When it comes to the stock market, there are two things that really excite me, the first is a stock split and the second is an initial public offering (IPO). An initial public offering happens when a private company decides to go public. When a company goes public, the company’s stock gets listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). Prior to 2021, initial public offerings (IPOs) were only offered to big institutions. What are the best trading platforms to buy an IPO listing price on? Today, a few platforms offer the ability to get in on the ground floor of the initial public offering listing price.
Today, I’m going to discuss in more detail what an IPO is, and the 3 best platforms to use if you want to buy on the ground floor of an IPO. The interesting thing is that Robinhood was the first to announce this new feature, and a few others have followed suit. However, there aren’t as many platforms participating in the IPO listing as I would have hoped for. But fingers crossed that more and more trading platforms jump on board with this feature.
What is an Initial Public Offering (IPO) Listing?
You may be wondering what exactly is the Initial Public Offering Listing or what does an IPO listing even mean? An IPO happens when a private company now offers public shares of the company for people to purchase on the Stock Exchange. There are certain requirements that must be met in order for a company to go public on the Stock exchange.
There are a few different reasons for a company to go public. A few of the most popular reasons are: gives the company access to raising a lot of money, allows the company to grow quickly, and finally if the company is looking to borrow funds they most likely will receive better terms and conditions.
Why would you want to buy at the IPO Listing Price?
As I mentioned above, buying at the IPO listing price was only available to Large institutions. Meaning, the large institutions are offered to buy the shares of stock at the IPO listing price, by the time it reaches the public the price is super high compared to what the large institutions were able to buy the stock price at. AKA they were able to drive the price up by purchasing all the shares.
For example: Whenever an IPO happens there is so much hype, excitement, and news surrounding it. Because of this trifecta, this also helps drive the IPO listing price up. For example, Airbnb had an IPO listing price of $68 per share and by the time it was available to the public after the big institutions bought up shares it was trading at $165 per share. (As of Sept 3rd, 2021 Airbnb is trading at $158 per share with it’s high being at almost $220 per share)
These big institutions traditionally were the only ones to benefit of an IPO listing price…until now!
Without further ado let’s go ahead and jump right into the best trading platforms to buy an IPO listing price on.
Robinhood offers IPO Listings
Robinhood has been known to be a pioneer when it comes to pushing the envelope in the financial world, first by offering commission free trading on an extremely easy to use and easy to understand trading platform. The second big breakthrough Robinhood had, was offering individuals to buy initial public offering (IPOs) stock at the same price that big institutionals buy in at.
Robinhood makes it easy to buy in at the initial public offering price offering. In fact, prior to the IPO, Robinhood will send an email, and a push notification that a new IPO is coming. Then you can sign up to be part of the IPO, and determine how much money you want to invest in the IPO listing. Robinhood will also keep track of the IPO listings they offered and the returns it’s had since the IPO.
One thing I love about Robinhood is you can buy fractional shares so you can buy a slice of an IPO share for as little as $1.
SIGN UP FOR ROBINHOOD AND RECEIVE A FREE SHARE OF STOCK
SOFI Invest offers IPO Listings
Another popular website that allows you to invest in an IPO listing is Sofi Investing. Sofi investing is a relatively new platform that is making big waves. Their easy to use interface makes it simple to invest in an IPO listing. Simply sign up for notifications of new IPOs and get push notifications when a new IPO is coming.
Keep in mind that Sofi offers more than just investing.
One of the best parts about Sofi Investing is that you don’t have a minimal amount to invest in the IPOs.
SIGN UP FOR SOFI INVEST AND RECEIVE A FREE $10
WeBull offers IPO Listings
The third platform on the list is WeBull. Webull is similar to Robinhood in the sense that it focuses on investing in the stock market and crypto currency. What I like about Webull is the easy to use interface, and the IPO section. When you log into the Webull app there is an IPO Center where you can see the upcoming IPO listings, the price range estimate, and when it will go live. From there you can submit an order for the IPO you want.
From the IPO center you can see how many IPO offer amounts that WeBull received. For example, when Papa Murphy’s went live on 08/27/2021 Webull was given 100,000,000 shares to offer to the users to buy at the IPO listing price. (Which was traditionally offered to only large institutions).
I can appreciate how Webull is an open book about the IPO listings and tells you how many shares were offered in the past so you have a rough estimate of how many will be offered on the upcoming IPO listings. This is a unique feature to Webull.
SIGN UP FOR WEBULL AND RECEIVE A FREE SHARE OF STOCK
Recap 3 Best Trading Platforms to buy an IPO listing price on
| PLATFORM | FEES | PROMOTIONS |
| ROBINHOOD open account | $0 per trade | Free share of stock |
| SOFI INVEST open account | $0 per trade | Free $10 |
| WEBULL open account | $0 per trade | Free share of stock |
The Best part is non of these platforms have an account minimum, so you can start investing for $1!
In short, the 3 Best trading platforms to buy an IPO listing price on is Robinhood, SOFI invest, and Webull. Below is a short table of the requirements for these platforms. Below are the guidelines and promotions for the 3 best trading platforms to buy an IPO listing on!