Webull Review

Top Rated For

• Best Broker for Low-Cost Options Trading
• Best Low-Cost Day Trading Platform
• Best Low-Cost Options Broker
  
• Best Low-Cost Trading App

Our Take

Webull is for investors who want to get into financial markets with no minimum account sizes and commission-free trading. The broker's no-cost model will be appealing to many active traders. In particular, Webull's free options trading will catch the attention of active options traders because other brokers, even those that have gone to free stock trades like Schwab, continue to charge commissions on each leg of options trades. Also, with the added feature of futures trading, Webull has further enhanced its robust brokerage platform to entice traders with multiple skill sets who need to trade different strategies and capitalize on various market opportunities. Traders can now add futures as a possible strategy with Webull.  

Introduction

Webull, a licensed broker-dealer in 10 major markets and operating in 15 regions globally, is a relatively new online broker that launched in the U.S. in 2018. The mobile-first launch in May 2018 was reflective of Webull's most important target market: millennials. Webull is positioning itself to serve newer and more active traders and others drawn to a platform offering a broad range of services for free, including no account minimums, and commission-free trading of stocks, ETFs, and their options. Webull does skew towards the self-directed investor, with a less comprehensive offering than full-service competitors. That said, Webull customers get a lot of bang without the buck: a nice platform with a wide range of helpful tools and features, along with competitive margin rates. We'll take an in-depth look at Webull to help you decide if it is the right broker for your portfolio needs.

Pros & Cons

Pros Explained 

• No commissions on stocks, ETFs, or options: Everyone wants something for free, and that is exactly what Webull delivers. No-commission stock, ETF, and options trading is particularly appealing to traders who don't need their hands held. Lower implementation costs make it easier for traders to profit from a trading strategy.
• Easy account setup and options approval, and no minimum deposit required: The account-opening process only takes a few minutes without requiring a minimum deposit. You will receive account and options trading approval very quickly and it only takes a couple of additional minutes to add your bank account and set up a free ACH transfer. Once the transfer is set up, you can receive buying power on the account even though the fund transfer may not be complete for a few days. 
• Fractional shares available: Fractional shares allow investors to purchase a portion of a share based on the dollars they have to invest.
• Access to extended hours and pre-market trading: Many active traders like to trade the market in the pre- and/or extended-hour trading periods, and Webull customers have the ability to access these hours. Traders can choose whether they want their orders active during the non-regular trading day times.

Cons Explained 

• Potential give-up on execution due to payment for order flow (PFOF): Webull is able to offer free trading and all its other services because it is receiving payment for order flow (PFOF). This fact may reduce Webull's price execution quality. The speed and precision at which orders are generally filled today somewhat lessen this as a significant issue for most traders, but day traders and those using other strategies highly dependent on execution quality may be at a disadvantage.
• Limited range of tools for portfolio management: While Webull provides a lot of helpful tools for traders on its platform, portfolio management tools are lacking. Webull customers are expected to be self-sufficient in making their own investing/trading decisions. There are no daily or intra-day market letters, and no research or analyst reports on stocks outside of aggregated analyst statistics. Webull does not offer financial advisors, recommended portfolios for rebalancing, or control of tax lots on sales.
• No access to fixed income or mutual funds: There are no fixed-income investments, mutual funds, or international equities at Webull.

Usability

Webull is easy to use, with clean and intuitive navigation. Webull has a website, a desktop workstation, and a mobile app that are all similarly well-designed. Having been built recently, the platforms share a modern look and feel. 

The desktop workstation and the website are nearly identical, with the same menu and window setup with a primary set of buttons down the left side of the screen. These buttons launch customizable quote boards, a stock page with a wealth of information on a single stock or ETF, a broad market overview page, a stock screener, a trading screen that is highly customizable on the desktop platform, an account tab showing balances, positions, buying power, performance, risk level related to margin leverage, access to bank transfers into and out of the account, and a dedicated paper trading area. There are some minor differences between the website and the workstation, and the website only supports single-leg options. 

The mobile app's primary features are consistent with the website and workstation, but there are design differences and limitations on some of its robust features to accommodate smaller screens. The menu buttons on the bottom of the app screen change to be relevant to the content shown at the time. For example, an options button appears as a choice at the bottom of the stock screen showing an individual stock/ETF. Additionally, traders will find that they cannot customize trading screens on the mobile platform like on the desktop, an essential feature that mobile traders might find problematic.

Watchlists can be easily created across all platforms directly from stock screener results. Watchlists also remain consistent between the desktop, web, and mobile app, so you don't need to set these up on multiple platforms. Order entry is straightforward, and traders can even customize trading ticket information such as order type and share amounts they most commonly use.

