Robinhood

Vlad Tenev and Baiju Bhatt launched Robinhood in twenty thirteen offering something the brokerage industry had protected for decades. Zero commission trading. Every established broker charged you to buy and sell stocks. Charles Schwab, TD Ameritrade, E-Trade made tens of billions on these commissions. Robinhood said they were paying nothing. The company made money through payment for order flow. When you submitted a sell order, market makers paid Robinhood a small fee for the right to fill it. The fees weren't paid by you. They were paid by the other side of your trade. Robinhood was essentially getting paid by Wall Street to let retail customers trade free.