Rho Review: Unlimited and Commission-Free Trading

Rho Trade is another commission-free investing app that has popped up over the last year. This app was previously known as Jellifin, and has since been rebranded as Rho.

Unlike other commission-free investing apps, Rho focuses on traders (similar to WeBull). 

The app differentiates itself from others by offering real time data, and premium levels for options trading. They also don't limit day trading in cash accounts.

Is Rho worth it? Check out our Rho Trade review below.

What Is Rho?

Rho is Rho Finance, which is part of Jellifin Financial, Inc. Jellifin offers white-label trading services for broker-dealers and digital advisors. They used to offer trading services directly, but have rebranded their service to Rho. The Jellifin website now redirects to rho.trade.

Jellifin and Rho are technology providers. They are not members of FINRA or the SEC. Brokerage services are offered by Tradier Brokerage.

Jellifin started in 2016 and is based in Houston, TX. It has received a seed round of funding totaling $281K.

What Do They Offer?

Options Trading

Rho offers unlimited, commission-free equity and index options.

You can use more advanced orders, such as OCO. OCO stands for one-cancels-other. This is a type of bracket order. The way OCO works is that you can put an order above and below the current price of an option. When one order is executed, the other order cancels so that you don’t end up with two orders.

Day Trading Restrictions Still Apply

Web and Mobile App

Rho can be used from a desktop or a mobile app. The mobile app is powerful and allows you to do the following:

• Manage various account types.
• Advanced trading such as OCO.
• Real-time data such as Level I.
• Ability to do extensive research.

The mobile app is offered on Google Play and the Apple App Store. The desktop version also includes the above functionality.

Are There Any Fees?

There are no fees to trade stocks or ETFs. If you want to trade options, you’ll have to upgrade to the $40/month plan. Also, you still incur exchange fees, which are generally small. If you want streaming data, it will cost an additional $19.99/month.

How Do I Open an Account?

Is My Money Safe?

As with most investments, Rho is not FDIC-insured. Tradier Brokerage is a member of FINRA and SIPC, which does offer some protection for investments. SIPC protects an investor’s brokerage funds up to $500,000 in the case that the brokerage experiences problems.

Is It Worth It?

It really depends on your volume of options trades.

Stock and ETF trades are now free at the major brokerages. You might find more trading functionality with a major brokerage.

While base options commissions at larger brokerages are free, you are still charged $0.50 per contract. To incur more than $40 in options commissions, you’ll need to trade more than 80 contracts.

Also, depending on the account type, major brokerages offer real-time streaming data at no charge, which obviously beats Rho’s $19.99/month fee.

The deciding factor will come down to the volume of contracts that you trade, and if you’re using real-time data.