That is what Robinhood is promising. Will this turn traditional online stockbroking on it’s head? Time will tell, but it’s worth a look. TechCruch has this covered in a recent article. Some fun facts from the article and personal experience are:
It doesn’t actually cost a brokerage much money to place a trade. Yet customers are charged anywhere from $7 to $30 dollars per trade depending where in the world you are. CommSec in Australia offers trades at AUD $19.99 compared with Bell Direct at AUD $10. Scottrade in the US offers $7 trades. Interestingly Loyal3 also offers free trades, but is more restrictive to consumer brands.- Robinhood started out as an iPhone app for tracking stocks, but has since transformed into broker-dealer. Potentially making it the worlds first zero-commission stock broker.
- Zero-commission trading could bring a new generation of young investors into the stock market.
- Potential for charging for API access. so other app developers can leverage the platform.
Robinhood has an interesting promotional video. And if you think the actor looks familiar, you’re right he is the star of another startup we have mentioned before. I wonder what the connection between the two firms is, if any?
