Fractional shares
Fractional shares are pieces, or fractions, of whole shares of a company or ETF. Since Robinhood Financial offers Fractional Shares, you can trade stocks and ETFs in pieces of shares, in addition to trading in whole share increments.
Fractional shares on Robinhood can be as small as 1/1000000 of a share, and trading fractional shares is real-time and commission-free.
Other fees may apply. For more information, visit rbnhd.co/fees. Trading in real time means orders for fractional shares placed during market hours are executed at that time.
Our mission is to democratize finance for all, and offering fractional shares provides unique investing opportunities to people who might not otherwise be able to participate in the stock market.
With fractional shares, you can invest in certain stocks and ETFs that cost hundreds or thousands of dollars for a single share with as little as $1. This gives you the flexibility to invest as much as you want in the companies or ETFs you believe in, or get your toes wet without committing to an entire share.
Fractional shares can also help you manage risk more conveniently. Since you’re not locked into purchasing full shares, you can diversify your portfolio with smaller amounts of money.
You can place fractional share orders in dollar amounts or share amounts. All purchases will be rounded to the nearest penny.
If you place an order to Buy in Dollars or Sell in Dollars, you’ll choose the amount of money to buy or sell a stock for. Robinhood will convert this cash amount to the equivalent number of shares, then buy or sell the stock at the best available price, given the prevailing market conditions.
Keep in mind, if you’re buying or selling fractional shares, you must enter an amount of at least $1.00. However, you’ll have the option to Sell All if you have less than $1.00 of any fractional share.
MEOW currently costs $100 per share. You place an order to Buy in Dollars for $10 of MEOW during regular trading hours. Robinhood converts $10 to 0.1 shares based on the current market price, then places an order to immediately purchase 0.1 shares at the current market price.
If you place an order to Buy in Shares or Sell in Shares, you’ll choose the amount of shares to buy or sell. You can buy or sell as little as 0.000001 shares.
To trade or buy shares in the app:
Orders above $0.01 will be rounded to the nearest penny, and fractional share orders under $0.01 will be rounded up to $0.01.
You place an order to Buy in Shares for 0.01 of MEOW during regular trading hours. Your order will be executed as soon as possible, and you’ll purchase 0.01 shares at the current market price. If the price is $1,000 per share, you’ll pay $10.
Starting July 1, 2022, fractional shares orders that you submit are generally handled by Robinhood on a Not Held basis. For more details on what this means for your orders, review Section 22 of the RHF-RHS Customer Agreement.
Not Held is an order handling designation that gives Robinhood time and price discretion to secure the best possible execution for you. This doesn't change the ownership of your shares, how your shares are held in your account, or the execution speed for fractional orders.
Robinhood continues to strive to execute all orders in a manner consistent with its best execution obligations and, in this case, is aligning with industry-standard approach for handling fractional orders.
Most stocks worth over $1 per share with a market capitalization over $25,000,000 are eligible for fractional share orders. If a stock isn't supported, we'll let you know when you're placing an order.
The process for canceling a pending fractional order is no different from the standard process for canceling a pending order. However, you might not be able to cancel a pending fractional order in the following situations:
During a trading halt. Trading on a particular security or in the market as a whole can be halted for a variety of reasons. If a particular security or the market overall is experiencing a trading halt, you’ll have the option to cancel pending fractional orders, but the cancel requests won’t be processed until the halt is lifted. These halts aren't Robinhood’s decision and the timing of them is beyond our control.
A trading halt starts before an order executes. If a fractional order is routed to a market center, and then a trading halt goes into effect before the order executes. You won't be able to cancel the order, which will execute once the halt is lifted.
Outside market hours. If you want to cancel a fractional order that’s scheduled to execute during market hours, you must do so before 9:20 AM ET. You can’t cancel these orders between 9:20-9:30 AM ET because it’s too close to market open.
If a stock experiences a forward stock split, you’ll receive the relevant amount of fractional shares. For example, if you own 2.5 shares of MEOW valued at $10 per share, and MEOW experiences a 2 for 1 (2:1) forward stock split, you’ll now own 5 shares valued at $5 per share.
If a stock experiences a reverse stock split, you'll receive the cash equivalent of any fractional (non-whole) share amounts resulting from the split in lieu of shares. For example, if a stock split results in 2.1 shares worth $10 per share, you’ll receive 2 shares and $1 (the cash equivalent of 0.1 shares).
Voting: We'll aggregate and report votes on fractional shares.
Dividends: Paid to eligible shareholders who own fractions of a stock. Dividend payments will be split based on the fraction of the stock owned, then rounded to the nearest penny. Fractional-share dividends may be paid at the end of the trading day on the designated payment date.
Transfers: You can't transfer fractional shares. If you initiate a full asset transfer out of Robinhood, your fractional shares will be sold and you’ll receive the resulting cash back. If you initiate a partial asset transfer, any fractional shares you own will remain in your Robinhood account as fractional shares.
For a complete explanation of conditions, restrictions and limitations associated with fractional shares, see our Customer Agreement related to fractional shares. Dividends are not guaranteed and must be authorized by the company’s board of directors.
All investments involve risks, including the loss of principal. Diversification does not ensure a profit or guarantee against loss. Investors should consider their investment objectives and risks carefully before investing.