IS ROBINHOOD AVAILABLE IN SOUTH AFRICA?
Robinhood is one of the most well-known US discount brokers. It gained traction in 2020 during the GameStop Stock saga.
While checking out a trading blog, we found that a trader from Cape Town wanted to open an account with Robinhood but couldn't succeed. So we decided to shed light on this. Is Robinhood available to South African traders?
Robinhood doesn't accept clients in South Africa
Unfortunately, Robinhood is not available to local traders; as of 2024, they only open trading accounts to Americans residing in the US.
However, if you need a discount broker, don't feel bad. Robinhood claims they do not charge commissions for stock, options, or cryptocurrency trading. Yet, they're no longer the only broker with a 0% commission on stock trading.
Robinhood's customer base consists of youngsters new to investing, drawn to the app by advertising "free" and "democratization." Robinhood offers low research capabilities and experiences outages during market surges.
In the following section, we present an alternative to Robinhood, which is more robust and has significantly more competitive features.
AvaTrade: Your alternative to Robinhood
AvaTrade (avatrade.com) is an online broker offering top trading platforms worldwide, allowing you to trade most of the meme stocks you have read on wallstreetbets. Some key facts:
1250+ instruments available, including FX instruments, Cryptocurrencies, Stocks, Commodities
Desktop, tablet, mobile and Web-based trading.
Competitive spread and leverage offering
Client funds are held in segregated accounts for increased security
Regulated in Europe, Australia, Japan, the British Virgin Islands, UAE and South Africa
Trading platforms in over 20 languages
It is indeed a great alternative to Robinhood.
Who are Robinhood's clients?
Robinhood best suits rookies who want to trade small quantities, including fractional shares and cryptos. Robinhood's simplicity makes the app and website easy to use, and charging zero commissions appeals to extremely cost-conscious investors who trade ultra-low quantities. That said, the offerings are very low on research and analysis, and there are serious questions about the quality of the trade executions.