How to Change Your Robinhood Instant Account to a Cash Account

If you are using Robinhood as your trading platform, you have a “Robinhood Instant” account by default. With a Robinhood Instant account, you have instant access to up to $1,000 in deposits for trading and you can trade with unsettled funds. This type of account also grants access to options which require a margin account. This default account type on the Robinhood platform is simply a margin account (but it differs from Robinhood Gold in that you can’t actually trade on margin even though it is a margin account). You can change (downgrade) your Robinhood Instant account to a Robinhood Cash account in a few easy steps.

Scroll to the bottom of this post for the video version!

First, you need to access the menu from your profile page in the app. The menu is in the top right hand corner and is represented by three lines. Tap the three lines to get to the Menu screen. Then tap the first option labeled “Investing.”

The Investing screen will show several options for your Robinhood account. Scroll all the way to the bottom of this screen until you see Day Trade Settings. Here you will see how many day trades you have used, which is important when trading in a margin account. Tap Day Trade Settings. This bring you to screen with some information about the PDT rule which applies to all margin accounts under $25,000 in the US. At the bottom of this screen you’ll see an option to Turn Off Instant Settlement.

Tap Turn Off Instant Settlement. You will see a confirmation screen that warns that this action is permanent. Once you downgrade to a Robinhood Cash account, you will need to keep in mind that you can only trade with settled funds going forward. It can take 3-5 days for funds to settle with Robinhood. Tap Turn Off Instant Settlement again at the bottom of this screen.

If the app is not allowing you to change your account, it may be because you have unsettled funds from a recent transaction in your Robinhood Instant account. Wait a couple days until all funds are settled and try again.

If you prefer to trade with a margin account but want to prevent your owned shares from being lent out to short sellers, you will need an account with a different broker. Opening an account with Webull will allow you to maintain a margin account with the option of disabling share lending if this is the reason you want to downgrade to a cash account on Robinhood.

Click here to learn how to disable share lending on Webull