Trade Experience

Webull's workstation is highly customizable, with templates available for trading stocks and ETFs, options, futures, and day trading. Traders can switch among these different template pages and build their own page layouts from scratch through widgets. The widgets contain different information, such as news, fundamentals, options, order entry, time and sales, and so on. The widgets can be combined to save screen space, with the various widgets accessible through marked tabs at the top of the window. Widget windows can also be grouped together so a stock entered in one of the widgets will automatically update in the other widgets in the group. 

The trading setup also allows for a highly customized user experience, including hotkeys, the home page loaded on startup, default stock and option orders, and frequently used share quantities. The most flexibility and customization is available on the workstation. However, the website does not have all of the trading page templates available on the workstation. The system will guide you to different pages when appropriate, such as taking you to the stocks window to see stock-specific information, news, options, charting, and an analyst ratings overview. It is also important to note that the website only supports single-leg options trading.

It is easy to enter an order through Webull. The order screen can be added to different screens, and the stock order entry screen includes contingency orders for stop loss and/or profit-taking levels. You can also create order tickets directly from account holdings, and clicking on the bid or offer of a market will automatically enter that information into the trade order widget. Trading was also available directly from the charting program, with active positions and orders clearly shown on the chart.

Mobile Trade Experience

On May 23, 2022, the company announced the release of Webull 8.0. This latest version of the mobile platform provides more educational and customizable content for traders, including updated charting tools, alert settings, options trading, futures trading, and financial reporting features. The mobile app has the same basic features as the website and workstation, but there are design differences to handle the smaller screens.

Menu buttons adapt along with the content screen you are on, serving up the main functions that you are likely to need. Mobile's charting also shows open positions and allows trading directly from the chart. Webull's drawing tools are also easier to use than the mobile charting software of many other brokers. The mobile app doesn't allow access to Webull's stock screener, but you can convert search results from the website or workstation into a watchlist that will sync to the mobile app.

Range of Offerings

Webull focuses on U.S. stock and ETF trading, futures, and U.S.-listed options. The platform offers access to high-yield cash management, earning a competitive rate of 5.00% APY on uninvested cash with the added ability to open personal and IRA accounts in the United States. Webull's product offerings may not be a match for the breadth of offerings available at full-service brokers, but the company meets the needs of its younger customer base, which is less interested in fixed income.

Investors looking to add automation to their portfolio may want to look into Webull Smart Advisor, the platform's robo-advisor. To open an account, investors must meet the $100 minimum deposit and be at least 18 years of age. It's important to note that new Smart Advisor account holders can benefit from a six-month promotion without paying advisory service fees. Once the trial period has ended, investors can expect to pay an annual fee of 0.2%. Fees will be deducted from the account holder's cash balance. There is no fixed income or mutual fund trading available; however, Webull has added both fractional shares and OTC stocks, so the lineup continues to grow.

Investors using Webull can trade the following:

• U.S.-listed stocks/ETFs long and short
• American depositary receipts (ADRs)
• U.S.-listed options on stocks and ETFs
• Over-the-counter (OTC) securities (about 500)
• Futures and futures options trading

Order Types

Webull offers the most commonly used order types, including market, limit, stop, stop limit, and trailing stops. There are also specialty orders such as one-cancel-the-other (OCO), one-triggers-an-OCO (OTOCO), and one-triggers-the-other (OTO), allowing traders to set up a conditional order where a filled limit order establishes an OCO attaching both a stop-loss and a profit-taking level order once the initial position is established. Webull does not offer market-if-touched, market-on-close, or similar orders. 

Webull doesn't offer traders control over tax lots on sales to close a long stock position; it uses the first in, first out (FIFO) methodology. Webull also lacks automated trading, backtesting of strategies, and the ability to stage orders.

Trading Technology

Webull's trading technology is basic, although it does get the job done. Webull reports a net price improvement of 0.0050 a share on a 100-499 order size with an execution speed of 0.096 seconds. There is no smart order routing, no trading automation, no backtesting capability, and no way to route your own orders. That said, this is in keeping with the broker's bare-bones approach to keep costs down.

Costs

Webull is a no-cost broker for certain financial instruments and a low-cost broker for others. The company offers commission-free trading in stocks, ETFs, and listed options, and it does not charge a fee for account minimums or for its robust platforms and tools. For futures trading and futures options, the brokerage charges a low-cost fee per contract.

