How to buy gold on Robinhood

Robinhood’s commission-free model offers easy, low-cost access to stocks and options. But what about gold, the precious metal that gained more than 65% in 2025? The answer is more complicated than you might expect. You can’t buy physical gold on Robinhood — though you can purchase other assets that provide exposure to gold’s pricing.

Robinhood supports purchases of gold ETFs, mining stocks, and options. If you have access to Robinhood Futures, you can also buy gold futures contracts. All these asset types tend to rise and fall with the gold price, but each has its own risks and nuances. Choosing the right one for you begins with assessing your risk tolerance.

Read more: How to invest in gold in 7 steps

Gold is inherently risky. Review its long-term history, and you’ll see long periods of stagnation, broken up by huge, but rocky value spikes. Some asset types available on Robinhood provide straightforward exposure to this volatility, while others magnify gold’s gains and losses. Here are your choices, ordered from lowest to highest risk:

1. Gold ETFs backed by physical gold are among your lowest-risk choices for gold exposure on Robinhood. These funds rise and fall with gold prices. You do pay an administrative fee to the fund, but you won’t have to store gold bars at home.

2. Options-based gold ETFs use covered calls to generate income on gold exposure. These funds can have limited upside in gold rallies.

3. Gold mining stocks often move with gold prices, but in an exaggerated way due to operational leverage. When you invest in gold mining stocks, you accept company-specific risks plus the inherent volatility of gold prices.

4. Gold futures contracts are agreements to buy or sell gold in the future at a specific price. You provide a small deposit on the contract and are bound to complete a much larger transaction later. If your gold price prediction is inaccurate, you can lose more than your initial deposit. To trade futures on Robinhood, you must apply for a futures account. Also, Robinhood does charge a commission on futures trades.

5. Gold options give you the right to buy or sell gold at a set price before a specific date. When you buy options, you can lose your entire investment. When you sell options, your loss potential is large to unlimited.

Your risk tolerance can guide you to the right asset type. Most traders will start with gold ETFs because they are the simplest. Gold options only make sense if you are an experienced, risk-hungry investor with deep expertise in precious metals.

Read more: How high will gold go this year? Top 3 predictions about gold prices.

Having a defined investing goal helps you make strategic decisions about how much to invest in gold on Robinhood, how often to trade, or when to buy and sell. For example, when you’re diversifying long-term savings, you might set up recurring buys for a set amount. But when you’re pursuing short-term profits, your trade timing and pricing requirements would be far more precise.

Know what you’re trying to accomplish first, and smart decisions should follow.

Robinhood provides summary information on securities, but you may want to do your own outside research — particularly if you’re interested in mining stocks. These are influenced by company factors and jurisdictional risks, including political and regulatory instability that can affect mining activity.

Robinhood’s trading interfaces are straightforward. For ETFs and mining stocks, you take these steps to place a trade order:

1. Search for and select the security you want.

2. Review the data provided. For ETFs and stocks, Robinhood displays historical performance, metrics, news headlines, and analyst ratings.

3. Tap the buy button. Robinhood defaults to dollar-based transactions. You can invest in increments of $1, which usually results in trading share fractions rather than whole shares. If you prefer whole shares, you can switch to buying in shares and specify how many shares you want.

4. Set your order requirements. You may want a limit order, for example, which allows you to set a maximum price for that buy. A limit on a sell order sets a minimum price.

5. Review the transaction details and confirm the trade.

The process for buying gold options on Robinhood is similar. Since options are based on an underlying security, such as a gold ETF, you search for that security first. You then navigate to options directly from the security’s page. The available contracts are grouped by their expiration date. To place an order, select what you want, review the details, and confirm the trade.

To access gold futures, first confirm that you have access to Robinhood Futures. Then navigate to the futures area and locate gold futures. You can choose gold futures, micro gold futures, or 1-ounce gold futures. Select your preference, enter and review your order details, and confirm the trade.

While you can’t buy physical gold on Robinhood, you can trade securities that are linked to gold pricing. Gold-backed ETFs are the most direct choice, but you can also get leveraged exposure with mining stocks, options, and futures.