Is margin investing with Robinhood Gold a good idea?

Robinhood Gold makes margin investing cheaper than with a standard Robinhood brokerage account. But it's a bad idea for most investors to trade with borrowed money. You pay interest on the borrowed amount. And, if the values of the stocks you buy start to fall, your losses will be greater than if you had simply used money in your account.

Can I cancel Robinhood Gold anytime?

You can end your Robinhood Gold subscription anytime. You will lose its benefits immediately when you cancel. If you downgrade your membership in the middle of a billing cycle, your $5 monthly fee won't be prorated.

What are the downsides of Robinhood Gold?

Many perks come with caveats. Not all Robinhood Gold members will be approved for the Robinhood credit card. It'd be a bummer to subscribe to Robinhood Gold for the card, only to be turned away. Robinhood locks Robinhood Gold users into the Robinhood ecosystem in small ways. For example, matched deposits must stay in Robinhood accounts for years. Otherwise, Robinhood will revoke your match. In short, it takes some commitment to Robinhood to take full advantage of the Robinhood Gold membership. If you don't plan on sticking around, it's worth much less.

Is Robinhood Gold Worth It?

Robinhood Gold is the broker's premium subscription plan. It adds features that many customers will find valuable. But many Robinhood customers often wonder if it's worth paying for Robinhood Gold.

With that in mind, here's a summary of what Robinhood Gold includes. We cover how valuable its perks are and if it's worth it for you to become a subscriber.

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Bottom Line

Robinhood Gold is worth considering if you regularly use margin, keep lots of uninvested cash in your account, or invest heavily in your IRA.

Fees:

$5 monthly or $50 yearly

Account Minimum:

N/A

Special Offer

Get a 3% match on IRA contributions each year with Robinhood Gold

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On Robinhood Gold's Secure Website.

How much does Robinhood Gold cost?

Robinhood Gold costs $5 monthly or $50 yearly after a 30-day free trial.

If you're strategic with your use of 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 $1,000 in uninvested cash for a year
Deposit $5,000 into your brokerage account
Deposit $1,667 or more into your IRA
Spend $1,667 or more with your Robinhood Gold Card

Of course, you can combine these actions. For example, depositing $2,500 into your brokerage account and keeping $500 in uninvested cash would justify the annual cost. We'll go over the math below. Read on for a breakdown of the specific benefits of a Robinhood Gold membership.

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

Higher interest on uninvested cash

Robinhood Gold members receive a boosted interest rate on cash balances. As of June 2024, Robinhood Gold offers 5% interest on cash sweep balances. Without Robinhood Gold, it's 0.01%.

The math: To pay for a Robinhood Gold membership with your 5% APY, you would need to maintain an average balance of $1,000. This is calculated by dividing the $50 annual cost of Gold by a 5% APY (0.05).

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 $10,000-$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 earned over 24 months, or two years. Non-members get no match.

So to pay for a monthly Robinhood Gold subscription with a 1% match, you'd need to deposit $6,000 in 2024. With an annual subscription, you'd need to deposit $5,000.

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 "bonus" from Robinhood.

To pay for a monthly Robinhood Gold subscription with a 3% match, you'd need to deposit $2,000 into your IRA in 2024. You can calculate this by dividing the annualized cost ($60) by the 3% matching rate (0.03). By maxing out a $7,000 IRA, you'd earn $210, which would really justify the cost of Robinhood Gold.

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 bid and ask 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 June 2024, anyone can join the waitlist, but you need to subscribe to Robinhood Gold to actually apply for and swipe the members-only card.

The best perks of the Robinhood Gold Card are no annual fees (except the Robinhood Gold Card membership fee) and 3% back on all purchases, with 5% back on travel booked through Robinhood Travel. It's especially valuable if you already subscribe to Robinhood Gold for other perks.

To pay for a monthly Robinhood Gold subscription with 3% rewards, you'd need to spend $2,000 with your Robinhood Gold Card in 2024.

Alternatives to Consider

We recommend comparing brokerage options to ensure the account you're selecting is the best fit for you. To make your search easier, here's a short list of our best trading platforms of 2024.

Account	Fees	Account Minimum
Featured Offer Rating image, 4.5 out of 5 stars. 4.5/5 Our ratings are based on a 5 star scale. 5 stars equals Best. 4 stars equals Excellent. 3 stars equals Good. 2 stars equals Fair. 1 star equals Poor.	$0 for stocks, ETFs, and options; $5 monthly for Robinhood Gold	$0	Open Account for Robinhood
Rating image, 4.5 out of 5 stars. 4.5/5 Our ratings are based on a 5 star scale. 5 stars equals Best. 4 stars equals Excellent. 3 stars equals Good. 2 stars equals Fair. 1 star equals Poor.	$0 for stocks, $0 for options contracts	$0	Open Account for SoFi Active Investing
Rating image, 4.5 out of 5 stars. 4.5/5 Our ratings are based on a 5 star scale. 5 stars equals Best. 4 stars equals Excellent. 3 stars equals Good. 2 stars equals Fair. 1 star equals Poor.	Commission-free; other fees apply	$0	Open Account for E*TRADE

How valuable are these benefits?

It's tough to put a single number on the value of Robinhood Gold's benefits. Here are some examples of when you might benefit from subscribing to Robinhood Gold:

Example 1: You keep $5,000 of cash in your brokerage account. You are earning $0.05 per year on your uninvested cash. If you enabled brokerage cash sweeps, you'd earn $75 per year. But if you subscribed to Robinhood Gold, you'd earn $250 per year.

Example 2: You contribute the $7,000 maximum to an IRA in 2024. Robinhood matches your deposit with $70. If you subscribed to Robinhood Gold, Robinhood would match your deposit with $210.

Example 3: You maintain a margin balance of $1,000. You pay $67.50 in yearly interest payments. But if you subscribed to Robinhood Gold, you'd pay $0 in yearly interest payments.

Benefits like Level II market data and Morningstar research access are tougher to quantify. They are useful, but some competitors give these to you for free. Consider what perks Robinhood Gold offers you as a whole when weighing the pros and cons.

Is Robinhood Gold worth it?

Robinhood Gold could be worth it for many Robinhood customers. If you max out your IRA every year, being a Robinhood Gold member gets you much more value than the cost. The same is true if you keep several thousand dollars in cash in your account.

It's also worth noting that if you think Robinhood Gold is a good move for you, choosing to pay annually instead of monthly can help maximize the value you get.

When Robinhood adds a 1% match to taxable accounts, depositing over $6,000 a year will cover the cost of Robinhood Gold for customers.

If you lack an IRA, don't invest or deposit much, or don't use margin, Robinhood Gold offers you little. It's only worth paying the membership fee if you get more out of it than you put in, be it cash or something else.

Take a look at the perks of Robinhood Gold one by one to see how much value you would get out of each. If the answers add up to significantly more than the Robinhood Gold $5 monthly or $50 yearly fee, it could be well worth the cost.