Webull's margin rates are also competitive. When we talk about commission-free trading, that means Webull does not charge for trades, but it does pass through Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) transaction fees and various exchange and regulatory fees, which are typically pennies or fractional pennies per contract. Webull's costs are as follows:

• No commissions for online trades in equities, ETFs, or OTCBB trades
• No commissions on exchange-traded options
• Margin is available for both leverage and short sales and margin rates are based on account size. By breakpoint: 9.74% under $25,000; 9.24% up to $100,000; 8.74% up to $250K; 8.24% up to $500K; 7.24% up to $1 million; 6.74% up to $3 million; and 5.79% thereafter.
• Money transfers: No charge for ACH deposits and withdrawals; wire transfers are $8 for deposits in the U.S. and $12.5 if international, and $25 for withdrawals in the U.S. and $45 if international
• Charges for paper statements: Confirmations are $2 for each confirmation, account statements are $5 a statement; and the prospectus fee is $2.5 per mailing.

How This Broker Makes Money From You and for You

With the race towards no-commission trading, understanding how brokerage companies generate revenue has become more opaque. Webull is unabashed in telling investors how it makes money while providing a sophisticated platform and zero-fee trading.

• Payment for order flow: Webull is clearly all-in on the continuing race towards commission-free trading—even options are free to trade on Webull now—and the company is very transparent in stating at the top of its pricing page that PFOF is the primary reason it can offer no-commission trading and no fees for access to its well-built platforms. Webull received an average of $0.01088 per share for its order flow and an average of $0.55 per options contract over the period we analyzed. The options figure is average, but the stock one is, as expected, among the top for all brokers reviewed.
• Stock lending program: Webull does offer a stock lending program, sharing the revenue generated with the investor lending the securities. The interest paid through the lending program depends entirely on the market demand for your securities. 
• Commission and fees for future trading: Traders who choose Webull to trade futures and futures options will find its pricing to be competitive. Depending on the futures contract, fees range from $0.25 to $1.50 per contract.

Account and Research Amenities

Webull offers a broad array of account information and research amenities, including fundamental data, news, and charting to help traders make informed investment decisions and identify stocks to trade. However, Webull does not provide the types of tools and information available at full-service brokers, such as daily market reports, individual analyst reports, or in-depth portfolio analysis tools.

Stock Screener

Webull has a stock screener available on the workstation and website but not the mobile app. The screener is limited to stocks and is easy enough to use, but it does not offer all the functionality that rival broker screeners offer. You can select from the United States, China, and Canada only; Webull provides data and charting for the U.S., Hong Kong, Canada, China, and India markets, but it appears U.S. account holders are limited to trading in U.S. markets. For the U.S., you can select the exchanges to include (NYSE, AMEX, NASDAQ), and can filter by more than 25 industry sectors; financial information such as EPS, P/E, and dividends; and by nine pre-set technical indicators, including overbought/oversold and moving average crosses. 

The technical indicators are easy to use, but somewhat limited. We were unable to screen for stocks above their 200-period moving average. Other filters available include a consensus analyst rating with five grades (strong buy, buy, hold, underperform, sell) and if the stock can be traded on margin. Stocks can't be screened for socially responsible investing (SRI). You can save a customized search and convert it to a watchlist. Choosing any of the stocks on the search results provides key statistics and financial information and an order window for that stock on the same page.

ETF and Mutual Fund Screener

Webull does not offer an ETF screener, and it does not offer mutual funds on its platform at all.

Options Screener

Webull does not have a screener to identify specific option trade opportunities, but it does have tools to help construct the most common one-, two-, and four-leg option strategies (vertical spreads, straddles/strangles, butterflies/condors, etc.) using a drop-down menu on the option chain table to select the strategy. You can then bring up the payout graph at maturity for the strategy, and use tools to further customize the strategy through different order types or by adjusting the width between strike prices in multi-leg strategies.

Futures Screener

Webull didn’t just add futures trading to its platform; it equipped the addition with a respectable number of trading tools and resources essential for futures trading. For instance, Webull not only added the ability to screen futures but to utilize indicators, with the prowess for investment analysis and a news feed to keep investors in the loop in the futures sector.

Fixed Income Screener

Webull does not offer fixed income on its platform.

Charting

Webull built its own charting functionality, and it is a solid offering. Mobile app charting is a bit different than on the web and workstation because of the smaller screen size, but it is very intuitive. Order tickets and alerts can be created directly from charts, and analyses like Bollinger Bands, simple and exponential moving averages (SMA/EMA), relative strength index (RSI), average trading range (ATR), multiple stochastics variations, and other commonly used analysis can be easily added to a chart. In addition, the company recently added more granularity to the charting capabilities, with charting intervals of 1, 5 and 30 seconds now available. It seems odd, though, that neither the 50, 100, or 200-period MA was included in the set of six defaults in the program. 

