Buying and Selling Stocks on Robinhood: Everything About Commission-Free Investing

📈 The Era of Commission-Free Stock Trading

Robinhood's biggest advantage is commission-free stock trading. Traditional brokerages charged fees for every trade, but with Robinhood, that's not necessary.

Of course, there are tiny regulatory fees paid to agencies like FINRA, but these aren't retained by Robinhood—they're passed along directly to the regulatory bodies.

🌟 Available Investment Assets

Stocks & ETFs: Over 11,000 securities
Cryptocurrency: 45+ tokens
Options & Futures: For advanced investors
Retirement Accounts: Traditional & Roth IRA

🛒 Making Your First Stock Purchase

Buying stocks is incredibly simple. Let's use Nvidia as an example.

Step-by-Step Purchase Guide

Click the search icon at the bottom
Type 'Nvidia' in the search bar
Select the stock from search results
Review company info, statistics, news, and analyst ratings
Click the 'Buy' button at the bottom

📊 Researching Stocks

Before buying, you can learn about the stock:

Key Statistics: Market cap, P/E ratio, etc.
News: Latest company updates
Analyst Ratings: Expert opinions
Price Charts: Performance across various timeframes

For example, Nvidia has risen over 1,300% in the past 5 years—one of the market's best-performing stocks.

Robinhood offers two ways to invest:

Dollar-Based Investing (Default)

Invest a specific dollar amount
Example: $50 → approximately 0.25 shares
Minimum investment: Starting from $1
Can purchase fractional shares

Buy a specific number of shares
Need the full share price for whole shares
Example: 1 Nvidia share = approximately $180

🔄 Setting Up Recurring Investments

For automation, you can set up recurring investments:

Weekly
Every two weeks
Monthly

This feature helps build consistent investing habits.

💰 Selling Stocks

Selling is just as simple as buying.

Step-by-Step Selling Guide

Click on your holdings from the home screen
Click the 'Trade' button
Select 'Sell'
Enter 'Sell All' or your desired quantity
Swipe up to confirm

⚠️ Important Notes

Short-term trading isn't recommended
Prices may fluctuate slightly between trades
Proceeds show in buying power immediately, but withdrawal requires settlement

🪙 Robinhood Crypto

You can also trade cryptocurrency on Robinhood. Click the 'C' icon at the bottom to access the crypto section.

Crypto Features

45+ tokens available for trading
No commissions: No direct trading fees
Send & Receive: Transfer to/from other wallets
True Ownership: You actually own the crypto you buy

🔶 Buying Bitcoin

Using Bitcoin as an example:

Select Bitcoin in the crypto section
View price charts across different timeframes
Click the 'Buy' button
Enter your desired amount (starting from $1)
Complete the purchase

Fractional purchases are available for crypto too, so you can start small.

🏦 Retirement Accounts (IRA)

Robinhood also offers retirement accounts. Click the chart icon on the home screen and select the 'Retirement' tab.

Two Types Available

Type	Tax Benefit	Features
Traditional IRA	Tax deduction on contributions	Taxed on withdrawal
Roth IRA	No upfront tax benefit	Tax-free withdrawals

🎁 1% Matching Bonus

The best part of Robinhood retirement accounts is the 1% contribution match!

Applies to both Traditional and Roth IRA
1% of your contributions added for free
Significant compound effect over time

Why is Roth IRA Popular?

Contribute with after-tax income
Dividends and gains are completely tax-free
Just follow a few basic rules
More advantageous the younger you start

📊 Tracking Your Portfolio

Robinhood makes it easy to monitor your investment performance.

Checking Performance

Click different time periods on the home screen
- 1 day, 1 week, 1 month, 3 months, 1 year, all time
View returns for each period
Click individual stocks for detailed performance

Viewing Holdings

Scroll down on home screen
Check holdings in 'Stocks and ETFs' section
Click arrow icon for top holdings
See average cost, daily return, total return for each position

For example, a portfolio with $1 in every S&P 500 stock:

3-month return: approximately 3%
Year-to-date return: approximately 12.7%
Some stocks achieved over 430% returns

📌 Wrapping Up

Robinhood offers diverse investment options including stocks, ETFs, crypto, and retirement accounts. You can easily start with small amounts thanks to commission-free fractional share purchases.

In the next article, we'll explore Robinhood's advanced features like options trading, managed portfolios, and prediction markets.