Robinhood is positioning itself to be much more than a mobile-first brokerage, with a clear focus on engaging with active traders and wealth advisors through its latest offerings.
On Wednesday, the company launched a new desktop trading platform called Robinhood Legend, aiming to provide a seamless experience for traders who prefer the advanced capabilities that desktop platforms offer. This marks a strategic shift designed to attract a more sophisticated audience—those who manage portfolios actively and expect high-performance tools.
For wealth advisors and RIAs, Robinhood's new platform is not just a step forward in retail trading but a significant opportunity to leverage professional-grade tools for clients. Robinhood Legend allows users to display up to eight charts in a single window, customize layouts, and add technical indicators like moving averages, Bollinger Bands, and Ichimoku Clouds, which are essential for informed decision-making. As an RIA, this level of customization and analysis can enhance the service you provide to clients by offering detailed, real-time insights into market movements.
At the launch event, dubbed Hood Summit, the company revealed its intent to compete more directly with legacy institutions like Charles Schwab and Fidelity, signaling that Robinhood is focused on capturing a larger share of the market that currently relies on desktop platforms for advanced trading strategies. Wealth advisors should take note of this shift, as it positions Robinhood as a more viable alternative to traditional platforms, offering competitive pricing and sophisticated tools.
Steve Quirk, Robinhood’s chief brokerage officer, highlighted the frustrations many active traders experience with legacy platforms, particularly the need to toggle between different apps and tools. Robinhood Legend was designed with these pain points in mind, offering a streamlined, all-in-one experience. For wealth advisors, this unified platform can enhance operational efficiency, enabling more precise and faster decision-making without the hassle of navigating multiple systems.
The platform is available at no additional cost to current Robinhood customers, a detail that could appeal to cost-conscious clients and RIAs looking for value-driven solutions. As the product rolls out over the coming months, Robinhood expects it to attract not only retail investors but also professionals seeking a more modern trading experience.
In addition to Legend, Robinhood is expanding its suite of offerings for mobile users, which includes the addition of futures trading and index options. These products, particularly futures contracts for the S&P 500, oil, and Bitcoin, are tailored for clients seeking to diversify portfolios and manage risk more effectively. With competitive commission rates—starting at 50 cents for Gold subscribers—wealth advisors can take advantage of these products to offer more cost-effective solutions to their clients.
Robinhood also places a strong emphasis on education, providing tools and resources that can help wealth advisors explain complex strategies to clients. The platform includes a new feature that shows realized profit and loss data on all trades since January 1, giving users a comprehensive view of their trading history. This type of reporting can help advisors offer more transparent services and make data-driven recommendations.
For RIAs who prioritize client retention and growth, Robinhood’s asset transfer incentives are noteworthy. Clients transferring assets by October 27 can earn bonuses of up to 3%, depending on the type and size of the transfer. This could be a key selling point for wealth advisors encouraging clients to consolidate their portfolios within a single platform, offering both the convenience of managing all accounts in one place and the added benefit of financial incentives.
Robinhood’s broader strategy to offer tools that rival traditional brokerages, while keeping costs competitive, suggests that wealth advisors and RIAs should seriously consider integrating its offerings into their practice. The combination of a robust desktop platform with mobile functionality, paired with competitive pricing and an expanding product suite, positions Robinhood as a formidable player in the wealth management space. Advisors looking to offer clients cutting-edge solutions at lower costs could find Robinhood Legend and its related services a valuable addition to their toolkit.
