WeBull Review 2024

Stock Trade Fee:N/A

Account Minimum:$0

Promotion:N/A

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Trading involves substantial risk of loss

Eric Rosenberg

Last updated: Jul 28, 2020

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Webull is a free stock and ETF brokerage ideal for active traders. Intermediate to advanced traders will find a combination of good platforms, research, and tools to support their active trading strategy. It doesn’t support retirement accounts or assets like bonds, options, and mutual funds, so it only works for your active stock and ETF trading needs.

Pros:	Cons:
No-fee trading for stocks and ETFs High-quality platforms for Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, and the web Extensive research tools and paper trading help you refine your strategy	No retirement, business, or joint accounts Only stocks and ETFs, no options, mutual funds, or other investments No live chat or phone number for customer support

WeBull Overall Rating

2.4

Here's how we rate brokers

Cost & Fees

5.0

Banking

0.0

Account Types

1.5

Customer Support

1.5

Tradable Securities

1.5

Promotions

1.5

Account Opening

4.5

Regulations, Reputation & Security

5.0

Trading Platforms

4.0

Research & Education

3.0

Order Types

4.0

Trading Specs
General Information
Trading Features

Official Site:https://www.webull.com/Demo Account:Open Demo AccountAccount Minimum:N/AStock Trade Fee:N/APromotion:N/AETF Trade Fee:$0Mutual Fund Trade Fee:N/AOptions Base Fee:N/AOptions Per Contract Fee:N/ABonds Trade Fee:N/AFutures Trade Fee:N/AForex Trade Fee:N/A
Phone Trades:N/ABroker Assisted Trades Fee:N/AAnnual Account Fee:$0Account Transfer Fee:$75Account Closing Fee:$0Account Inactivity Fee:$0IRA Annual Fee:N/AIRA Closure Fee:N/ATradable Securities:Stocks, ETFsCommissions Free ETFs:N/ACommission Free Mutual Funds:N/A
Number of Mutual Funds (Total):N/AComplex Options Max Legs:N/AAccount Types:Taxable, Demo AccountOS compatibility :Windows, MacWeb Platform:YesMobile Trading:iOS App, Android AppOrder Types:Market, Limit, Stop, Trailing Stop, Contingent, Multi Contingent, OCO, OTO, OTOCO

Webull Video Review

Introduction

Webull is a commission-free, online brokerage built for active traders. You can buy and sell stocks and ETFs with no trading fees. It doesn’t support all investment types, but it

Webull is a free online brokerage that is suitable for all levels of traders. Whether you are new and trying to get your feet wet with a small stock purchase or a seasoned trader with years of experience under your belt, Webull should meet your needs with its active trading platforms for desktop, mobile, and the web.

It’s important to note that Webull only supports stocks and ETFs on major markets. You can’t trade options, mutual funds, or access pink sheet/OTC stocks. If stocks and ETFs are your focus, Webull can be a great choice.

While it’s relatively new to the marketplace, it offers trading tools that exceed other no-cost brokers and even rival what you get with some brokerage firms with high commissions. But you won’t pay a commission to buy or sell stocks and ETFs at Webull.

Cost & Fees5.0

Webull doesn’t charge commissions for regular buy and sell orders. There are fees for margin borrowing, short selling, as well as required SEC and FINRA fees.

Did we mention Webull is free? For active traders, you can buy and sell stocks and ETFs with no commissions and no fees aside from what is required by the SEC or FINRA, typically no more than a few cents per order.

Margin rates are currently 6.99% (as of 9/21/2019) for loans up to $25,000. Rates go down as the amount you borrow increases. You have to pay a margin rate when short selling as well.

You may run into fees for some less common activity like wire transfers, account transfers, and opting in for paper statements and prospectus. Otherwise, most regular trading is free.

Account Types1.5

Webull supports individual and margin accounts. No joint or retirement accounts are currently supported.

Webull is clearly focused on one audience: active stock and ETF traders. They only offer individual brokerage accounts, which are fully taxable, and margin accounts. There are no retirement accounts, joint accounts, custodial accounts, trust accounts, or business accounts supported.

