Crypto trading | Robinhood

Crypto trading

Placing a trade

Use the following steps to buy or sell crypto within your Robinhood Crypto account.

iOS
  1. Select the crypto that you’d like to trade
  • You can search for crypto on Explore (magnifying glass icon)
  1. Select Buy or Sell
  • Select the up-and-down arrows (⇅) to switch between trading in EUR or crypto
  1. Enter the order details
  2. Select Continue
  3. Review the order details
  4. Swipe up to submit the order

To place a limit order, select Limit order in step 4. Then, enter your trade amount and set your limit price to continue.

Android
  1. Select a crypto that you’d like to trade
  • You can search for crypto on Explore (magnifying glass icon)
  1. Select Buy or Sell
  • Select the order type dropdown menu to switch between trading in EUR or crypto
  1. Enter the amount in euros and select Continue
  2. Select the Market order dropdown to enter crypto amounts
  3. Review order and Swipe up to submit

To place a limit order, select Limit order in step 4. Then, enter your trade amount and set your limit price to continue.

Limit orders

A limit order is an order placed to buy or sell a specified amount at a specified price or better.

A limit buy order lets you choose a maximum amount you are willing to pay for crypto. Limit buy orders only execute if the ask price decreases to your limit price or less.

A limit sell order lets you choose a minimum amount you are willing to receive for your crypto. Limit sell orders only execute if the bid price increases to your limit price or more.

Limit orders (placed in EUR): Buy: You will never pay more than the EUR amount you enter to purchase a specified amount of a crypto, rounded up to the nearest cent. Sell: You will never receive less than the amount you enter to sell your specified amount of a crypto, rounded down to the nearest cent.

Limit orders (placed in fractional amounts): Buy: You will always receive the exact amount of crypto you entered in the order. The limit price for crypto buy orders is the maximum amount in EUR you pay for a specified amount of crypto, potentially rounded up to the nearest cent. Sell: You will always sell the exact amount of crypto you entered in the order. The limit price for crypto sell orders is the minimum amount in EUR you are willing to receive for a specified amount of crypto, potentially rounded down to the nearest cent.

Note

Limit orders are not guaranteed to execute. Your limit buy order will only execute when the crypto’s ask price meets or falls below your limit price. Your limit sell order will only execute if the crypto’s bid price meets or exceeds your limit price.

Market orders

To help combat dramatic price moves, market orders are converted to limit orders with a collar of up to 1% for buy orders, and 5% for sell orders. This means that your order will not execute if the price of the crypto moves more than 5% lower than its price at the time you placed a market sell order, or more than 1% higher than its price when you placed a market buy order. Market orders that do not execute after 5 minutes may be automatically cancelled.

Stop orders

A stop order is an order to buy or sell crypto once it reaches a specific price, known as the stop price.

When a coin reaches your set stop price, the stop order becomes a crypto market order and is executed at the best ask or bid price currently available, with up to a 1% collar for buy orders or a 5% collar for sell orders.

At its most basic, stop orders are used to trigger a purchase should the coin price reach or go above the stop price. Or trigger a sell should the bid price reach or drop below the stop price.

Keep in mind

The following examples are for illustrative purposes only. In general, understanding order types can help you manage risk and execution speed. However, you can never eliminate market and investment risks entirely. It’s usually best to choose an order type based on your investment goals and objectives.

Buy stop order

With a buy stop order, you can set a stop price above the current coin ask price. If the coin rises to your stop price, your buy stop order becomes a buy market order, with up to a 1% collar.

Example

Let’s say, XYZ crypto is currently trading at €6 per coin. You want to wait to purchase XYZ until it reaches an ask price of €8 because you think it’ll rise much higher, but only after it reaches €8, so you set your stop price to €8.

  • If XYZ rises to the ask price of €8 or higher, your buy stop order becomes a buy market order. Then, XYZ is purchased at the best price currently available.
  • If XYZ stays below the ask price of €8, a market order isn’t triggered and no shares are purchased.

