Trading Bitcoin on Robinhood may cost more than the headline fees suggest. The platform’s default crypto order routing can bake trading costs directly into buy and sell prices, with the spread reaching nearly 2% round trip.
The issue drew attention after Delphi Digital co-founder Tommy Shaughnessy shared a screenshot showing a $1,426 difference between Robinhood’s Bitcoin bid and ask prices and questioned Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev about the gap.
How the Cost Works
A spread is simply the difference between what buyers are quoted and what sellers receive.
Robinhood’s default crypto routing uses external market makers rather than sending orders directly to an exchange. According to Robinhood’s disclosures, the company receives $0.95 for every $100 of crypto trading volume routed through this method.
That compensation is reflected in the quoted price. So, instead of seeing a separate trading fee, customers effectively pay more on purchases and receive less on sales.
Hey @vladtenev why is the spread for buying or selling $BTC via agentic trading 2% on Robinhood?
Kinda of criminal levels of slippage on an asset this big https://t.co/KgoKeaQMsn pic.twitter.com/3V74Yif7vI
— Tommy (@Shaughnessy119) September 17, 2026
For a buy followed by a sale, that difference can approach 2%, even before Bitcoin’s price changes.
The Spread in Question
The screenshot shared by Shaughnessy showed a Bitcoin bid of $75,361.72 and an ask of $76,787.76, creating a spread of roughly 1.87%.
Shaughnessy argued that such a spread is expensive for Bitcoin and raised concerns about the cost for automated or AI-driven trading strategies using Robinhood.
Robinhood Points to Another Option
Robinhood crypto executive Johann Kerbrat responded by pointing to Smart Exchange Routing, another order-routing option available to customers.
Unlike the default market-maker route, Smart Exchange Routing carries a disclosed fee ranging from 0% to 0.95%, with the rate depending on a trader’s 30-day trading volume.
Kerbrat also disputed claims that users have to sell their crypto before withdrawing it. He said Bitcoin and other supported assets can be transferred directly from a Robinhood Crypto account to an external wallet.
AI Trading Adds Another Question
Robinhood has also opened crypto trading to outside AI agents through separate accounts, allowing automated systems to execute trades.
The platform places restrictions on what these agents can do, including transfers, staking, and lending.
That makes the actual cost of execution especially relevant for anyone using automated strategies. A spread that looks small on a single trade can become significant when an agent makes frequent transactions.
For Robinhood users, the key question is therefore less about whether a separate trading fee appears on the screen and more about how much the quoted buy and sell prices differ before placing the trade.