The website language indicates that retirement accounts may come someday, but there is no timeline and no promise that they are on the way. This means Webull can’t act as your only brokerage. But for the active stock and ETF portion of your investment strategy, Webull should meet the needs of most traders.

Tradable Securities1.5

The biggest downside of Webull is a lack of support for assets beyond stocks and ETFs. Options, mutual funds, and other investment needs outside of stocks and ETFs on major US exchanges are not supported.

Webull is missing a few things some active traders might want. Most notably, that’s the ability to trade options. You can buy major market stocks and ETFs to your heart’s content. But there are no options, mutual funds, bonds, foreign currencies, futures, or mutual funds listed at Webull. Pink sheets and over the counter (OTC) stocks are also not covered.

If you want to trade anything related to foreign exchange, precious metals, or commodities, you may be able to find some ETFs that follow the asset you’re looking for. But otherwise, Webull falls short on the list of available assets.

Again, this is a case of Webull focusing on doing one thing really well. Stocks and ETFs are very well supported with more than 5,000 to choose from, including pre-market and after-hours trading. But that’s it.

Account Opening4.5

Opening an account at Webull is quick and easy. It took me less than ten minutes to enter my information and my opening deposit was available two days later.

I was so excited about Webull’s no-fee platform that I wanted to give it a try myself. I opened an account in July and found the onboarding experience very smooth and intuitive.

You start by creating an account with your email address or mobile phone number. If you sign up with a phone, make sure it’s a phone that can send text messages. To open an account, you must be a US resident with US citizenship, permanent resident status, or a valid US Visa. You need to enter a Social Security number for tax purposes.

You should have your account approved to open within one business day. Funding your account via electronic funds transfer (ACH) is best, as it’s free and relatively fast. I sent an ACH from my bank account and it took two days to show up in my account.

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Demo Account

Trading Platforms4.0

Webull is a standout when it comes to platforms. Its Windows, Mac, mobile, and web apps are better than any other no-fee brokerage and better than some brokers that charge a commission.

Webull offers platforms for Windows, Mac, Android, iOS, and Chrome web browsers. Pretty much wherever you want to trade, unless you have an old school Blackberry (and who has one of those anymore?), you’re covered.

I tested both the web and Mac versions for this review. You can give the web version a try without even opening a demo account. Just click through to app.webull.com and you can see the basics. The desktop version and web version are nearly identical. Paper trading, or stock market game style trading with fake money, is available for free with a registered account.

The default web view includes a watchlist, key market statistics, and recent news. You can customize your view to have what you care about most front and center.

Because Webull is custom-tailored for active traders, charts are a major feature. You can view interactive charts in a single or grid view featuring up to 16 charts at once.

Grid view features your favorite four, nine, or 16 stocks, indices, or ETFs. This screenshot comes from the Mac desktop app.

Charts are customizable with many options for timelines, overlays, and comparisons.

When you dig into a chart, you can interact and customize to your liking. It doesn’t have as many features as some of the top platforms for active traders, but among free brokerages, it is the best I’ve come across. Even compared to many of the paid discount brokerage firms, Webull is pretty darn good.

Charting options include line, area, candle, hollow candle, base line, heikin ashi, bar, and colored bar. There are seven indicators available to overlay and many other data points you can add below a chart to get more data in one view. There are 10 drawing tools to add a little more to your chart yourself.

Mobile image to embed: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1U13NHwhCAvnsAZ8PikH-hiKZRj-I0yy6/view?usp=sharing

Trading is straightforward and easy with Webull mobile apps or on your computer.

Order Types4.0

Webull offers both traditional orders like market and limit as well as more advanced conditional orders.

Options may not be in the mix, for but stock and ETF trading, Webull has an impressive menu of trade types. Basic orders supported include limit, market, stop order (also called a stop-loss), and stop-limit.

Click the toggle for advanced orders and conditional orders become available. Those include stop-loss/take-profit bracket orders, OCO, OTOCO, and OTO.