Charting on both platforms boasts a magnet feature that makes it easy to put trend lines at the exact high or low for a chosen date. Charts show open orders and cost basis information if applicable, and the mobile app charting also has a helpful set of buttons to show the trader if the stock is marginable or shortable, with the corresponding leverage multipliers. Webull's charting tool should work well for the majority of traders who utilize charts to supplement investment/trading decisions and help determine trade timing, as well as entry and exit points.

Those looking for customizable program trading, pattern recognition, and more sophisticated market analysis and charting techniques would likely use different software, but these traders should know that Webull does not currently provide an API to let third-party charting programs access its price data.

Tools and Calculators

Webull does not offer many financial calculators or related tools, in contrast to the robust suites found at full-service brokers. There is no in-depth portfolio analysis and none of the general portfolio management tools that are standard at the larger online brokers.

Trading Idea Generators

Webull does not offer an automated idea generator, although there are several stock breakdown lists to see things like most active, biggest movers, an earnings calendar, heat maps, and sector/industry breakdowns to identify opportunities.

News

The news provided free to all clients is the Benzinga Newswire, which works as a basic scrolling window with headline news, business stories, and information on economic releases. Stories can be pulled up by clicking on the news line of interest. The news screen will be specific to the stock selected for analysis within the stocks tab.

Third-Party Research

Webull does not offer third-party research, but it does offer a breakdown of multiple analyst ratings in very clean and easy-to-use graphics. 

Fractional Dividend Reinvestment Plan (DRIP)

Webull has a fractional reinvestment feature that automatically allows investors to reinvest dividends in qualified securities. Investors who authorize this feature can expect the dividend-producing security to acquire additional shares of the same security that yielded the dividend. Although investors won’t have to pay a fee to participate in the DRIP program, not all accounts and securities are eligible. Investors must have an Omnibus individual account and buy fractional shares supported by the DRIP feature. Investors will see a green diamond icon indicating that it is an eligible security for fractional investing where investors can enable dividend reinvestments.

Cash Management

In April 2023, Webull introduced its Cash Management offering. With no direct fees and no minimum balance requirement, eligible users can earn 5.0% APY interest on their uninvested cash, which is currently among the highest rates in the industry. Interest is accrued daily and paid out automatically each month. Users are able to easily track earned interest directly via the in-app dashboard. However, Webull account holders will need to manually opt in to take advantage of this feature.

SRI/ESG Research Amenities

Webull does not offer the ability to screen or search stocks or ETFs for socially responsible investing (SRI) or environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors.

Portfolio Analysis

Webull does not offer a broad suite of portfolio analysis tools, but it does provide what most self-directed investors need. This includes account performance metrics on the account page as well as the ability to download tax forms, account statements, and confirmations through the web or desktop platforms. The reports and information are all presented in real time and include realized/unrealized gains/losses, gains/losses net of deposits and withdrawals, income from dividends and interest, unrealized long-term and short-term capital gains, and the internal rate of return (IRR), as well as information on margin and buying power.

Education

Webull has revamped its educational content, which has become a robust feature within its platform. Investors who want to become more versed in the complex nature of investing will find a library of helpful articles. These articles educate investors on essential subjects regarding various trading strategies, financial instruments, and common terms that investors will find helpful to know. Webull platform features are also covered, with content showing users how to customize layouts and highlight the available trading tools. Although light, Webull offers instructional material through the CME Group and S&P Dow Jones Indices; this material is designed to provide the user with lessons they can learn at their own pace. 

While traders can review their order history, Webull does not offer a dedicated trading journal. It is also no surprise that a free platform at a zero-commission broker does not offer sophisticated backtesting of strategies. While Webull offers a paper trading feature to help familiarize traders with how to place orders and trade, the features are very limited. Unlike trading on the actual platform, for example, you can’t enter a limit order with conditional stop-loss and profit-taking orders.

Furthermore, options trading is not available through Webull's paper trading tool. Because of this, you may not be able to simulate what you would actually be doing in the market. That said, the paper trading feature fulfills its purpose of getting a new trader comfortable with the platform and the basics of order entry.

Customer Service

Webull’s narrow focus on younger, tech-savvy, self-directed customers primarily interested in the no-cost opportunity for trading results in a sparse customer support offering. Webull does not have financial advisors, but its customers can speak with a live broker if they are willing to wait on the phone—Webull’s average hold time is more than two hours.

