RAFA
RAFA is an AI investing copilot built around a team of specialised agents. It researches stocks, crypto and options, analyses portfolio risk and flags unusual options flow, with a separate RAFA PRO offering for wealth management firms.
What is RAFA?
RAFA is an AI investing copilot published by Tides.Network, Inc. of San Francisco. Rather than a single chatbot, it is presented as a team of specialised agents covering stocks, crypto, options, ETFs and bonds, and it exists in two distinct forms on the same domain.
The consumer product answers questions in plain language — a short-term trade strategy with entry and exit points, a portfolio of 70% stocks and 30% bonds in low-cost ETFs, the latest earnings figures, a check on options flow — and organises the app into Portfolio, Stocks, Crypto, Options and Research sections. Five features are named: portfolio risk analysis, options activity monitoring, a conversational stock screener called Strategy-Wiz, AI-generated analyses under the heading Test Before You invest, and continuous monitoring that surfaces ideas from real-time news and social media. In-house artefacts are cited throughout — RAFA Scores for quantitative technical analysis, the RAFA Momentum Market Model, the RAFA TOP 20 list, the BullsEye equity framework and Hedge Alerts. Eight brokerages appear in a supported-accounts carousel, and dedicated guides explain how to connect brokerage and centralised crypto exchange accounts.
The second form, RAFA PRO, occupies the home page and addresses wealth management firms. It proposes an AI audit of the practice in weeks one and two, configuration with deterministic guardrails and compliance rules in weeks three to six, then deployment in weeks seven to twelve, built around four agents: Compliance, Portfolio Intelligence, Client Engagement, and Research and Strategy. The firm-side claims are specific — 95% less compliance time, annual review preparation in 70 seconds, half the SaaS stack consolidated, prospect-to-client conversion six times faster — set against a stated problem of eight to twelve tools and more than $47,000 of annual SaaS spend.
A SOC 2 Certified badge, a Vanta trust centre and four dated awards are displayed. The legal footing appears on every page: RAFA is an educational platform providing analytical tools, is neither a broker/dealer nor an investment adviser, and is not regulated by any financial services agency.
What it does
- Ask a team of AI agents about stocks, crypto and options in plain language
- Analyse portfolio risk continuously and receive hedge alerts
- Run deep equity research and generate AI Portfolio Deep Dive reports
- Detect unusual options flow and monitor options activity
- Build and backtest portfolios, including allocations such as 70% stocks and 30% bonds in low-cost ETFs
- Screen stocks conversationally and track news and social media sentiment
- Link brokerage and centralised crypto exchange accounts for consolidated analysis
When to use RAFA / When not to
A quick filter to help you decide if RAFA is the right fit.
When to use RAFA
- Active retail investors trading stocks, options and crypto, who want research, backtests and swing trade alerts in one place
- Beginners starting out, who can lean on the fourteen-guide Learn section and the entry-level free tier
- Independent RIAs and small wealth management practices looking to consolidate a sprawling SaaS stack
- Compliance officers in advisory firms, addressed directly by the dedicated Compliance Agent
- Investors already holding accounts at Robinhood, Vanguard, Wealthfront, Stash or Gemini, which can be linked to the app
When not to use RAFA
- Anyone looking for a broker: RAFA states on every page that it is not a broker/dealer and documents no order execution
- Investors expecting personalised advice, which the site explicitly declines to give for any individual situation
- Teams that need programmatic access, since no public API or API documentation is published
- Users who need an interface in a language other than English, none being announced
- Buyers who want the option of a refund: subscription fees are final and non-refundable, including unused periods
How to use RAFA
A typical end-to-end flow, from setup to results.
