Robinhood’s referral supply headlines an enormous quantity: as much as $15,000 in reward inventory a 12 months. That determine is actual, it’s on Robinhood’s personal website, and nearly no one will ever see it.
Right here’s why. The $15,000 isn’t a payout for one referral. It’s the ceiling on a five-step ladder, and also you solely attain the highest by getting 200 individuals to open a Robinhood account, hyperlink a funding supply and truly put cash in. Each step under that pays lots much less.
What you’ll get in your first profitable referral is $50 in inventory. That’s the quantity to plan round.
On this article, we’ll lay out the entire ladder, clarify what your buddy will get, and canopy what counts as a referral within the first place. In the event you’re the one being invited, the SEC’s investor bulletin on opening a brokerage account is an efficient 5 minutes earlier than you signal something.
What You Get
- U.S. shares, ETFs, choices, and cryptos, all commission-free
- Wonderful for freshmen and superior buyers
- Money administration account and bank card
- Improve to Gold for higher charges on money, margin, and a 3% IRA contribution match
- SIPC protected as much as $500,000, plus FDIC protection on uninvested money
- Join your favourite AI agent on to your account and let it analysis, monitor, and commerce for you with a devoted funded account and a one-tap kill swap you management
- Predictive Markets: Commerce real-time “Sure/No” occasion contracts on sports activities, politics, climate, and finance. Put your learn on the world to work, with instantaneous settlement when the result hits
The total referral ladder
Robinhood calls these milestone rewards, and that phrase is doing actual work. The rewards are cumulative: you acquire each as you cross it, they usually add as much as precisely $15,000 on the high.
| Profitable invitations | Milestone reward | Working complete |
|---|---|---|
| 1 buddy | $50 of inventory | $50 |
| 3 associates | $150 of inventory | $200 |
| 10 associates | $800 of inventory | $1,000 |
| 50 associates | $4,000 of inventory | $5,000 |
| 200 associates | $10,000 of inventory | $15,000 |
Learn down that desk and also you’ll spot the catch. You receives a commission at buddy 1 and once more at buddy 3, so buddy quantity 2 earns you nothing by itself. The identical is true of associates 4 by 9, and 11 by 49. The cash arrives in jumps, not per particular person.
The cap is annual, not lifetime. Robinhood’s wording is you could earn as much as a complete of $15,000 in reward inventory per 12 months, and that the $15,000 is a mixed ceiling throughout all its affords in the identical calendar 12 months.
Open and fund a Robinhood account to get began
What counts as a profitable referral
That is the place the arithmetic normally falls aside. A signup by itself does nothing. In Robinhood’s personal phrases, the particular person you invite has to open a brand new brokerage account, hyperlink a legitimate exterior funding supply, and provoke a qualifying deposit.
All three, or it doesn’t depend. Sending somebody a hyperlink and watching them obtain the app will get you to not one of the milestones above.
What your buddy will get, and why it’s a special quantity
Either side earn one thing, however not the identical factor, and this journeys individuals up always.
The milestone ladder above is what you get because the referrer. The particular person you invited will get Robinhood’s normal sign-up reward as an alternative: a free share of inventory price someplace between $5 and $200, which they decide from an inventory of 26 firms.
Be practical about that vary. Robinhood publishes the distribution, and it says roughly 99% of individuals obtain $5, about 0.9% obtain $10, and about 0.1% obtain $200. Your buddy is getting 5 {dollars}, in all chance. Inform them that up entrance and no one’s disenchanted later.
There are circumstances on the sign-up reward too. It’s for a primary taxable, self-directed particular person brokerage account, the account needs to be accepted, and a checking account or debit card needs to be linked. The reward needs to be claimed inside 60 days or it expires. As soon as claimed, it’s sellable after three buying and selling days and the proceeds are locked for 30.
Declare your free inventory and begin investing with Robinhood
Is chasing the referral cash a good suggestion?
For most individuals, no, and it’s price being straight about why.
Ten profitable referrals will get you $1,000 of inventory. That’s a genuinely good return for sending some messages. However ten profitable referrals means ten separate individuals who every open a brokerage account and deposit their very own cash since you requested them to. That’s lots to ask, and it’s price remembering what you’re asking them to do.
Investing carries threat. The cash your buddy deposits can lose worth, and a reward share doesn’t change that. Robinhood is an actual dealer with actual market publicity, not a cashback scheme. In the event you wouldn’t advocate it to somebody with out the $50 connected, don’t advocate it with the $50 connected.
Deal with the primary $50 as a pleasant additional on a advice you have been going to make anyway. Deal with the $15,000 as advertising and marketing.
What the account itself will get you
In the event you’re opening an account due to this supply, the supply shouldn’t be the explanation you keep. Fee-free buying and selling on shares and ETFs is the core of it. There are retirement accounts with a match, a money sweep for uninvested cash, and entry to new listings.
Robinhood Gold sits on high at $5 a month, with the next IRA match and a greater money charge. The primary 30 days are free. Gold is a separate choice from any of the reward inventory, and it’s one you can also make later.
Get your account open and funded at Robinhood
Affords change, and this one changed a special referral programme earlier this 12 months. Test the present phrases on Robinhood’s personal website earlier than you begin inviting anybody, and test them once more in the event you’re nonetheless getting into six months.
FAQs
The $15,000 is an actual annual ceiling, nevertheless it takes 200 profitable referrals to succeed in. Every referred particular person has to open a brokerage account, hyperlink a funding supply and make a qualifying deposit. Your first profitable referral pays $50 of inventory.
There isn’t any flat per-referral charge. Robinhood pays at milestones: $50 at one buddy, $150 at three, $800 at ten, $4,000 at fifty and $10,000 at 200. The rewards are cumulative, so associates that fall between milestones don’t pay on their very own.
They get Robinhood’s normal sign-up reward, not a milestone cost. That may be a share of inventory price between $5 and $200, chosen from an inventory of 26 firms. Robinhood’s personal revealed distribution says roughly 99% of individuals obtain $5.
No. A signup alone earns nothing. Robinhood requires the referred particular person to open a brand new brokerage account, hyperlink a legitimate exterior funding supply and provoke a qualifying deposit earlier than the referral counts towards a milestone.
Per 12 months. Robinhood states you’ll be able to earn as much as a complete of $15,000 in reward inventory per 12 months, and that the ceiling is mixed throughout all its affords in the identical calendar 12 months, so a sign-up reward counts towards it reasonably than including to it.