Robinhood Roth IRA Review 2024: IRA Match and $0 Commission Trading

Robinhood IRA at a glance

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Robinhood IRAs are best for beginner and intermediate traders and investors

Robinhood is a practical option for novices and intermediate traders and investors because it makes it incredibly easy to invest while offering a respectable trading platform for those looking to take more of an active role. Its platform is one of the most user-friendly on the market, and the company continues to innovate with new features, including matching IRA contributions and a trading market that’s open 24 hours a day, five days a week.

What we like about the Robinhood IRA

Robinhood is one of the most accessible and beginner-friendly investing platforms on the market. It’s easy to get started, easy to use and commission-free. Instant deposits, fractional share trading from just $1 and Robinhood’s 24/5 trading give you quick and broad access to the market. Here’s what else we like.

Robinhood Gold

While Robinhood is free to use, it also offers access to an upgraded version of its platform for a $5 monthly fee. IRA-specific Robinhood Gold features include:

• 3% IRA match. Get a 3% match on every IRA contribution.
• Larger instant deposits. Access instant deposits up to $50,000 (as long as your portfolio is $50,000+).
• Professional market research. Receive extensive stock reports from Morningstar that include company strategy, performance and risk.
• Technical analysis. Access to Level 2 market data from Nasdaq. Gold members also get unlimited access to Morningstar’s premium, in-depth stock research reports for approximately 1,700 stocks.

Robinhood offers a free 30-day trial period of Robinhood Gold.

Robinhood Gold

4.3

★★★★★

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• Earn up to 5% APY on uninvested cash (subscription fees apply)
• Get up to a 3% match on all new IRA contributions, IRA transfers and 401(k) rollovers
• Access professional research from top-tier research provider, Morningstar

Get an IRA match

Get a 3% IRA match on IRA contributions when you subscribe to Gold or 1% without Gold. The IRA contribution limit for 2024 is $7,000, meaning Robinhood will contribute up to $210 in matching funds for Gold subscribers or $70 without Gold. All IRA transfers and 401(k) rollovers earn 1% with or without Gold, and there’s no limit to how much you can get in matching contributions. You must maintain your Gold subscription for one year after your contribution to keep the full 3% match.

Robinhood is the only broker we review that currently offers this incentive year-round.

IPO access

Get access to select IPOs and purchase shares before they enter the public market. Robinhood’s IPO Access lets you buy shares of companies at the IPO price as the stock becomes available to the general public. Here’s how it works:

• Confirm your interest in an IPO and request shares once the underwriter sets the initial price range.
• Robinhood uses a random allocation process to choose which customers are allotted shares. Shares are limited, and you may get the full number of shares you requested, a partial amount or none at all.
• On the IPO date, Robinhood will let you know how many shares you can buy.

24 hour market

Trade select stocks and ETFs 24 hours a day, five days a week, from Sunday 8 p.m. through Friday 8 p.m. ET. Place limit orders to buy whole shares of over 1,050 stocks and ETFs, including names such as Nvidia (NVDA), Tesla (TSLA) and Apple (AAPL).

Trade options in your Robinhood IRA

With approval, trade Level 2 options strategies in a Robinhood IRA with no commission or per-contract fees. Choose and customize your strategy with Robinhood’s Strategy Builder, adjust or extend your positions with options rolling and monitor options contracts to see their hypothetical returns. Available strategies include long calls, covered calls, long puts and short puts.

Robinhood’s platform is easy to use

In terms of usability, Robinhood is simple and straightforward, with a clean interface that makes it ideal for beginners. That said, Robinhood’s charting and free research tools are subpar, especially compared to the sophisticated financial tools of some newcomer brokers.

Here are some of the tools you can use to trade with on Robinhood:

• Watchlists
• Key statistics, such as market cap, price-to-earnings (P/E) and average volume
• Buy, hold and sell ratings
• Recent earnings results and estimates
• News feed
• A chart with some advanced features
• A chart with some advanced technical indicators, such as volume, moving averages and Bollinger Bands
• Trading Trends, which shows trading trends for Robinhood customers, hedge funds and insiders

Upgrading to Robinhood Gold for $5 per month gets you access to Morningstar research and Level 2 Nasdaq market data, though day traders might still find it lackluster. You can add the Level 2 Nasdaq market data, including a depth chart and book in the advanced chart of any given stock. We did notice that Morningstar research wasn’t available for every stock, though.

