Robinhood

So here's the thing about Robinhood-it's basically the app that made your cousin think they're the next Warren Buffett. And honestly? That's kind of the point.

Robinhood offers commission-free stock trading with advanced tools, fractional shares, and real-time market data, but what really sets it apart is how it democratized investing for regular people. The founders discovered that big Wall Street firms were paying next-to-nothing to trade stocks, while most Americans were charged commission for every single trade, so they built a financial product that would give everyone-not just the wealthy-access to financial markets.

The numbers tell the story pretty well. Robinhood had more than 25 million funded accounts on its platform in 2024 versus just 10 million five years ago. That's not just growth-that's a complete shift in how people think about investing.

But here's where it gets interesting. You can trade stocks, options, crypto, and more, starting with as little as $1 for crypto like BTC, ETH, XRP, SOL, DOGE, and SHIB. The app basically turned investing into something as simple as ordering food delivery. Robinhood Gold costs $5/month and offers 4% APY on uninvested cash with no cap, instant deposits up to $50,000, and the first $1K of margin investing if eligible.

What's really clever is their business model. The company's revenue comes from payment for order flow and commissions on options (27% of Q2 2025 revenues), cryptocurrency (16%), equities (7%), and other products (5%), plus net interest income primarily from margin lending. So while you're not paying commissions, they're still making money-just in a way that's more transparent than traditional brokers.

The crypto angle is huge too. They offer trading at one of the lowest costs on average, with 25+ crypto assets available including BTC, ETH, and DOGE, plus zero deposit or withdrawal fees for crypto transfers. And they're not stopping there-they're now offering tokenized shares of companies, including private ones like OpenAI and SpaceX.

The company went public in 2021 and has been on quite a ride. In just the past 12 months, shares of Robinhood are up more than 310%. The company has grown from $1.8 billion in revenue in 2021 to just under $3 billion this past year, and it's now profitable.