information investing

$HOOD » CEO @VladTenev debunking the gamification myth around Robinhood: “If you look at the Robinhood interface, there’s been a lot of discussion about gamification, but really it’s not gamification. It’s just having a mobile device and making sure the font is readable without a magnifying glass and things of that nature. If you actually look at the Robinhood app, it follows the human interface guidelines. Gamification features in the traditional sense don’t exist. This was just kind of an industry talking point. We have active traders on the platform and lots of products, and we generally try to make the interfaces consistent in accordance with human interface guidelines and good product design.”

$HOOD: “There's no minimum account size requirement [to invest in SpaceX IPO].” $FNF: “$500,000 minimum account balance required to participate” – @SawyerMerritt Robinhood proving yet again, it’s the most accessible and best brokerage in the world.

“We’re asking the wrong question. We need to start asking about the origin of the code — not just the origin of the molecules, but the origin of the code that is stored in the molecules. That’s the real question.” – @StephenCMeyer “The real contrast here is very vivid. The materialistic understanding of the universe starts with mass-energy or nothing and builds up by unguided materialist processes to produce information as an end product. Whereas the worldview we’re talking about is the exact opposite: mind is primary, and mass-energy in the universe is derivative.” – @ProfJohnLennox

I’ve been asked by many to create one comprehensive post explaining how to prepare for @SpaceX’s IPO if you use one of the brokerages listed in SpaceX’s S-1 filing to allocate IPO shares to retail investors. Here it is: Fidelity: 1) $500,000 minimum account balance required to participate (including IRAs, individual, etc, but excluding 401k). 2) Enter an indication of interest. The indication of interest provides Fidelity with the maximum number of shares a customer is interested in purchasing. 3) Confirm your indication of interest shares on Fidelity's website after the registration statement has been declared effective and the offering has priced, which is typically after 7 PM ET on the night of pricing. Indications of interest may not be confirmed prior to the registration statement being declared effective and the offering pricing established. By confirming your indication of interest, you are placing an order to buy shares at the offering price. If you do not confirm your indication of interest, you will not be eligible for an allocation of shares. 4) Allocation of shares will occur on the morning following pricing and is usually complete before 9:30 AM ET. An alert will be sent once allocations are complete, and you can check your account to determine whether you were allocated shares. If you receive an allocation of shares, you must have adequate funds available to settle the purchase in the settlement date which is typically the trade date plus one business day. 5) You may increase your indication of interest up through the close of the indication of interest period. You may decrease or cancel an indication of interest until share allocation takes place. Once share allocation takes place, your indication may not be canceled or modified. Charles Schwab: 1) $100,000 minimum account balance required to participate (including IRAs, individual, etc, but excluding 401k). 2) On Schwab's website, under the Trade tab, select the IPO page to view the Calendar of Offerings, a list of upcoming IPOs. Once the IPO offering window opens (expected first week of June), investors will have the ability to submit a Conditional Offer to Purchase (COTP), also known as an Indication of Interest, from this page. 3) During an IPO's open COTP window, select Start COTP to review offering details and the preliminary prospectus. Then select the green button to proceed to the Eligibility Questionnaire, which is required to confirm investors meet eligibility criteria and are not restricted (per FINRA rules) from participating. After completing the questionnaire, you'll be able to indicate how many shares you're interested in purchasing based on the price range provided. Select Confirm to submit the COTP. 4) After the COTP has been submitted, regularly monitor the IPO page, which will indicate the Status of Your Conditional Offers to Purchase (COTPs), the expected pricing date, and current pricing status, plus any changes in the prospectus. When the IPO has been priced, you will affirm your COTP. You must affirm your COTP once the effective price is established in order to be eligible to purchase shares. To do so, select Affirm Now to review and finalize the share quantity. Robinhood: 1) There's no minimum account size requirement, but you must have enough buying power to cover your requested shares if you are allocated any. You must have an individual brokerage account. Retirement, custodial, and multiple investing accounts are not eligible for IPO Access. 2) Make sure IPO Access is enabled in your Robinhood app. Turn on your IPO notifications so that Robinhood notifies you when the SpaceX IPO comes online. 