InvestingTips360

  • Home
  • Recent Posts
  • Beginner’s Guide
  • Top Brokerage Firms
  • FAQ
  • Privacy Policy

Robinhood vs E*TRADE Comparison Review

Robinhood and E*TRADE are both great investment brokers but they seem to cater to different types of investors. Read the Robinhood vs E*TRADE comparison review below and understand which broker is better for you.

Robinhood vs E*TRADE: Popularity

QueryRobinhoodE*TRADE
Number of users (approximate)13m7.1m
Website traffic (estimated)42.6m28.7m
# results on web29.7m2bn
Search volume Google40k673K
Twitter followers196k73.5K
FB followers163k158K
How popular on mainstream media?HighHigh
Negative media?HighMedium
Notable awardsMost innovative company by Fast Company (2015), Top 50 by Fast Company (2016)Best Web Platform 2020, Best Online Brokers 2019

Even though Robinhood is the younger company, it grew so much so quickly that it has more users than E*TRADE, a broker with longevity in the market. Both are award winning brokers but because of the numbers presented above, we will need to choose Robinhood the winner in the popularity category.

Robinhood vs E*TRADE: User Rating

QueryRobinhoodE*TRADE
# users rated on user platforms77 on TrustPilot, 46 on SiteJabber35 on TrustPilot, 107 on SiteJabber
Percentage of positive reviews out of user reviews20%20%
Common complimentsGreat design and user interface, good appFantastic trading platform, fast and reliable.
Common complaintsPoor customer service, difficult to communicate with, not trustworthyCustomer service is terrible sometimes.
Positive feedback on Twitter?Constant inflow of positive commentsGood and easy to use platform
Negative feedback on Twitter?No complaints over the past 14 daysLong waiting times for support and recurring downtime.
App rating (summary)4.6 / 5130K reviews with an average rating of 4.15 / 5

Very similar number of feedback entries online with the exact same percentage of positive reviews. Even the common complaints are mostly related to the customer support for both of them. This is too close to call.

Robinhood vs E*TRADE: Background Information

QueryRobinhoodE*TRADE
Company public/privatePrivatePublic
Revenue Data180m on Q2 of 2020$3.145B annual revenue for 2019
CEO and bioVladimir Tenev, Standford graduate, left his PhD in maths for Robinhood. Prior to Robinhood, he created a high frequency trading company.Mike Pizzi – Over 12 years working in the company where he was also the CFO and Chief Risk Officer
Number of employees1,2814,000
Notable investors (private companies)SEQUOIA, Index Ventures, CapitalG, Andreessen Horowitz, Thrive CapitalE*TRADE was acquired by Morgan Stanley for $13B on Feb 20, 2020.

One is private, one is public. One has great investors, one has been acquired by a financial giant. E*TRADE is the public company acquired by Morgan Stanley for a whooping $13 billions and considering the revenue data from the table above, we can easily understand the selling price.

Robinhood vs E*TRADE: Security

QueryRobinhoodE*TRADE
HTTPS CertificateYesYes
2FA ?YesYes
Device monitoring?YesYes
New device extra security?YesYes

Robinhood vs E*TRADE: Fees & Offering

QueryRobinhoodE*TRADE
Account minimumNoneNone
Account fixed feesNoneNone
Fractional shares?YesNo
Margin costs5% per dayVaries
ETF buying feesNoneNone
Stock buying feesNoneNone
Option buying feesNone$0.50
Short selling feesNot availableNone
Futures buying feesNot available$1.50
Future options buying feesNot available$1.50
Cryptocurrency fees1% on buying, 5% on sellingNot available
Fixed income feesNot available$1 per bond
Mutual funds feesNot availableNone

Both companies allow zero fee stock buying and no account fixed fees, but the similarities stop here. Robinhood is allowing fractional buying and cryptocurrency trading, which has brought a lot of new, young, customers to its app. E*TRADE doesn’t have those two instruments but it’s providing a wider range of trading opportunities for the more traditional type of investor.

Robinhood vs E*TRADE: Trading App

QueryRobinhoodE*TRADE
Android app # installs10m+1m+
Android app # reviews155k14K
iPhone app # reviews2m113K
Android app rating4.3 / 53.7 / 5
iPhone app rating4.8 / 54.6 / 5
Common compliments on appSmooth app, easy for beginners, free stock promotion, low feesThe app is user friendly, easy to navigate and make trades
Common complaints on appSlow, laggy, freezing upon high activitySeveral log-in attempts before logging in
Weighted average app rating4.6 / 54.15 / 5

Both brokers have good ratings for its mobile trading apps but we can only put Robinhood as the winner in this category. They are literally just an app, without a desktop or browser platform, so they NEED to be great since they only focus on only one dimension.

Final conclusions:

Robinhood and E*TRADE are both good investment brokers but there is a different type of customer for each. Robinhood is the better choice for beginner investors who are just starting and their limited budgets need the option of fractional buying. E*TRADE is the better option for traders that need access to different types of investment tools, for those that need a customizable trading platform.

Meet InvestingTips360 I Contact Us I Site Disclaimer

Copyright © 2023 InvestingTips360