If you don’t know what those mean, you probably shouldn’t be starting there when logging in with any brokerage. But with no trading fees, Webull is a good place to test these types of orders and learn how they work once you master more basic trading styles.

Banking0.0

Webull doesn’t offer bank accounts.

Webull is a brokerage only. No checking or savings accounts here.

Customer Support1.5

Webull is easy to contact by email but you can’t get live help if you want it.

The bottom of most pages on the website give a customer service email. Reports say that you typically get a response within an hour. But if you have an urgent need, that hour can feel like a long time.

There is no live chat or phone number listed. They also don’t post specific support hours.

Overall, the service maintains fairly high reviews across the web.

Promotions1.5

New users can get a free stock worth up to $250 after opening account and a second stock worth up to $1400 after depositing any amount.

When signing up for a new account, new users can get a free share of stock after opening account worth between $2.5 – $250. Once you deposit any amount in your account you will receive a second stock worth anywhere from $12 to $1,400.

For my free share, I got Teva Pharmaceuticals. Ironically I had just sold that stock in my main stock account. Based on how it has performed over the last couple of months, that was the right call.

They said you get a free share of stock. They can’t guarantee it will be a winner!

Regulations, Reputation & Security5.0

Webull is regulated by the SEC and is a member of the SIPC and FINRA.

Webull was established in 2017 and is regulated by the Securities and Exchange Commission. Accounts are insured by the SIPC and an additional $150 million insurance policy through Apex Clearing Corporation.

It is a member of FINRA and does not show any complaints or disclosures on its Broker Check page. Webull is based in New York and owned by Fumi Technology. Hunan, China-based Fumi Technology offers versions of Webull in over 20 countries and regions around the world.

Research & Education3.0

Webull offers extensive research access going beyond the stocks and ETFs you can trade on its platform.

Webull scores well for research and education. Again, it ranks among the very top of no-fee brokerages and is better than many of its fee-bearing competitors.

Research tools cover well over 100,000 assets. That includes stocks from more than 90 different countries and regions, ETFs, cryptocurrencies, futures, options, commodities, indices, and foreign exchange. Forex research covers 1,000 currency pairs, a favorite asset for many FX Empire readers.

Screeners allow you to track stocks with a variety of technical indicators and parameters. Tapping into the economic calendar gives you a look at future IPOs, earnings announcements, and news. Most of what you could ever want is offered.

One of the best places to look to learn more about Webull is its Reddit community. It has a decent help section but I found overall education resources to be a little light. It’s best showing up with some market knowledge to get started.

Trading experience

Webull is best for intermediate to advanced traders, though beginners can learn the ropes with no commissions and free paper trading.

Like all investing apps, investing with Webull includes some risks. If you are brand new to the markets, it’s best to start with the free paper trading section of the app. This is like a demo account with play money that you can use to experiment without losing any real money.

Beginners may find themselves a little frustrated with many features they don’t understand in the desktop and web platforms. Intermediate to advanced traders should find themselves at home. It’s easy for experienced traders to navigate and get a feel for the tools without spending much time in the help sections.

FAQ

Is Webull regulated?

Yes – SEC, SIPC, and FINRA

Where is Webull based?

New York, US.

When was Webull founded?

2017

How does Webull make money?

Margin loan interest, short sale interest, some rare fees

How do I deposit in Webull account?

ACH or bank wire

How do I withdraw money from Webull?

ACH or bank wire

How do I open an account with Webull?

Online or in the Webull mobile app

Does Webull offer margin accounts?

Yes

Are funds at Webull secured or insured?

Yes

Overall2.4

Webull is an excellent brokerage with a clear focus. If you are an active trader wanting to trade stocks and ETFs, Webull is a great choice. But it is limited to those needs.

Webull doesn’t do everything, but everything it does is done very well. Active traders get a top-notch active trading experience with good platforms for most popular devices. It is free to buy and sell stocks and ETFs, a price you can’t beat!

It is missing retirement accounts, options, and some other assets desired by investors and active traders. For the active stock and ETF portion of your investment plan, Webull is a great choice.

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