3) Request Shares: Once the IPO is announced and available, you can request shares through the app or website. This is a request for IPO shares. By placing a conditional offer to buy (COB), you’re asking for the opportunity to purchase a quantity of shares at the IPO price. An investor may place, edit, or cancel a COB after the initial price range is published and before the confirmation period ends. 4) Allocation is random and not guaranteed. The number of shares you request factors into how many you actually get, but it doesn’t affect the likelihood that you’ll get any allocation. You may get all, some, or none of the IPO shares you request. E*Trade: 1) E*TRADE does not publicly list a specific minimum account size required to participate in IPOs, but contact them to double check. That said, allocation priority for “hot” IPOs may still favor larger or more active accounts in practice, even if there’s no official minimum balance requirement. 2) Be a U.S. resident, have an active E*TRADE account (Individual, Joint and IRAs are all eligible) and complete the investor profile questionnaire. 3) Sign up for IPO alerts. 4) Submit a conditional offer to buy ("COB"). As part of this submission, you specify the number of shares and the maximum price you are willing to pay per share. COBs can only be submitted via the New Issue Center. A COB may be submitted once an offering is listed as "open" up until the status is changed to "closed." COBs that have already been submitted may be amended or cancelled after an offering is "closed" up until the status is changed to "allocate." At this point, no further changes may be made to a COB and you are bound by the terms of your COB. If there is no material change in an offering, customers will not need to reconfirm their COBs. If you have submitted a conditional offer, you must have available buying power to cover the full amount of your conditional offer in the account through which you submitted the conditional offer. 5) Shares are allocated to eligible accounts as a proportion, or percentage, of the size of their COB. The percentage is based primarily on the number of shares provided to E*TRADE for sale to its customers and the size of the overall demand for shares from E*TRADE's customers. Given the expected high demand for this offering and the limited availability of shares available for sale to E*TRADE customers, many COBs may not be allocated shares (according to E*Trade). Additionally, in many instances, allocations will be significantly smaller than the size of shares requested in a customer's COB. 6) E*TRADE makes its allocations after the pricing of the overall offering but before the stock begins trading. E*TRADE will inform customers via alert or email whether they have been allocated shares. Any allocation should be reflected in the relevant customer account once that allocation has been processed by E*TRADE. Sofi: 1) There is no minimum account balance/size requirement. Have an active Self-Directed Invest account. 2) Go to the “IPO Investing” section in the app or website 3) Select the IPO 4) Complete the IPO suitability questionnaire 5) Submit an “Indication of Interest” (IOI), which is basically a non-binding request for shares. 6) When the IPO is officially priced, SoFi will notify you to confirm your order. NOTE: Don’t be surprised if you receive fewer IPO shares than you requested, or none at all. Demand for the limited number of IPO shares available to retail investors will likely be extremely high, and each participating brokerage will only receive a limited allocation of shares to distribute to retail investors. For our international friends, keep in mind that @SpaceX said in their S-1 filing that allocations will also be made to retail investors by the underwriters, which include: • Goldman Sachs • Morgan Stanley • Bank of America • Citigroup • J.P. Morgan • Barclays • Deutsche Bank Securities • RBC Capital Markets • UBS Investment Bank • Wells Fargo Securities • Allen & Company • Cantor • Needham & Company • Raymond James • Societe Generale • Stifel • William Blair • BTG Pactual • ING • Macquarie Capital • Mirae Asset Securities • Mizuho • Santander so you can try reaching out to one of these places if you have assets with them and you may be able to request an allocation of some shares. I've already seen that happen with some Goldman Sachs clients. Lastly, and I stated this in a previous post, @SpaceX specifically stated in their S-1 filing that any purchase of their Class A common stock in this offering through these platforms will be at the same IPO price, and at the same time, as any other purchases in this offering, including purchases by institutions and other large investors, which means any retail investors that are lucky enough to get allocated some SpaceX IPO shares will pay the same price as the big guys. This will likely be the largest retail IPO share allocation in history, by far. If you have more questions, reach out directly to your brokerage and/or bank. And no, this post wasn't written by AI lol. Not financial advice.