【2024.12 Update】Robinhood is now offering extra perks to people who open a new Gold account: those who sign up during the promotion can share in $1,000,000 cash, the interest rate on the cash account has increased to 4.75% APY, and the first-year annual fee is 25% off, which works out to $45 a year. The Gold account also offers some other benefits, so it still has some value if you trade with them often.

Now the stock reward for opening an account is issued as fractional shares, worth $5-$200, and you can choose from well-known stocks such as Google, Apple, Amazon, and Tesla. That is pretty nice—at least better than the old random unknown stock.

About Robinhood

Robinhood is a startup stock brokerage, but it attracted widespread attention as soon as it launched. Robinhood was the first to offer a commission-free stock trading platform, breaking the conventions of the U.S. brokerage market. Similar products now include WeBull.

The venture capital firms backing Robinhood are also very well known; in its seed round it received investment from Google Venture and Andreessen Horowitz. In 2014, it gradually began allowing beta users to trade. It is now fully open, so anyone can sign up. Like other brokerages, Robinhood is a member of SIPC (Securities Investor Protection Corporation), similar to FDIC for banks. It protects the cash and stocks customers hold at Robinhood if Robinhood goes bankrupt, with coverage up to $500,000 per person, so you basically do not need to worry about what happens if they ever go under.robinhood-ios
Robinhood charges no commission on any trades; there is only a very small exchange fee when you sell stocks, and it is not charged by Robinhood itself. By comparison, other large stock brokerages such as Charles Schwab charge $8.95 per trade, while Fidelity charges $7.95. This feature makes Robinhood very suitable for students, younger people who do not have much savings, and people who are just entering the stock market and want to learn. Robinhood can be used for trading on iOS and Android, and there is also a web version.

If your principal is small and your broker still takes nearly $10 per trade, the already small profit can easily be eaten up. Even worse, trading fees can affect your decision-making. You may have wanted to make a trade, but the high fee makes you not want to do it. Robinhood does not have this problem. Even if you only have a few hundred bucks, you can still use it to learn how to trade stocks.

Even better, Robinhood now supports options and cryptocurrency trading, also with no commission, making it ideal for slowly getting familiar with these more advanced derivatives using very small amounts.

Sign-up and referral link

By using our referral link to open a free Robinhood stock account, you can get a $5-$200 stock.

The odds are as follows

  • 100% are above $5
  • 1% chance of at least $20;
  • 0.1% chance of at least $50, with a maximum of $200

The reward is issued as a fractional share, which means you can buy a portion of a specific stock. You can choose from well-known stocks such as Google, Apple, Amazon, and Tesla. That is pretty nice—at least better than the old random unknown stock.

About Robinhood: Robinhood is a free stock app, and its biggest feature is that trading does not require paying Robinhood any commission, although there are some limits on trading frequency (you can pay to unlock premium features). Therefore, it is especially suitable for students or people who are not investing a lot, as well as people who are just entering the U.S. stock market and want to give it a try.

To open a stock account, you need to provide your SSN, but this will not result in a hard pull, and nothing will appear on your credit record. If you sell stocks, a tax form will be issued, and you just need to file your taxes then (student status is fine too).

How to get started

  • Sign up: Robinhood sign-up link
  • Start filling in your information. (Note: Robinhood only has an app version, so you must have an iPhone or Android phone to log in.)
  • Fill in your address information
  • Fill in your identity verification information truthfully. There are no nationality or job restrictions
  • Link your bank account; basically all major banks are supported. If you are not interested in investing, you can enter $0.01 for the initial transfer money.
  • Submit your account application
  • After submitting, remember to check your email and verify your email address. Approval emails are usually sent the same day or the next day, and you can log in to the app only after approval
  • Download Robinhood's app (iPhone version, Android version)
  • Log in to the app and tap freestock in the menu to see which stock you got!
  • [This was the old reward; now it is a directly granted fractional share] I got the second prize (1/5 chance), and LD got the first prize, $150 AAPL (1/50 chance)

Signing up for Robinhood is very easy. Just click our referral link and follow the prompts step by step. Sign up now, and you can also randomly receive one share of stock (worth anywhere from a few dollars to over a hundred dollars).