Sell stop order

With a sell stop order, you can set a stop price below the current coin bid price. If the coin falls to your stop price, your sell stop order becomes a sell market order with up to a 5% collar.

Example

Let’s say you purchased XYZ crypto for €10 a few months ago. It’s currently trading at €20 per coin (€10 unrealized profit). Your goal is to make at least €5 per coin if the price were to drop. So you create a sell stop order at a bid price of €16.50. If XYZ reverses itself and starts to drop below the stop price of €16.50 it becomes a sell market order.

  • If XYZ falls to the bid price of €16.50 or lower, your sell stop order becomes a sell market order. Then, XYZ is sold at the best price currently available.
  • If XYZ stays above the bid price of €16.50, a market order isn’t triggered, and you keep your shares.

Stop limit orders

A stop limit order combines the features of a stop order and a limit order. When a coin hits a stop price that you set, it triggers a limit order. Then, the limit order is executed at your limit price or better. Investors often use stop limit orders in an attempt to limit a loss or protect a profit, in case the coin moves in the wrong direction.

Keep in mind, short-term market fluctuations might prevent your order from being executed.

Also, once your stop order becomes a limit order, there must be a buyer and seller on both sides of the trade for the limit order to execute. If the market doesn’t have enough crypto available at your limit price, it might take multiple trades to fill the entire order, or the order may not be filled at all.

Buy stop limit order

With a buy stop limit order, you can set a stop price above the current coin price. If the crypto rises to your stop price, it triggers a buy limit order. Crypto will only be purchased at your limit price or lower.

Example

XYZ is currently trading at €5 per coin. You want to wait to purchase XYZ because you think it’ll fall to a lower price. You also think that if XYZ reaches €8 it may go higher. To help minimize your potential costs, you set a stop price at €8. You also don’t want to pay more than €8.05 for XYZ, so you set a limit price at €8.05.

  • If XYZ rises to €8 or higher, your buy stop limit order becomes a buy limit order. Then, XYZ is purchased if coins are available at €8.05 or lower.
  • If XYZ stays below €8, a buy limit order isn’t triggered and no coins are purchased.

Sell stop limit order

With a sell stop limit order, you can set a stop price below the current coin price. If the coin falls to your stop price, it triggers a sell limit order. Crypto will only be sold at your limit price or higher.

Example

XYZ is currently trading at €10 per coin. You want to wait to sell XYZ because you think it’ll rise to a higher price. To help protect yourself in case XYZ reverses itself and begins falling, you set a stop price at €8. You also don’t want to receive less than €7.95 per XYZ, so you set a limit price at €7.95.

  • If XYZ falls to €8 or lower, your sell stop limit order becomes a sell limit order. Then, XYZ is sold if coins are available at €7.95 or higher.
  • If XYZ stays above €8, a limit order isn’t triggered, and you keep your coins.

Order routing

When you buy or sell crypto on Robinhood Crypto, we send your order to trading venues that allow you to receive competitive prices.

Robinhood Crypto sources liquidity from multiple venues to provide competitive market pricing. Robinhood Crypto does not disclose the names of our execution venues, but we use a variety of trading partners so that we are not solely dependent on a single venue for execution.

Order sizes

You do not have to buy full coins on Robinhood Crypto. You can place an order to buy or sell crypto at fractional amounts.

Market collaring

To help protect against potential price volatility, market orders are converted to limit orders with a price collar of up to 1% for buy orders, and 5% for sell orders. This means that your order will not execute if the price of the crypto moves more than 5% lower than its price at the time you placed a market sell order, or more than 1% higher than its price when you placed a market buy order.

Position limits

Position limits refer to the maximum amount of a crypto that you can buy and hold with your Robinhood Crypto account. The position limit for all crypto is a maximum cost basis of €20,000,000 per crypto. Position limits are subject to change at Robinhood Crypto’s discretion.

You can buy and hold up to the cost basis limit worth of a specific crypto. Note that the value of your crypto on Robinhood Crypto may exceed your position limits based on market fluctuations affecting crypto prices.

