Robinhood’s Recurring Crypto Investment Feature Has Launched. How Does It Work?
Investment platform Robinhood enables users to build their portfolios steadily with its new feature, "recurring investments"—here's how.
Sept. 10 2021, Published 5:05 a.m. ET
Aiming to provide seamless and automatic investing, Robinhood has announced the addition of a new feature, "recurring investments." Robinhood launched the feature to enable users to invest in cryptocurrencies on a daily, weekly, or monthly schedule—here's how.
Slowly approaching the world of cryptocurrency investing, Robinhood wants its users to steadily build up their portfolios. With the recurring payment feature, the service will allow users to invest in fractions of cryptocurrencies without paying any fees. In this way, Robinhood hopes that its users will "make investing a habit" and build toward the long term.
How do recurring investments in cryptocurrencies work?
Similar to features on competing platform Coinbase, Robinhood's recurring investment feature is pretty straightforward. If a user wants to set up a recurring payment for a specific cryptocurrency, they just have to set the parameters for the recurring investment. For example, if the recurring investment is $100 of Ethereum (ETH) to be purchased every Monday, Robinhood will automatically purchase $100 of the asset until the setting is modified.
Furthermore, the fraction of Ether purchased will vary depending on its current market price. For instance, if ETH is trading at $3,469 and the recurring investment is $100, 0.3469 of ETH will be purchased. Users should also be aware that Robinhood only takes dollar-based orders on recurring investments. As a result, only a fraction of the asset is purchased—"whole coin" orders cannot be created for recurring investments.
Users should also note that recurring cryptocurrency investments are typically processed around 2:30-4:00 p.m. ET each day.
How to create recurring investments on mobile
Once a user has selected which assets they'd like to set up as recurring investments, they can follow the setup instructions on the coin's details page. In the top-right corner of the page, users can tap "Dollars," which will prompt the "Order Types" menu, where they can select "recurring investments."
On the recurring investment page, users will then set the start date, frequency, dollar amount, and preferred payment method for their recurring investment. Robinhood also allows users to set up a recurring investment with their "buying power, " but they're advised to set up a backup payment method in case they run out.
After the recurring investment has been created, users are prompted to review their orders before they tap "submit." Users are then ready to build up their portfolios.
Recurring Investments on Robinhood can be edited or cancelled
Users need not worry if their recurring investment isn't going according to plan, as they can easily modify it. To make an edit, all users need to do is return to the "recurring investment" details page, where they can either edit the details of the recurring investment or cancel it.
This seemingly small new feature can make the world of a difference, especially for new-to-crypto investors.