Robinhood UK FAQ
The following are some of the most frequently asked questions and their answers about how the Robinhood UK app works.
Robinhood U.K. Ltd (Robinhood UK) is a subsidiary of Robinhood Markets, a US-based company. Robinhood Markets has several subsidiaries for different business lines.
When you open a Robinhood account, services will be provided to you by Robinhood UK and Robinhood Securities, LLC, our affiliated US clearing broker. A clearing broker holds your assets (i.e. your cash and securities) and clears and settles your trades. When you place a trade on the Robinhood app, Robinhood UK will receive and transmit your order to Robinhood Securities, which interacts with the market. This is what makes investing in US stocks possible.
Yes. Investing with Robinhood UK is commission-free. We don’t charge fees to open, maintain, or deposit funds into your account. We also don’t charge foreign exchange fees to convert pounds to USD to buy US stocks. Other costs, such as regulatory trading fees and implicit third party costs (spreads) apply. Review the Robinhood Fee Schedule for details.
Robinhood UK is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FRN: 823590). You can find us on the FCA register.
To apply for a Robinhood account, you’ll need to meet the following requirements:
What you need to get started has more details.
At launch, you’ll be able to invest commission-free in US listed equities and American Depository Receipts (ADRs). You’ll also be able to use our standard set of investing tools, like our stock screeners and advanced charts.
Your cash and securities are held by our US clearing broker. This means that your assets are not protected in the traditional way by the UK Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS). Instead you get the benefit of alternative, US protections.
Your securities will be held by our affiliated clearing broker in the US, Robinhood Securities, a member of the US-based Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC), which protects securities customers of its members up to $500,000 (including $250,000 for claims for cash). Explanatory brochure available upon request or at www.sipc.org. Review the Robinhood SIPC, FDIC and Account Protection for details.
We have purchased an additional insurance policy for accounts held with Robinhood Securities, LLC to supplement SIPC protection. The additional insurance becomes available to customers in the event that SIPC limits are exhausted. This additional insurance policy provides protection for securities and cash up to an aggregate of $1 billion, and is limited to a combined return to any customer of $50 million in securities and $1.9 million in cash. Similar to SIPC protection, this additional insurance doesn’t protect against a loss in the market value of securities.
Robinhood UK customers join the brokerage cash sweep program at onboarding (by default) and have their eligible uninvested cash automatically (unrestricted cash intended for investing that hasn't yet been invested or spent) deposited at these banks that are referred to as ‘program banks’. The cash deposited at these program banks becomes eligible for Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (‘FDIC’) insurance up to a total maximum of $2.25 million. The FDIC insurance coverage limit at each program bank is $250,000, inclusive of deposits already held at the bank in the same ownership capacity, subject to FDIC insurance coverage limits and any capacity limitations at the banks. andWhile the FDIC insurance coverage limit at each bank is $250,000, $2,000 is reserved for accrued interest. If you opt out of one more program banks, your FDIC insurance coverage may be reduced.
There may be reasons why customers are unable to earn interest on uninvested cash, such as for religious reasons. For those customers we provide the option to opt-out of the interest earning brokerage cash sweep program through the program banks, in which case the money will be held in a brokerage account at Robinhood Securities, LLC that is protected up to $250,000 under SIPC (and not FDIC) as explained above.
Adding money to your Robinhood account is easy—all you need is a UK bank account and their app or website for funding.
Whether you’re transferring funds in or out, we won’t charge you any foreign exchange fees. Implicit third-party costs of 0.03% apply.
You’ll get the market rate, including a 0.03% spread, categorised as implicit third-party costs. The exchange rates are refreshed every 15 minutes.
Stock markets have potential buyers who name their highest price (like a bid) and potential sellers who name their lowest price (the ask). A trade is executed, or completed, at a price somewhere between the bid and the ask. If you want your order to execute at a particular price, you can place a limit or stop limit order. For more details, review Order types.
Your account is in US Dollars (USD) because you're investing in the US stock market. You'll deposit pounds and we’ll convert it for you at the latest available exchange rate, with no foreign exchange fees.
Traditionally, the markets are open from 9:30 AM-4 PM US Eastern time (ET) during regular business days (Monday-Friday, except holidays). But with extended-hours trading and the Robinhood 24 Hour Market, you can execute trades from 8 PM ET Sunday until 8 PM ET Friday, with some restrictions. Orders placed outside these hours will be queued to process when the market opens on the next trading day.
Check out Extended-hours trading and Robinhood 24 Hour Market for more details about how you can trade during regular, extended, and overnight market hours.
Our app will show you the equivalent Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) or British Summer Time (BST) that matches up with the US Eastern times for trading hours. For example, 9:30 AM ET is 5 hours behind GMT and BST, so it'll be 2:30 PM GMT or BST.
Robinhood UK is a subsidiary of Robinhood Markets, which has a number of revenue streams that allow it to offer a range of financial products and services at a low cost, including commission-free trading in US stocks. For more details, review How Robinhood makes money?