How much does Robinhood Gold cost?
Robinhood Gold costs $5 monthly or $50 yearly after a 30-day free trial. There is no monthly fee for the normal Robinhood account.
If you're strategic with your Robinhood Gold benefits, you could earn enough to cover the subscription fee (or even a little extra). For example, any one of these actions should earn enough to cover the Robinhood Gold subscription cost, assuming you take advantage of the yearly rate:
- Keep an average balance of $1,177 in uninvested cash for a year
- Deposit $5,000 into your brokerage account
- Deposit $2,500 or more into your IRA
- Spend $1,667 or more with your Robinhood Gold Card
You can absolutely combine these actions. For example, depositing $3,000 into your brokerage account and keeping $500 in uninvested cash would justify the annual cost. We'll go over the math below.
What does Robinhood Gold include?
Robinhood Gold adds several features to your brokerage account. Here's a quick list of what it includes, followed by a bit more information about each:
- Higher interest on uninvested cash
- Higher instant deposit limits
- 1% match on taxable deposits
- 3% match on new IRA contributions
- Morningstar research access
- Level II market data
- $1,000 of zero-interest margin
- Robinhood Gold Card access
- Cheaper futures contracts
- Cheaper index options contracts
Higher interest on uninvested cash
Robinhood Gold members receive a boosted interest rate on cash balances. As of November 2024, Robinhood Gold offers 4.25% interest on cash sweep balances. Without Robinhood Gold, it's 0.01%.
The math: To pay for an annual Robinhood Gold membership with your 4.25% APY, you would need to maintain an average balance of about $1,177. This is calculated by dividing the $50 annual cost of Gold by the 4.25% APY (0.0425).
Higher instant deposit limits
With a Robinhood Gold membership, instant deposit limits range from $5,000 to $50,000. The limit depends on your portfolio value. Here are the specific limits:
- $5,000 with a portfolio value under $10,000
- $10,000 with a portfolio value of $10,0000$25,000
- $25,000 with a portfolio value of $25,000-$50,000
- $50,000 with a portfolio value over $50,000
In standard Robinhood accounts, up to $1,000 is available instantly. This is true no matter the account's balance.
1% match on taxable deposits
Robinhood will match deposits into taxable brokerage accounts by 1%. If you contribute $10,000 to your account, you'll earn $100 if you're a Robinhood Gold customer. There's no cap, but Robinhood does cap daily ACH deposit limits. Rewards are paid in installments earned over 24 months, or two years. Non-members get no match, so if you cancel your membership, you will lose any pending payments..
The math: To pay for an annual Robinhood Gold membership with a 1% deposit match alone, you'd need to deposit $5,000 a year. You can calculate this by dividing the $50 fee by the 1% match (0.01).
3% match on IRA contributions
Robinhood Gold members get a 3% match on IRA contributions. This match could be worth a lot of money if you max out your IRA account each year. Robinhood only matches 1% of non-member IRA contributions. In other words, if you contribute $1,000 to a Robinhood IRA, you'll receive a $10 match from Robinhoodor a $30 match from Robinhood Gold. Gold members who max out a $7,000 IRA would earn $210.
The math: Robinhood Gold members get an extra 2 percentage points (2%) on their IRA match than non-members. To pay for an annual Robinhood Gold subscription through the IRA match, you'd need to deposit $2,500 a year into your IRA. You can calculate this by dividing the $50 fee by the 2% extra matching rate (0.02).
Morningstar research access
Robinhood is known for being a low-frills brokerage platform, but Robinhood Gold adds some important features for investors. One of them is access to professional research reports on more than 1,700 stocks from Morningstar. With these reports, you can get professional opinions on a company's strategy, competitive advantages, risks, and more before you decide to invest.
Level II market data
Robinhood Gold members get Level II market data from Nasdaq. This won't help all Robinhood users. But it's useful if you're an active trader who uses technical analysis. You may find seeing the full list of current bids and asking prices for a stock helpful.
$1,000 of zero-interest margin
Robinhood Gold members get a 0% interest rate on the first $1,000 of margin borrowed. Margin investing isn't right for everyone. But, having access to lower margin rates can be a valuable perk for many investors.
Except for the first $1,000, Robinhood's margin rates are the same whether you're a Robinhood Gold member or non-member. Robinhood's margin rate changes over time based on the Federal Reserve's target range for the federal funds rate.
Robinhood Gold Card access
Robinhood Gold members can be approved for the Robinhood Gold Card, Robinhood's credit card. As of August 2024, anyone can join the waitlist, but you need to subscribe to Robinhood Gold to actually apply for the members-only card.
The best perks of the Robinhood Gold Card are 3% cash back on all categories of purchases and 5% cash back on travel booked through the Robinhood travel portal. It also offers travel benefits such as trip cancellation insurance and auto rental coverage. It does not charge an annual fee (except the Robinhood Gold membership fee).
The math: To pay for a monthly Robinhood Gold subscription with 3% rewards, you'd need to spend $1,667 with your Robinhood Gold Card. You can calculate this by dividing the $50 fee by the 3% rewards rate.
Cheaper futures contracts
Robinhood Gold members save 33% on futures contract fees. According to the Robinhood website, Robinhood will soon offer access to futures trading. You can trade S&P, oil, gold, and more -- once it releases. Robinhood Gold members pay $0.50 per contract fee; non-members pay $0.75.
For example, if you trade 50 S&P 500 futures contracts monthly, you'd pay $25 in fees as a Robinhood Gold member vs. $37.50 as a non-member -- saving $12.50 per month or $150 annually.
Robinhood's future trading fees are extremely price competitive. Some brokers charge $1.50 per futures contract, three times more than Robinhood charges Gold members. Is Robinhood's futures trading interface as excellent as its stock trading interface? That remains to be seen.
Cheaper index options contracts
Robinhood Gold members save 30% on index options contract fees. The stock broker charges Robinhood Gold members $0.35 per index options trade, less than the $0.50 it charges non-members. Not much if you trade infrequently, but if you're a heavy trader of index options, you'll benefit from much lower fees on every trade.
For example, if you trade 100 index options contracts per month, you'd pay $50 in fees as a non-member vs. $35 as a Robinhood Gold member -- saving $15 monthly or $180 annually.
Index options fees vary widely by broker, Robinhood's per contract fees land somewhere in the middle of the pack, competitive but not as outstanding as its commission-free products.
