Webull Review 2021
Webull offers a unique community experience and easy to use trading platforms that will satisfy most young investors. However, for everyday investing, Webull lacks the trading tools and features to compete with industry leaders who also offer $0 stock and ETF trades.
Top Takeaways for 2021
After spending three months testing 11 of the best online brokers for our 11th Annual Review, here are our top findings on Webull:
- Webull is a community-driven, mobile-focused online broker. Alongside Webull's unique social community features, our testing found the mobile app to be well-designed and extremely easy to use.
- Webull offers more capabilities than Robinhood, but can't compete with the vast amount of trading tools, research, and education provided by traditional full-service brokers such as TD Ameritrade and Fidelity.
- Like most of the industry, Webull offers $0 trades on stocks/ETFs. Webull also provides $0 option trades and crypto trades. The company makes money off payment for order flow, transfer fees, account interest, and margin rates. Webull does not currently offer mutual funds, bonds, or futures.
Special Offer:
- $0 commission trading for online stocks, ETFs, options, cryptos and more on Webull! Open Account
Overall Summary
| Feature | Webull |
|---|---|
| Overall | |
| Commissions & Fees | |
| Platforms & Tools | |
| Research | |
| Mobile Trading | |
| Offering of Investments | |
| Education | |
| Ease of Use |
Commissions and Fees
Webull charges no commission for trading stocks, ETFs, and options. Where most brokers charge $0.65 - $0.75 for option contracts, Webull charges $0.
Minimum deposit: Webull does not impose a minimum account balance; however, customers who want to short stocks will have to open a margin account, which requires a minimum deposit of $2,000.
How Webull makes money: Webull makes money from margin lending, interest on cash balances, and payment for order flow. Almost all brokers, except for Fidelity, sell your order flow to wholesale market makers because it's one of the only ways to directly offset the costs of offering $0 trades. Learn more about order execution quality.
Other fees: Webull does not charge any deposit or withdrawal fees if you use ACH transfer. Wire transfers have an $8 deposit fee and $25 withdrawal fee for domestic clients, and a $14 deposit fee and $45 withdrawal fee for international clients.
| Feature | Webull |
|---|---|
| Minimum Deposit | $0.00 |
| Stock Trades | $0.00 |
| ETF Trade Fee | $0.00 |
| Options (Base Fee) | $0.00 |
| Options (Per Contract) | $0.00 |
| Futures (Per Contract) | N/A |
| Mutual Fund Trade Fee | N/A |
| Broker Assisted Trades Fee | N/A |
Trading Platforms and Tools
While Webull's web and desktop platforms lack the extensive range of tools found on trading platforms from TD Ameritrade and TradeStation, Webull will satisfy most casual traders.
Web platform charting: Webull offers a standard lineup of charting features, including several different chart types, adequate drawing tools, 50 technical indicators, the ability to add hotkeys, and grid layouts to compare multiple charts. I found charting to be clean and easy to use on the web platform and nearly identical on the desktop version.
Market replay: Unique to Webull, users can view stock chart time-lapse video replays. While more educational, viewing a replay of the day's price action offers traders a unique perspective not found at any other broker.
Desktop platform overview: The Webull desktop platform is identical to the web version. It is effortless to use with a versatile layout that can be customized quickly, thanks to its drag and drop widget boxes. It includes predefined lists such as Hot ETFs, and essential watch list and screener functionality. I also appreciated that new traders seeking to learn the ropes can practice trading with a virtual portfolio (fake money) from the Webull desktop, website, and mobile app.
Desktop platform features: The Webull desktop platform provides a high-level overview of markets alongside news headlines and consolidated analyst ratings. While light in day trading and options trading tools compared to TD Ameritrade and TradeStation, there are several unique features, such as the Net Order Imbalance Indicator (NOII). This indicator is integrated into the trade ticket as a research tool that breaks down institutional holdings for a given symbol. You can also code custom indicators. See: Best trading platforms for day traders.
Quote data: Like Robinhood, traders must pay a monthly fee to view level-2 quotes after their free data subscription expires. That said, it is worth noting that Webull dropped its Level 2 subscription cost to just $1.99 per month following a partnership with Nasdaq TotalView, and its basic data is free. For options, if you trade at least one options contract per month at Webull, you get real-time options data (OPRA).
Research
Community aside, which is engaging and unique, Webull's research tools fall far short when compared to industry leaders TD Ameritrade, Fidelity, and Charles Schwab, who also offer $0 stock and ETF trades.
Stock research: For researching stocks, Webull offers a screener, analyst ratings, price targets, company news, and lists out ETFs that include the stock as a holding. Aside from this, no research reports, technical analysis insights, or in-house market commentary is provided. Webull does have a blog, but there was just one article I found relevant for research, which listed the top 10 most active stock options of the prior week.
Webull community: One unique aspect of Webull is the Webull community, which acts as a private Twitter feed. Users can comment on individual stocks and news with their thoughts or post reactions to a price movement. Users can also predict whether a stock will rise or fall, earning Webull points for correct predictions. Webull points are redeemable for Webull products, such as entries to paper trading competitions, where users can win real money by trading virtual portfolios.
Mobile Trading
Webull's mobile app is sleek and user-friendly, presenting graphs and data in an easy to digest format. Navigation is also a breeze, making the app ideal for newer investors. Lastly, Webull does a good job keeping the user experience consistent across devices, as the mobile closely resembles the desktop and web version of the platform.
All in all, while Webull's mobile app offers more features than Robinhood, it struggles to compete with the extensive amount of trading tools provided by the best stock trading apps.
Offering of Investments
Webull offers stocks, ETFs, options, and the ability to sell shares short. Mutual funds, futures, and bonds are not supported. Webull also offers nearly a dozen popular cryptocurrencies, such as bitcoin, ethereum, and dogecoin. Webull also provides traders with access to IPOs without imposing minimum account requirements. Webull does not offer any banking services, robo portfolios, or advisory services.
Education
Aside from some basic articles, Webull offers almost no investor education. Traders seeking interactive courses, webinars, or highly-detailed articles should check out top brokers such as TD Ameritrade and Fidelity.
Final Thoughts
Webull, like Robinhood, has attracted a loyal following of customers because it is easy to use and was one of the first brokers to offer $0 trades.
Comparing Webull vs Robinhood, Webull offers more features, hands down. That said, when comparing Webull to the best online brokers that also offer $0 stock and ETF trades, Webull left me wanting more.
About Webull
Webull is part of China-based Fumi Technology, a fintech company that provides real-time market data, analytical tools, and trading technologies. Webull’s technology team is based in Hunan, China, while customer-facing and brokerage operations are located in New York City.
About the author: Steven Hatzakis Steven Hatzakis is the Global Director of Research for ForexBrokers.com. Steven previously served as an Editor for Finance Magnates, where he authored over 1,000 published articles about the online finance industry. Steven is an active fintech and crypto industry researcher and advises blockchain companies at the board level. Over the past 20 years, Steven has held numerous positions within the international forex markets, from writing to consulting to serving as a registered commodity futures representative.
About the author: Blain Reinkensmeyer As Head of Research at StockBrokers.com, Blain Reinkensmeyer has 20 years of trading experience with over 1,000 trades placed during that time. Referenced as a leading expert on the US online brokerage industry, Blain has been quoted in the Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, the Chicago Tribune, and Fast Company, among others.