Buy and sell spreads

When you buy and sell crypto, orders will execute at the ask price when selling and the bid price when buying. The buy spread is the difference between the ask and mid prices, the sell spread is the difference between the bid and mid prices. Robinhood Crypto does not receive any portion of the spread.

Robinhood fee

While there is no fee for trading Bitcoin, Robinhood Crypto may charge a fee for trading certain crypto. The fee may vary based on factors like market conditions.

Trading times

You can trade crypto 24/7 with your Robinhood Crypto account, with some exceptions, such as scheduled maintenance. We periodically schedule maintenance windows that can occur at different times, and might affect the timing of the trade.

Cost basis

We calculate cost basis (original value or purchase price) on a First-In-First-Out (FIFO) basis. This means the order we sell your crypto is the same as the order you bought them.

FAQ

Why am I unable to place a buy order?

Here are a few reasons why you may be having issues placing a buy order:

  • You do not have enough buying power to place the trade. Buying power is the amount of money available to trade. If you do not have enough buying power to place a buy order, you can deposit more money or sell other crypto.
  • Your account is restricted from trading. If your account is restricted, you can Contact support.

Why are the mid price and order price different? The price shown on a crypto detail page is the mid price, which is the midpoint of the bid and ask prices. When you are placing a market buy order, your order may execute at the ask price, which is higher than the mid price. When you are placing a market sell order, your order may execute at the bid price, which is lower than the mid price.

Crypto prices are volatile. To help protect your market orders against dramatic price moves, we adjust market orders to limit orders collared up to 1% for buy orders, and 5% for sell orders.

Any price difference you may see between the estimated buy or sell price and the execution price is due to market movement.

Why has my crypto order not filled?

There are a few reasons why your crypto order may not be filled, such as:

  • The crypto price moved outside the market order collar. All market orders for crypto are placed as limit orders with a collar. If the price of the crypto moves outside the collar, your order will remain pending.
  • Due to scheduled maintenance. You will be notified in your app about any scheduled maintenance outages and their estimated duration. If you can place orders to buy or sell crypto during the maintenance window, they will not execute until after the maintenance is completed. All pending orders will remain pending during maintenance.
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Crypto markets are highly volatile, and trading or holding crypto can lead to loss of your assets. Crypto is not legal tender, and is not backed by any government or covered by any government compensation scheme.

Cryptocurrency services are offered for eligible EU customers through an account with Robinhood Europe, UAB (company number 306377915), with its registered address at Mėsinių 5, LT-01133 Vilnius, Lithuania (“RHEC”). RHEC is registered according to the regulatory requirements of the Republic of Lithuania as a virtual currency exchange and virtual currency depository wallet operator. RHEC is supervised by the Lithuanian Financial Crime Investigation Service under the Ministry of the Interior of the Republic of Lithuania. RHEC is registered under the applicable Polish law as a virtual assets service provider (VASP) in the Register of Virtual Currency Activities maintained by the Director of the Tax Administration Chamber.

Robinhood, 85 Willow Road, Menlo Park, CA 94025.© 2024 Robinhood. All rights reserved.
Follow us on

Crypto markets are highly volatile, and trading or holding crypto can lead to loss of your assets. Crypto is not legal tender, and is not backed by any government or covered by any government compensation scheme.

Cryptocurrency services are offered for eligible EU customers through an account with Robinhood Europe, UAB (company number 306377915), with its registered address at Mėsinių 5, LT-01133 Vilnius, Lithuania (“RHEC”). RHEC is registered according to the regulatory requirements of the Republic of Lithuania as a virtual currency exchange and virtual currency depository wallet operator. RHEC is supervised by the Lithuanian Financial Crime Investigation Service under the Ministry of the Interior of the Republic of Lithuania. RHEC is registered under the applicable Polish law as a virtual assets service provider (VASP) in the Register of Virtual Currency Activities maintained by the Director of the Tax Administration Chamber.

Robinhood, 85 Willow Road, Menlo Park, CA 94025.© 2024 Robinhood. All rights reserved.