competition just got hard.
- CarelessExpert 5y ago
  I guess that explains the SEC settlement where RH paid a large fine for deliberately misrepresenting their use of PFOF (though, as always, they didn't admit to wrongdoing... classic SEC!) I'm sure they're totally squeaky clean aside from that and it's all just a Big Finance conspiracy...
- splitstud 5y ago
  Robinhood is not competitive whatsoever with the better brokers. Their limited UI and super slow execution won't appeal to anyone who has used a good platform.
nullspace 5y ago
> they are clearly gamifying trading. > If you want to make the claim RH isn't gamifying trading and therefore the criticisms are off base, please, I invite you to do so. I have used RobinHood just a little bit, and it's not my main brokerage. However, I take issue with your phrasing. You start with the premise that whatever it is that RobinHood is doing is bad, it's impossible to argue against this where you are standing. I hate the app that my main brokerage provides, but it was even worse before RobinHood existed. When I bought my first set of shares on RH, I was amazed by easy it was, and how well designed the UI was. IIRC, it is also super easy to find information on the stock that you're trading, so it's not like they are making the UI dumb. I have read criticisms like how they make buying a stock seem inconsequential, but that's frankly pretty absurd to me. Do they need to make their UI flow less smooth, or give some big warning that people are dealing with real money? If there are any parts of their app which encourages gambling, I agree it should be removed, but the actual criticisms I read are things like "they use bright flashy lights like slot machines" which seems very unconvincing.
- CarelessExpert 5y ago
  > If there are any parts of their app which encourages gambling, I agree it should be removed, but the actual criticisms I read are things like "they use bright flashy lights like slot machines" which seems very unconvincing. That's quite literally what gamifying is: providing the kind of visual rewards/stimulus, combined with an extremely low friction experience, that's specifically designed to work in concert to encourage engagement. In the case of a slot machine, that means putting coins in the machine and pulling the lever. In the case of Robinhood, that means executing trades. Maybe you don't believe those features of Robinhood actually encourage trading, but frankly, the psychology around RH's design is pretty well understood both in the technology industry and the gambling industry. Hell, there's an entire booked (Hooked!) written about it. > Do they need to make their UI flow less smooth, or give some big warning that people are dealing with real money? Yes. Absolutely. Why would that be a problem? Ostensibly RH's mission is to provide people with free access to the markets to "regular folks" (read: inexperienced traders). That's not the same thing as encouraging day trading. I don't see why features that discourage excessive trading (which is unquestionably an anti-pattern for a typical retail trader, and therefore is not in the best interest of the folks RH is supposedly trying to empower) would be a bad thing... ... except, of course, RH's revenue is specifically derived from high trading volume, so it's not in their financial interest.

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kortilla 5y ago

> But to claim RH is the target of SEC investigations simply because they're good? Come on. You make it sound like this is outlandish, but it happens nearly every time a disruptive player comes into a heavily regulated market full of old players. It is much easier to cry foul than to deal with the fact that the competition just got hard.

CarelessExpert 5y ago
I guess that explains the SEC settlement where RH paid a large fine for deliberately misrepresenting their use of PFOF (though, as always, they didn't admit to wrongdoing... classic SEC!) I'm sure they're totally squeaky clean aside from that and it's all just a Big Finance conspiracy...
splitstud 5y ago
Robinhood is not competitive whatsoever with the better brokers. Their limited UI and super slow execution won't appeal to anyone who has used a good platform.

nullspace 5y ago

> they are clearly gamifying trading. > If you want to make the claim RH isn't gamifying trading and therefore the criticisms are off base, please, I invite you to do so. I have used RobinHood just a little bit, and it's not my main brokerage. However, I take issue with your phrasing. You start with the premise that whatever it is that RobinHood is doing is bad, it's impossible to argue against this where you are standing. I hate the app that my main brokerage provides, but it was even worse before RobinHood existed. When I bought my first set of shares on RH, I was amazed by easy it was, and how well designed the UI was. IIRC, it is also super easy to find information on the stock that you're trading, so it's not like they are making the UI dumb. I have read criticisms like how they make buying a stock seem inconsequential, but that's frankly pretty absurd to me. Do they need to make their UI flow less smooth, or give some big warning that people are dealing with real money? If there are any parts of their app which encourages gambling, I agree it should be removed, but the actual criticisms I read are things like "they use bright flashy lights like slot machines" which seems very unconvincing.

CarelessExpert 5y ago
> If there are any parts of their app which encourages gambling, I agree it should be removed, but the actual criticisms I read are things like "they use bright flashy lights like slot machines" which seems very unconvincing. That's quite literally what gamifying is: providing the kind of visual rewards/stimulus, combined with an extremely low friction experience, that's specifically designed to work in concert to encourage engagement. In the case of a slot machine, that means putting coins in the machine and pulling the lever. In the case of Robinhood, that means executing trades. Maybe you don't believe those features of Robinhood actually encourage trading, but frankly, the psychology around RH's design is pretty well understood both in the technology industry and the gambling industry. Hell, there's an entire booked (Hooked!) written about it. > Do they need to make their UI flow less smooth, or give some big warning that people are dealing with real money? Yes. Absolutely. Why would that be a problem? Ostensibly RH's mission is to provide people with free access to the markets to "regular folks" (read: inexperienced traders). That's not the same thing as encouraging day trading. I don't see why features that discourage excessive trading (which is unquestionably an anti-pattern for a typical retail trader, and therefore is not in the best interest of the folks RH is supposedly trying to empower) would be a bad thing... ... except, of course, RH's revenue is specifically derived from high trading volume, so it's not in their financial interest.