Fun fact: How Robinhood makes money

Since Robinhood doesn’t charge for trades, how does it make money?
  • Margin trading: Margin trading means borrowing money from the market or short selling to invest. Robinhood offers the paid Robinhood Gold service. By paying a monthly fee, you can get a margin allowance and buy stocks worth more than the amount in your account. The monthly fee depends on the margin allowance.
  • Open platform: Although I don’t know how they make money from this, Robinhood says it plans to open up its platform and API and then use that to generate revenue.
  • Interest on cash: Cash that customers keep at Robinhood also earns interest income, and the interest they pay customers is lower. The difference in interest is also part of Robinhood’s revenue.
  • Potential revenue source: Payment for order flow: Because a given stock may trade on multiple exchanges at the same time, some exchanges (such as DirectEdge) offer rebates to brokers on certain orders in order to encourage those orders to be executed there. But all securities brokers are still responsible for obtaining the best quote for customers’ orders (see SEC Regulation NMS), so in theory this does not affect the final execution price.

Cash Management account

Cash Management accounts are now available to everyone, and the interest rate is 1.5% APY. If you keep a large amount of cash or stock with them, it may be worth getting one, since earning 1.5% interest on idle cash is pretty good. For more about the cash account, see the main text

One of our authors received an invitation to this cash account, and overall the experience has been pretty good. Here’s a quick recap:

  • After receiving the sign-up invitation and registering for a Robinhood Cash Management account (similar to checking), a virtual debit card is generated automatically. It includes a card number, expiration date, and other details, so you can use it online right away or add it to Google Pay for in-store purchases.
  • Then the card arrives, and it looks pretty nice
  • A close-up
  • This card waives ATM withdrawal fees at many ATMs in the US, including US Bank, Citi, Wells Fargo, and a bunch of pharmacy and 7-Eleven ATMs
  • There are even free ATMs in the UK, Canada, Australia, and elsewhere

This account is pretty generous. In addition to interest, you can withdraw cash, invest, and transfer money at any time. It comes with 1.25M of FDIC insurance, has no minimum deposit requirement, and no monthly fee. If you already invest in stocks on Robinhood, you might as well open an account.

Things to note

  • Each account can only receive the referral stock bonus once. Some accounts can refer others, and both the referrer and the referred person can get one stock reward. One account can receive up to $500 worth of reward stock.
  • 1/20-1/70 chance to win first prize, getting high-priced stocks such as Apple (AAPL), Facebook (FB), and Microsoft (MSFT). 1/5 chance to win second prize, getting F, S, or VER stock, worth about $8 per share. You are guaranteed to win one stock!
  • The sign-up bonus is free, but it depends on luck. Investing involves risk; be careful

If you’re interested in an investment account but don’t have an SSN, you may want to consider Webull, which can be opened with an ID card. You can also trade U.S. stocks.

Stock Investing Basics

Below are a few commonly used U.S. stock brokerages, along with their signup bonuses.

Overview Signup Bonus Quick Take
Moomoo $1,030 in stock + 8.1% APY Professional platform, no commissions, and free Level 2 market data. Good for both beginners and advanced traders. Chinese-language customer service available. Requires SSN.
TradeUp 50 shares of NVDA + chance to win 5 more shares + 4% for three months No commissions, supports both U.S. and Hong Kong stocks, and offers WebTrading. Chinese-language customer service available. Available globally.
Webull $100 Amazon + 12 fractional shares + 1 month of Premium membership No commissions, with frequent deposit bonuses that give free stock.
BBAE Up to $650 bonus 0 commission, 0 fees; Chinese-friendly, and you can open an account without an SSN/ITIN.
Robinhood 1 free stock No commissions, with an interest-bearing cash account option. Simple interface that works well for beginners.
Interactive Brokers Up to $1,000 Broad market access. Professional, comprehensive trading platform with high interest on cash balances.
TradeStation $250 Professional trading platform with a full set of supporting tools.
Schwab Up to $1,000 Professional and easy to use. Global ATM fee rebates and $0 stock commissions.
Fidelity Brokerage Account Sign-up link Well-established brokerage with no trading fees, plus TurboTax included.
BIT (formerly Matrixport) $400 in stock Supports direct crypto deposits and withdrawals, does not participate in China CRS, and allows registration directly with an ID card.
SoFi Invest $75 for opening an account No commissions and supports Stock Bits.
WealthFront $5,000 managed free Automated investing and wealth management.
M1 Finance $10 for depositing funds No commissions, with automatic investing based on your portfolio allocation.

If you do not have an SSN/ITIN but still want to trade U.S. stocks, take a look at the brokerages/platforms below. All of them allow registration using a full set of Chinese documents, and you can sign up with just an ID card or passport. None of them participate in China CRS.

  • BBAE: Chinese-friendly; you can open an account without an SSN/ITIN.
  • BIT (formerly Matrixport): You can open an account with just an ID card, and approval can be completed within a few hours.
  • Bitget: Identity verification can be completed with an ID card/Chinese passport.

Referral link