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.