I first downloaded Robinhood in December 2020 over winter break to start investing my money into the stock market. I looked at many different investing apps (Coinbase, eTrade, Sofi, Webull) and none seem to have the ease of investing like Robinhood does. They break down all the stocks, ETFs, Cryptos, and stock options you own in your portfolio, and give you constant statistics about them. Statistics like the market value, return, portfolio diversity, different financial ratios, and other news about them. A free stock is included when you first sign up as well.
If you are not sure of what stocks to buy, Robinhood gives you a breakdown of the most popular stocks and companies to invest in right now. Also, you can find many of the stocks and cryptocurrencies that you might not find on other investing apps on Robinhood. My personal favorite is Dogecoin, a meme currency that has recently gained popularity and, along with Bitcoin, is currently holding over 50% of the monetary value in the app. There was a lot of craze with the recent GameStop stock surge, and Robinhood recently banned people from investing their money into that stock and others. Many people wanted others to stop using Robinhood, which even had Robinhood trending #1 on Twitter. But that has not stopped me from continuing to invest in the app.
Robinhood also has a very convenient message board to tell you what stocks you have bought recently and gives you a breaking down over a text message about when you bought the stock, how much of the stock you have bought, and an explanation of the different features that are included. It then gives you an explanation of what you are buying and what you can do with it, and other important information.
You can also change the display of the data on your screen. For instance, you can show the last price of the stock, equity gained from the stock, percentage change, total gain/loss from the stock, and total percentage change over time. Each number that is displayed is color coordinated, with green meaning you made money with your stock, while red meaning you lost money with your stock.
While stocks can be confusing to some people, Robinhood puts their own twist on investing money in the stock market in a very convenient way and simple way. Overall, I would recommend new users to try out Robinhood over another investing app because of how easy and simple it feels. It is a great way to see how your stocks and cryptocurrencies are doing over a period of time.
The Student Movement is the official student newspaper of Andrews University. Opinions expressed in the Student Movement are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editors, Andrews University or the Seventh-day Adventist church.