SoFi and Robinhood are good platforms for beginner investors with low account balances. Both offer low to no trading fees and allow you to buy fractional shares — yet nuances among them can make one a better choice for specific types of investment goals, and for investors moving beyond the beginner stage.
Which one is better?
Choose SoFi if you are a long-term investor, interested in an IRA account or want to use automated investing.
Choose Robinhood if you want more sophisticated charting, more control over your orders or the ability to trade options and cryptocurrencies.
SoFi beats Robinhood with an automated investing feature that allows SoFi to invest on your behalf. Or, open an IRA account through SoFi, which isn’t an option with Robinhood. That SoFi offers a range of personal finance products — bank accounts, student loan refinancing, mortgages, personal loans and credit cards — gives it an edge for investors looking to manage more of their finances in one place. Robinhood, though, is a better choice for those focused solely on making their own investments. Its investing platform is better than SoFi’s because it offers advanced investing tools that SoFi does not, such as candlestick charts that help you better predict price movements and indicators like moving averages, MACD and RSI. Also, you can set multiple order types, including stop-loss or trailing-stop orders, and you can trade options.
Both platforms allow you to buy IPO stocks
Buy stocks on the day of their initial public offering (IPO) via both SoFi and Robinhood. However, this is a relatively new feature with the two platforms and it’s early to tell how well it works. Here’s how each of the two trading platforms have integrated IPO stock purchases:
Robinhood sometimes lets you access pre-IPO stocks — that is, buy them before they hit the market exchange. In most cases, though, the stock will have to start trading to get a chance to buy it. For this, you have to set a limit order at an exact price. Because the price can often start trading at a way higher or lower point than the one you’ve set, Robinhood can’t guarantee your order will be filled.
SoFi requires that you have at least $3,000 total account value across all SoFi Invest® accounts to buy IPO stocks. Then you have to choose an IPO and enter the number of shares you want to buy. You’ll have to confirm your order before the IPO. But even after you confirm, SoFi doesn’t guarantee that you’ll get the shares or the exact number of shares you wanted — you could get fewer.
SoFi and Robinhood are solid platforms for beginner traders looking for no-fee trading. SoFi is a better fit if you’re looking to open an IRA and keep more of your everyday finances together, like loans and credit cards. It also offers automated investing for hands-off portfolio management without a fee. If investing is your sole focus, Robinhood’s pricing charts can offer insights into your investments that SoFi’s basic line charts can’t. And it offers access to Bitcoin and altcoins for the crypto-curious. To find the best platform for your budget and financial goals, compare our picks for best online broker.
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Kliment Dukovski was a personal finance writer at Finder, specializing in investments and cryptocurrency. He's written more than 700 articles to help readers compare the best trading platforms, understand complex investment terms and find the best credit cards for their needs. His expert commentary has been featured in such digital publications as Fox Business, MSN Money and MediaFeed. He’s also well-versed in money transfers, home loans and more — breaking down these topics into simple concepts anyone can understand. In another life, Kliment ghostwrote guides and articles on foreign exchange, stock market trading and cryptocurrencies. See full bio
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Kliment has written 101 Finder guides across topics including:
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