First trade recommendations
To start your investing journey and make that first move with confidence, you can get a recommendation for your first investment. Just answer a few questions to help us learn about your investing needs and we can recommend a portfolio—a group of investments that’s tailored to your needs.
Only customers who haven’t placed a securities trade on Robinhood can access first trade recommendations. Residents of the state of Massachusetts also aren’t eligible.
Right after you join Robinhood, you should be able to access first trade recommendations through cards on the Investing or Browse tabs.
At this time, first trade recommendations are only available on our mobile app.
If you already placed a trade in your Robinhood brokerage account, you won’t be able to access the experience to receive a recommended portfolio. Residents of Massachusetts also don't have access at this time.
If these exclusions don't apply to you, make sure your app is updated to the latest version.
A portfolio is a group of investments, and each recommended portfolio is made up of 4 exchange-traded funds (ETFs) that we choose for you using an algorithm we built. Our algorithm is basically an automated system that uses your answers to our questions to match you to a portfolio that makes sense for you.
In investing, a fund tracks the performance of a bundle of investments, and exchange-traded means it’s bought and sold on a stock exchange. An ETF is a security that trades just like a stock, but performs like a larger bundle of investments.
ETFs allow you to invest in multiple things at once, meaning that you’re able to put your eggs in many baskets. If you just own a stock, you’re invested in a single company—but if you own an ETF with 50 stocks in it, that’s like owning a small slice of each of those 50 stocks. Having your money spread across lots of investments may help reduce risk, so you might have some cushion if one company or industry doesn’t perform well.
Check out What is an Exchange-Traded Fund (ETF) to learn more about ETFs and how they work.
To make sure your recommended portfolio is diversified, our algorithm selects index-based ETFs across four asset classes. An asset class is basically just a group of investments that tend to behave similarly, and the asset classes we chose represent a significant portion of the overall universe of investments. It’s generally considered good practice to have a mix of different asset classes in your portfolio so that asset classes that are performing well can help balance out those that are not. Keep in mind that this doesn’t guarantee that your investments will perform well or that you won’t lose money—it’s just one strategy for diversifying your portfolio and potentially reducing risk.
Our algorithm picks 4 ETFs—one in each of the following asset classes:
Among other factors, here are some of the main criteria that our algorithm uses to choose an ETF:
We recommend splitting your money across your portfolio a certain way so you take on an amount of risk that makes sense for you. This is called “asset allocation,” and the general idea behind it is that some asset classes are more risky than others, which determines how you may need to split your money across them.
If we learn from your questionnaire that you are risk-averse, we may recommend investing in a lower-risk portfolio with a greater weight in a bond ETF because bonds tend to be less risky than stocks and seek to produce income.
Vanguard is an investment firm that manages ETFs, and their ETFs tend to score well when it comes to the criteria our algorithm cares about: they’re large, they’re traded frequently, and they have low fees, among other factors. This doesn’t necessarily mean that our algorithm will always recommend Vanguard ETFs. Each quarter, the algorithm may consider alternatives and may choose different ETFs that it thinks are a better fit.
It has to do with the math our algorithm does to determine your recommended portfolio. It requires the $20 minimum in order to correctly calculate and divide your money across the 4 ETFs to meet your investing needs.
If you answer the questions differently each time, you may receive a different portfolio based on how your answers change.
If you answer the questions exactly the same each time, you’ll receive a portfolio with the same risk level each time. However, if you repeatedly fill out the questionnaire using the same answers across several days, you may notice that the way we split up your recommended portfolio across the 4 ETFs may be slightly different day to day. This is because our algorithm updates the data it uses to recommend portfolios each day to reflect changes in the market.
Here’s some additional context behind how we come up with recommended portfolios:
This experience is designed to help new investors who may want help making their first investment, so it’s only available for customers who haven’t placed a trade on Robinhood yet. If you’ve already invested in your recommended portfolio, you can’t access the experience again.
Right now, if you want to invest more money in your recommended portfolio you’ll need to place a buy order for each individual ETF.
The recommended portfolio was provided to you at the point in time you made the investment. However, you are responsible, as a self-directed investor, for all investment decisions you make with those 4 ETFs going forward including when to make additional purchases for an ETF, considerations for rebalancing the portfolio, and when you would like to sell those investments. Robinhood will not monitor your portfolio or perform ongoing recommendations for it.
We don’t offer any other recommendations for investments at this time. If you’d like to learn more about starting to invest and setting goals, you can explore Learn the basics.
All investments involve risk and loss of principal is possible. Investors should consider their investment objectives and risks carefully before investing.
Our algorithm chooses ETFs based on Assets Under Management (AUM) and Average Trading Volume whereby the ETF has among the greatest assets under management and trading volume, while maintaining a low tracking error, within the respective asset class.
Investors should consider the investment objectives, risks, and charges and expenses of any ETF carefully before investing. The prospectus and, if available, the summary prospectus contain this and other information about the ETF that should be read carefully before investing. Customers should visit the relevant ETF’s Detail page to access a link to the prospectus.
Securities trading offered through Robinhood Financial LLC, a registered broker-dealer (member SIPC), and a subsidiary of Robinhood Markets, Inc. (“Robinhood”).