Trading 212 vs Robinhood: Fees, Platforms and Offerings Compared

About Robinhood

Robinhood has been operating since 2013. It was developed with the aim of democratizing investing, allowing everyone access to the financial markets and removing the exclusivity of investing being solely the domain of the wealthy. 

Robinhood was the first firm to offer commission-free trading, and when the app was launched in 2015, there were over 800,000 people waitlisted.

Over the years, while many other brokerages have joined the zero-commission realm, Robinhood has maintained its appeal. It has an easy-to-use platform and has expanded its offerings to include crypto. As of 2021, Robinhood is now public, trading under the HOOD ticker. 

About Trading 212

Trading 212 has a longer history compared to Robinhood as it dates back to 2005. It was originally launched in Bulgaria, but was quickly expanded to include the UK markets with Financial Conduct Authority regulation.

After Robinhood shook up the trading industry, Trading 212 was one of the first platforms to join Robinhood in offering commission free trading. 

Trading 212 has both a mobile and web platform. These have been designed to provide a simple trade experience for newbie investors. The account opening process is fully online and takes only a few minutes.

Once you’re signed up, you should find the platform easy to use, but there is a limited variety of products. So, if you’re looking for a wide selection of assets, you may find Trading 212 lacking. 

Trading 212 vs Robinhood: Services

Trading 212 is a trading platform whose services are designed for newbies. This means that you’ll find a variety of educational tools such as videos, articles and a community forum that provide a superb resource for those looking to learn the basics or become familiar with more advanced techniques. 

The broker offers a unique feature called AutoInvest, where Trading 212 manages your investment portfolio automatically, buying and selling shares based on your preferences.

Robinhood has evolved to provide an all in one financial solution. In addition to offering trading, Robinhood also offers financial services including cash management products.In addition to your trading account, you can receive a debit card and earn cash back on purchases made with it, so you can use your account as a bank account. You can earn interest on any cash remaining in your account between investments and you can send and receive money directly, as you’ll have your own routing number. 

If you upgrade to Robinhood Gold, the services package improves even further, with trading on margin, more indepth research resources and tools and more advantageous banking terms. 

Trading 212 and Robinhood: Fees

As you would expect from a platform designed for newbies, the Trading 212 fee structure is simple. There are two types of accounts, which have either a £1 or £10 minimum deposit. Once your account is funded via bank transfer, you can start investing with commission free trades. 

However, there are still some costs to trading. For example, there is a spread on trades, but Trading 212 does not disclose the average spread costs. This may make it a little confusing for newbies to compare whether Trading 212 represents the best deal. Other than this, there are no withdrawal or deposit fees.

Robinhood has kept its fee structure keen from the very beginning. There are no trading fees and you'll not pay an inactivity fee. You’ll only incur a monthly fee if you upgrade to Robinhood Gold premium account. However, Gold status does include your first $1,000 of margin. There's also no withdrawal fee for bank transfers.

Robinhood vs Trading 212: Platform

Both Trading 212 and Robinhood have been designed to provide a user-friendly, intuitive platform. Both companies have desktop and mobile trading apps that offer similar features. The Trading 212 platform has an integrated news headline feature and easy-to-find functions, including watch list screeners and upcoming events. This makes it simple for complete newbies to log in and get trading without worrying about a steep learning curve. 

Robinhood is also easy to use. Since the platform was developed based on the concept of making investing accessible, you don’t need investing experience to get to grips with the layout and functions. Both the desktop and mobile platforms have been streamlined and offer an intuitive, user-friendly experience. Once you’re logged in, it is quite easy to find the features and account documents since everything is labeled clearly. 

One really nice feature is that you can see short explanations for the types of orders, so you can learn how the order types vary as you’re placing your first few orders.

Robinhood vs Trading 212 : Offerings

One of the drawbacks of Trading 212 is that it has a limited asset selection. However, there are still 1,500 plus stocks, more than 180 forex pairs, 29 commodities, and 36 indices that you can trade or invest in. You can also do CFD trading with a CFD account. However, it should be noted that retail investor accounts often lose money when trading such high-risk instruments.

The Robinhood selection of offerings is far more impressive, depending on your area of interest. For example, there are no forex pairings or commodities, but customers can trade crypto, penny stocks, ETFs (Exchange Traded Funds), equities, and options. 

Security

Trading 212 operates in several areas of the world and is regulated by the UK’s FCA, Bulgaria’s FSC and Cyprus’ CySEC. 

The Vanguard broker website is a little more high-tech. An important thing to note is that it is not only FCA and SIPC regulated, but there is biometric recognition for Apple users, and additional security code requirements for any account changes, so you won't have to worry about your Vanguard funds.

Charting

The main stand-out other feature of Trading 212 is its charting. There are five chart types with 45 indicators and 19 drawing tools. Customers can also create and save chart templates. This allows you to apply settings across different charts, opening multiple charts and switching between them to make your research a little more fluid. 

Analysis

Vanguard has portfolio reports and analysis. This is a customizable feature that allows you to aggregate any holdings from your outside accounts. There is real time reporting for losses and realized and unrealized capital gains, in addition to your account balance, buying power and margin. This is a great feature to keep track of your overall financial position to make informed investing decisions. 

Trading 212 vs Vanguard: Which is better

When you’re assessing Trading 212 vs Vanguard, you’ll need to think about your trading preferences and style. New traders or those wanting to take a hands on approach as they develop investor skill sets, Trading 212 has a minimal learning curve, so you can start trading immediately. 

However, long term investors or if you’re considering retirement investments and prefer a more passive approach, you may prefer the wider asset and account type selection offered by Vanguard. There are numerous tools to set and monitor your financial goals for your long term wealth management.

Other Comparisons

Trading 212 vs Degiro

Trading 212 vs Trade Republic

Trading 212 vs Interactive Brokers

Trading 212 vs IG

Trading 212 vs XTB

Trading 212 vs Moneybox

Trading 212 vs Fidelity

Trading 212 vs Hargreaves Lansdown

Trading 212 vs Vanguard