Security and Reliability

• Two-factor authentication is available on all platforms. 
• The mobile app offers biometric log-in as an option by fingerprint or facial recognition.
• There is a separate six-digit numerical passcode for trading access, adding an additional layer of protection. 
• Webull did not have any serious platform outages.
• Webull has not had a data breach.
• Webull goes beyond the Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC) protection of $500.000 ($250,000 cash) with an additional insurance policy providing an aggregate amount of $150 million of protection, with maximum limits per individual of $37.5 million ($900 million in cash) for losses suffered unrelated to account losses related to the value of securities.

Transparency

Webull's pricing is very straightforward and fully disclosed. The company is completely open in the second paragraph of its pricing page, accompanied by a link to its SEC rule 606 disclosure, that payment for order flow (PFOF) is the primary generator of revenue allowing users on its platform to trade commission-free. Other fees are listed clearly on the website’s well-marked pricing page. Webull explains how it passes through SEC, exchange, and regulatory fees that are typically fractions of a penny per volume traded.

Webull's tiered margin rates and associated buying power are clearly displayed on the pricing page, but it was not as easy to find disclosures related to the risks of margin trading on the website. Webull does, however, provide a helpful account risk measure that visually informs a trader if they are at greater risk for a margin call.

Webull has taken an interesting approach with its honesty about payment for order flow being key to its free business model. Unlike some other brokers that have buried it in the fine print, the company is essentially telling clients upfront that they can have a free platform or no payment for order flow, but not both.

Available Account Types

Webull offers a cash and margin account for individuals, both taxable. The difference between these accounts is that the cash account is solely cash transactions, meaning you have to put money into the account and then purchase the assets. The margin account is available only once your account value is at or above $2,000, and allows for you to borrow against your portfolio to buy more assets. Beyond the two individual taxable accounts, Webull also supports:

• Traditional individual retirement accounts (IRA)
• Roth IRAs
• Rollover IRAs

The Bottom Line 

Webull is a great deal for the trader or active investor who doesn’t need hand-holding. There is no minimum account size, the margin rates are competitive, and there are zero commissions on stocks, ETFs, futures, and options. Moreover, you get access to well-designed and intuitive trading platforms for desktop and mobile devices, which provide helpful trading tools at no extra cost. While full-service brokerage firms like Charles Schwab also offer commission-free trading in stocks and ETFs now, their $0.65 commission per option contract and higher margin rates make Webull an appealing alternative for margin users and active option traders who may otherwise find Webull’s options trading tools somewhat lacking (but still functional).

With technology providing acceptable fills on limit and other order types, most traders will be satisfied with Webull. That said, NASDAQ Level 2 quotes will not be enough to entice serious day traders who want the best price execution or full control over how their orders are routed. Investors looking for a full-service broker with financial planning services and tools will have to look elsewhere, as will traders with strategies that rely heavily on execution speed and quality. Webull is for the self-directed trader who wants to keep costs down as much as possible.

Compare Webull to Similar Online Brokers

Should I Worry About Webull's Payment for Order Flow?

While we are not fans of payment for order flow, it is a common industry practice. Fidelity stands out as the biggest broker to refuse this easy revenue stream, but we also look at how a brokerage discloses their payment for order flow practices. Webull is very upfront about how it makes money and the role payment for order flow plays in its revenue and ability to operate as a zero-commission brokerage. Webull also isn't gamifying its platform to encourage overtrading, which steers it clear of some controversy that another PFOF-dependent broker has run into. As to whether the PFOF at a particular broker should worry you, it depends on your view on the matter and whether the platform provided is worth the subtle price.

Which Is Better: Webull or Robinhood?

Webull and Robinhood are both targeting newer investors looking for low costs and solid mobile trading in key assets. There are, however, some differences between the approaches of these two brokers. Robinhood states that any trading slippage is the market and there is no markup. Moreover, Robinhood offers a crypto wallet feature, while Webull lacks this capability. Beyond this discrepancy in crypto costs and capabilities, Webull's trading and analytical tools are more robust than those found on Robinhood. If you are going to trade rather than simply buy and hold with either of these apps, then Webull provides you with a better platform to do that intelligently with the support of feature-rich charting and other trading-focused enhancements. In particular, Webull's paper trading feature allows you to test out new strategies and assets without putting your money at risk.

How We Picked the Best Online Brokers and Trading Platforms

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We then developed a proprietary model that scored each company to rate its performance across 11 major categories and 89 criteria to find the best online brokers and trading platforms. The score for each company’s overall star rating is a weighted average of the criteria in the following categories:

Additionally, during our 2024 research, many of the companies we reviewed gave us live demonstrations of their platforms and services via video conferencing methods and also granted our team of expert writers and editors access to live accounts so they could perform hands-on testing.

Through this all-encompassing data collection and review process, Investopedia has provided you with an unbiased and thorough review of the top online brokers and trading platforms.

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