How to place your first stock order on Robinhood
To buy stock on Robinhood, you search for the company by name or ticker symbol, choose how many shares you want, and confirm the order. The process takes about two minutes once your account is funded. Robinhood executes the order during market hours (9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Eastern time on weekdays), and you own the shares immediately after execution.
Before you can buy anything, your account must have cash in it. You can link a bank account and transfer money, which typically takes three to five business days to settle. Once the cash appears in your Robinhood account, you are ready to place an order.
Key Takeaways
- You need a funded Robinhood account with cash available before you can buy stock; transfers from your bank take three to five business days to settle.
- Search for a stock by company name or ticker symbol, enter the number of shares you want, and review the order details before confirming.
- Orders placed during market hours (9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Eastern, weekdays) execute at the current market price; orders placed outside market hours execute at the next market open.
- Fractional shares are available on Robinhood, meaning you can buy a portion of a share if you do not have enough money for a whole share.
- Once your order executes, the shares appear in your account and you own them immediately, even though the settlement process takes two business days behind the scenes.
Setting up your account and funding it
You will need to create a Robinhood account, verify your identity, and link a bank account. The account creation process asks for your Social Security number, date of birth, and address. Robinhood uses this information to verify you are who you say you are and to comply with federal financial regulations.
After your account is approved, link your bank account through the app or website. You can transfer money from your checking or savings account. The first transfer may take longer than later ones — typically three to five business days. Once the money settles, it shows as cash in your Robinhood account and you can use it to buy stock.
Robinhood does not charge account fees or require a minimum deposit, so you can start with any amount you want to transfer.
Finding and selecting a stock to buy
Open the Robinhood app or website and tap or click the search icon. Type the company name (like "Apple") or its ticker symbol (like "AAPL"). Robinhood will show you the stock's current price, a chart of recent price movement, and basic company information.
Tap or click on the stock to open its detail page. This page shows the current bid and ask prices, the day's high and low, and volume (how many shares traded that day). You do not need to understand all of this information to place an order — the current price is what matters most.
Once you have found the stock you want, tap the "Buy" button. This opens the order screen where you enter how many shares you want to purchase.
Entering the number of shares and reviewing the order
On the order screen, you will see a field showing the number of shares. The default is often one share. You can change this number to however many shares you want to buy. If you want to spend a specific dollar amount instead, some versions of Robinhood let you enter a dollar amount and it calculates the number of shares for you.
Below the share count, Robinhood shows you the estimated cost. This is the current price multiplied by the number of shares you are buying. Review this number to make sure it matches what you intended to spend. If the price has moved since you opened the order screen, the estimate updates automatically.
Robinhood also shows you the order type — usually "Market" for a regular buy order at the current price. You can leave this as is for most purchases. Once you have reviewed everything, tap "Review Order" to see a final summary before you confirm.
Confirming and executing your order
The review screen shows the stock name, number of shares, estimated total cost, and the order type one more time. Check that everything is correct. If you want to change anything, you can go back and edit the order.
When you are ready, tap "Confirm" or "Place Order." Robinhood sends your order to the market. If you placed the order during market hours (9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Eastern on weekdays), it executes within seconds at or near the price you saw. If you placed it outside market hours, it waits until the market opens the next trading day and executes at the opening price.
Once the order executes, you own the shares. They appear in your account under the "Stocks" or "Holdings" tab. You can see how many shares you own, what you paid for them, and their current value.
Understanding fractional shares and minimum purchases
Robinhood lets you buy fractional shares, which means you do not need enough money to buy a whole share. For example, if a stock costs $500 per share and you have $100, you can buy 0.2 shares of that stock. This makes it possible to own pieces of expensive companies without saving up thousands of dollars.
There is no minimum purchase amount on Robinhood. You can buy as little as $1 worth of stock if you want. This flexibility means you can start investing with whatever cash you have available.
When you sell fractional shares later, Robinhood handles the math automatically. You do not need to do anything special — the process is the same as selling whole shares.
What happens after your order executes
After your order executes, the shares are yours and appear in your account immediately. Behind the scenes, the trade settles over two business days, but this does not affect you. You can sell the shares, see their current value, or hold them indefinitely.
Robinhood shows you the purchase price (called your cost basis) and the current market value of each stock you own. If the price goes up, your shares are worth more. If it goes down, they are worth less. You only realize a gain or loss when you actually sell the shares.
You can check your holdings at any time by opening the app or website. Your account updates throughout the trading day as prices change.
Frequently Asked Questions
What if I place an order after the market closes?
Orders placed after 4 p.m. Eastern or before 9:30 a.m. Eastern on weekdays are held until the market opens the next trading day. Your order executes at the opening price, not the price you saw when you placed it. On weekends and holidays, orders wait until the next trading day.
Can I cancel an order after I place it?
If your order has not executed yet, you can cancel it. This happens most often with orders placed outside market hours. Once the order executes, you own the shares and cannot cancel — you would need to sell them instead. Robinhood shows you a cancel button while the order is pending.
Do I pay any fees to buy stock on Robinhood?
Robinhood does not charge commission on stock trades. There are no per-trade fees, account fees, or minimum balance fees. Your only cost is the price of the stock itself.
What is the difference between a market order and a limit order?
A market order buys at the current price immediately. A limit order lets you set a maximum price you are willing to pay — if the stock drops to that price, it buys automatically. Limit orders are useful if you want to avoid overpaying, but they may not execute if the price never reaches your limit.
How do I know if my order actually went through?
Robinhood sends you a notification when your order executes. You can also check your account — executed orders appear in your holdings, and pending orders show in your order history with a "pending" status. If you do not see the shares in your account after market hours, check your order history to see if it executed.