Where Robinhood IRAs fall short

Here’s where we think Robinhood’s IRAs could improve:

Research tools and investment options are limited

While all Robinhood customers have access to analyst ratings on select stocks and a handful of advanced charting features, Robinhood’s charts still lag the capabilities of several other brokers. And its most powerful tools and data are reserved for Robinhood Gold subscribers. What’s more, Robinhood’s lineup of tradable assets, though decent and expanding, isn’t as extensive as what the biggest brokers currently offer.

Can’t change cost basis method manually

Robinhood uses first-in, first-out as its default cost basis method and there’s no option to manually change this ahead of a trade. According to a Robinhood representative, you can contact Robinhood support before the sell order settles to request a specific lot adjustment. Here’s what you need to provide with your request:

• Security identifier
• Closing trade date and price
• Open lot date, price and cost
• Quantity of each specified lot

Again, you need to request a tax lot change before the sell order settles.

Payment for order flow

Robinhood uses payment for order flow (PFOF), which means that instead of routing customer orders directly to the stock exchange, Robinhood sends them to market makers or trading firms in exchange for a fee. While this practice allows Robinhood to offer commission-free trading to its users, some critics argue that it may result in less favorable execution prices for customers compared to other brokers that do not engage in PFOF.

No robo-advisor

Though Robinhood lets you make automatic IRA contributions and offers a one-time portfolio builder that will give you a recommended portfolio of ETFs, it doesn’t offer a robo-advisor that can continuously monitor and rebalance your portfolio over time.

Robinhood IRA fees

Is Robinhood legit?

Robinhood is a legitimate company and broker founded in 2013. It’s registered with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and is a member of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) and the Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC). Robinhood Crypto is registered with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) as a money services business.

Robinhood’s platform is also considered safe and secure. Through its memberships of SEC, FINRA and SIPC, customers are protected up to $500,000 — including up to $250,000 in cash balances – in the event of Robinhood’s insolvency. It has an additional insurance policy that provides protection for securities and cash up to an aggregate of $1 billion.

Customer experience

Robinhood’s online customer sentiment is mixed, with both positive and negative reviews from users. Positive sentiment often revolves around the platform’s user-friendly interface, commission-free trading and accessibility for beginner investors. Users appreciate the simplicity of the app and the ability to start investing with small amounts of money. However, negative sentiment typically stems from concerns about platform outages during periods of high market volatility and controversies surrounding issues such as payment for order flow and the handling of customer funds. Overall, while many users find Robinhood’s platform convenient and easy to use, others have raised concerns about reliability and transparency.

As of September 2024, Robinhood has a rating of 1.12 out of five stars based on over 220 reviews on the Better Business Bureau (BBB) and is not BBB accredited. Over 1,800 complaints have been closed in the past three years. On Trustpilot, Robinhood has a 1.3 out of five stars based on over 3,700 reviews. Sentiment on Reddit is mostly positive.

Compare Robinhood to other platforms

Compare similar platforms by available asset types, trade fees and minimum deposit requirements. Select Go to site to sign up for an account.

Robinhood Retirement

★★★★★

Finder rating 4.4 / 5

Go to site

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Available asset types

Stocks, Options, ETFs

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Annual fee

$0 per month

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Minimum deposit

$0

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IRA match

Up to 3%

SoFi IRA

★★★★★

Finder rating 4.2 / 5

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Available asset types

Stocks, ETFs

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Annual fee

$0 per month

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Minimum deposit

$0

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IRA match

1%

Tastytrade IRA

★★★★★

Finder rating 4.3 / 5

Go to site

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Available asset types

Stocks, Options, ETFs, Futures

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Annual fee

$0 per year

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Minimum deposit

$0

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IRA match

N/A

Frequently asked questions

How many Robinhood accounts can I have?

Robinhood now supports multiple accounts per customer, including individual brokerage accounts and IRAs.

Can I keep the IRA match if I withdraw money from my IRA?

Contributions to a Robinhood Retirement account must be held for at least five years to avoid an early IRA match removal fee. This fee is equal to the IRA match amount earned.

When does Robinhood stock market open?

Robinhood offers extended-hours trading and a 24-hour market for select stocks and ETFs, so you can begin trading on Robinhood before normal market hours.

• Pre-market hours: 7 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. ET
• Regular market hours: 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. ET
• After hours: 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. ET
• 24-hour market: 8 p.m. on Sunday to 8 p.m. ET on Friday