- Choose your side: the consumer app for individual investors, or RAFA PRO for a wealth management practice
- Create an account from the sign-in page, or install the iOS or Android app
- Start on the permanently free tier, which tracks one portfolio with a limited number of daily AI messages
- Link a supported brokerage account, or a centralised crypto exchange account, following the dedicated Learn guides
- Alternatively build a portfolio by hand: separate guides cover equal-weighted and detailed setups
- Ask the agents questions in plain language from the Portfolio, Stocks, Crypto, Options and Research sections
- Review portfolio risk analysis, options activity and news sentiment as they update
- Upgrade to a paid tier for unlimited backtests, real-time swing trade alerts and AI Portfolio Deep Dive reports
- Work through the fourteen Learn guides to get more out of the scores, frameworks and dashboards
- For a firm, book the 30-minute AI audit and follow the 90-day audit, configure and deploy sequence
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Broad asset coverage in a single interface: stocks, crypto, options, ETFs and bonds
- A genuinely permanent free plan, alongside publicly posted paid prices
- Native iOS and Android apps in addition to the web app
- Eight brokerages and centralised crypto exchanges can be linked for consolidated analysis
- A substantial educational layer of fourteen guides, from beginner to advanced
- A detailed privacy policy with explicit GDPR legal bases, seven rights and a designated DPO
- The legal position is stated plainly and repeatedly rather than buried in the small print
Cons
- No public API and no API documentation
- No accessible data processing agreement or subprocessor list: the Vanta trust centre renders nothing without JavaScript
- Nothing published about whether customer data trains the models, and no opt-out documented
- No data hosting country or region is named, while transfers to the United States are acknowledged
- The privacy policy has not been updated since 19 July 2023
- Subscriptions are non-refundable, liability is capped at USD 100, and disputes go to AAA arbitration under Delaware law
- Two company names coexist: Tides.Network, Inc. in the contracts, RAFA AI, Inc. in the footer copyright
Pricing & Plans
A permanently free plan is available at no cost. The lowest paid entry point is USD 12.49 per month when billed annually, with a higher tier at USD 24.91 per month on the same annual basis; annual billing is advertised as a 17% saving. The terms also provide for a limited free trial, at the end of which the subscription fee is charged automatically. RAFA PRO, the offering for wealth management firms, is not publicly priced.
- limited daily AI messages
- basic market insights
- one tracked portfolio
- no portfolio monitoring
- no AI Portfolio Deep Dive reports
- limited access to the Strategy and Options agents
- 5x more AI conversations
- real-time swing trade alerts
- the RAFA Momentum Market Model
- unlimited portfolio backtests
- enhanced options research
- unlimited access to the Strategy and Options agents
- AI Portfolio Deep Dive reports
- 20x more AI interactions
- everything in BASIC
- complete investment intelligence
- full Options and Strategy agent access
- advanced portfolio monitoring
- personalised deep dive reports
- priority customer support
- RAFA PRO for wealth management firms — no public pricing
- entry is through a 30-minute AI audit
Data, GDPR & hosting
A consolidated view of how RAFA handles your data.
GDPR overview
Concrete and reasonably detailed. The privacy policy states it is intended to satisfy the GDPR transparency obligation, names Tides.Network, Inc. as data controller, and sets out four legal bases: consent, performance of a contract, legitimate interests and legal obligation. Seven rights are described individually — access, rectification, erasure, objection and restriction, portability, withdrawal of consent, and complaint to a Member State supervisory authority — with a stated one-month response target. A Data Protection Officer is designated and reachable at support@rafa.ai. Protected ages are set at 13 in the United States and 16 in the European Union. Two gaps stand out: no Article 27 EU representative is named, and transfers to the United States are acknowledged without naming any transfer mechanism. The policy was last updated on 19 July 2023.
Who owns the data?
Tides.Network, Inc. is named as the data controller. Its terms state that RAFA and its licensors own the service and the software behind it, with no title passing to the user, while the privacy policy commits not to sell, rent, lease or barter personal information without explicit permission. Data is nonetheless shared with service providers, subsidiaries and affiliated entities, vendors and marketing partners, authorities on lawful request, and any acquirer in a merger or sale of assets. Users may request access, correction, erasure, portability or withdrawal of consent, with a one-month target response. Aggregated, de-identified data may be kept after closure. RAFA disclaims liability for lost user content and advises keeping backups.
Reuse rights
The terms grant no reuse rights over the platform itself: RAFA or its licensors own the service and all software used to provide it, and nothing is transferred to the user beyond permission to use it. Users keep their own content, but anything posted publicly falls outside the privacy policy and may be copied or re-shared by third parties, with removal requiring a request to RAFA. Financial data feeds come from third-party providers that may require a separate agreement, so material derived from them is not freely redistributable. Under the GDPR, users may obtain a copy of their personal data in a structured, machine-readable and commonly used format, and may ask for personally identifiable information to be deleted by emailing support.
Data retention & training
Hosting summary
The site names no hosting country and no hosting region. The privacy policy refers to data centres protected by physical access controls, firewalls, encryption and access authorisation controls, but never says where they are. What is stated is the direction of travel: personal information may be sent and stored outside the user's country of residence, including to the United States, and users located elsewhere are asked to accept that protection there may be weaker than under their own law. For residents of the European Union and EEA, RAFA says it takes appropriate steps to provide an equivalent level of protection where feasible under applicable law, without naming any mechanism — no standard contractual clauses, no adequacy decision and no Data Privacy Framework certification are cited. The website itself is served behind Cloudflare, which describes content delivery rather than where data is stored. A SOC 2 Certified badge and a Vanta trust centre are advertised, but the trust page returns no content without JavaScript, so neither the scope of the certification nor a subprocessor list could be verified.
Things to keep in mind
Risks and trade-offs to weigh before adopting RAFA.
- Unregulated by design: RAFA is not a broker/dealer or investment adviser, so nothing it produces carries the protections attached to regulated advice
- The site warns that you may lose an amount equal to or greater than your entire investment, whatever the asset class
- Fluent, confident answers about markets can encourage decisions faster than the underlying evidence justifies; the site insists you do your own analysis and due diligence
- Past performance, whether actual or historical, and hypothetical or illustrative results are no guarantee of future outcomes
- Contractual exposure is asymmetric: liability capped at USD 100, mandatory AAA arbitration, Delaware jurisdiction and non-refundable subscriptions
- The data footprint is wide, extending to precise location, call and SMS content and device identifiers, and the Do Not Track signal is ignored
- Linking brokerage and exchange accounts concentrates sensitive financial data with a vendor whose subprocessors and hosting locations are not published
Setup & Integrations
Technical difficulty
Low for individual investors. There is nothing to install beyond an optional mobile app: create an account, then either link a supported brokerage or crypto exchange account through the step-by-step guides, or enter a portfolio by hand. No API key, no configuration and no technical knowledge are required, and the free tier allows testing before paying. Firms face a different scale: RAFA PRO is a supervised 90-day programme — audit, configuration with compliance guardrails, then deployment — integrated into an existing stack rather than a self-service signup.
Deployment
Apps stores
Integrations
Behind RAFA
Social
Resources
All the official URLs gathered for verification and reference.
Alternatives
Tools that compete with or complement RAFA.
Frequently asked questions
Does RAFA place trades on my behalf?
Is there a free plan?
What do the paid tiers cost?
Which brokerages can I connect?
Is there a mobile app?
What is the minimum age?
Is RAFA GDPR compliant?
How long is my data kept?
Is my data used to train RAFA's models?
Who is behind RAFA?
Should you pick RAFA?
RAFA is one of the more complete AI investing tools of its kind, and unusual in serving two audiences from a single domain: individual investors on one side, wealth management practices on the other. The consumer product is substantive — conversational research across stocks, crypto and options, portfolio risk analysis, unlimited backtests on paid tiers, brokerage and crypto account linking, and a fourteen-guide learning section that treats beginners seriously. Prices are public, the free tier is permanent rather than a disguised trial, and native mobile apps sit alongside the web app.
The reservations are documentary rather than functional. The advertised SOC 2 certification and Vanta trust centre cannot be checked from the outside: the trust page returns nothing without JavaScript, and no data processing agreement or subprocessor list is reachable. The site says nothing about whether customer data trains its models, and documents no opt-out. No hosting country is named, though transfers to the United States are acknowledged. The privacy policy has not been revised since July 2023. Two company names coexist, Tides.Network, Inc. in the contracts and RAFA AI, Inc. in the footer, without explanation.
Commercially the terms are firm: fees are final and non-refundable including unused periods, liability is capped at USD 100, and disputes go to AAA arbitration under Delaware law. Set against that, RAFA is candid about what it is not. Every page states that it is neither a broker/dealer nor an investment adviser, that it is unregulated, and that it offers no personalised recommendation. That candour counts for something, but it also marks the limit: RAFA can research, monitor and explain, and the decision, with all its consequences, stays entirely with the user.
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