Webull Review

Webull Ratings at a Glance

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Commission-free trading across asset types: Webull clients can trade any available stock or exchange-traded fund (ETF) commission-free. But options are also commission-free on Webull, a feature you won’t find at traditional brokers like Charles Schwab, Fidelity Investments or E*TRADE.

Extended hours trading: Normal market hours are between 9:30 a.m. and 4 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST). However, with Webull, clients can trade as early as 4 a.m. EST and as late as 8 p.m. with extended hours trading. (Note: Limit orders must be used outside regular trading hours.)

Wide range of account types: Webull initially only offered cash and margin accounts but has recently expanded its offerings to include retirement vehicles like Roth, rollover and traditional individual retirement accounts (IRAs), plus futures and cryptocurrency trading accounts.

Chart and analysis tools: Webull’s charting tools are far more advanced than Robinhood’s. You can view candlestick charts across various timelines and add your own diagrams and trendlines. A vast array of technical trading tools, like moving averages, Bollinger bands, volume-weighted average price (VWAP), moving average convergence/divergence (MACD) indicator and relative strength index (RSI), also are available.

Webull is one of many brokers that joined the commission-free stock trading coalition, and now equity and ETF trading is free of commission at most brokerages and apps. One benefit Webull has that competitors like Fidelity and Schwab do not is commission-free options trading. While many brokers charge a fee of about 50 cents to 75 cents per contract, Webull does not. There’s also no fee for automated clearing house (ACH) deposits or withdrawals, but wire transfers will carry fees.

This doesn’t mean Webull is entirely free. You’ll still be charged regulatory and exchange fees, which equate to a few fractions of a cent per trade. Futures traders will be charged between 25 cents and $1.50 per contract, depending on the type of underlying asset. There’s also a $75 fee for transferring assets to a different broker, and short sellers also must pay a borrowing fee to the broker.

Webull offers margin trading, and borrowing money always comes with interest. For accounts with less than $25,000, the margin rate is 9.74%, which is less than the standard 12% offered by its main competitor Robinhood, although that number drops to 8% if subscribed to the premium service Robinhood Gold. Here’s a full Webull margin fee schedule to compare to other brokers:

Stocks: Equities traded on major exchanges like the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq Stock Market are available on Webull. Clients can invest in large- and small-cap stocks as well as over-the counter (OTC) stocks and American Depository Receipts (ADRs). Fractional stock shares can also be purchased.

ETFs: Webull claims to have over 3,300 investable exchange-traded funds covering various sectors, market caps and asset classes. Clients can access stock and bond ETFs from both domestic and international sources as well as advanced trading vehicles like leveraged and reverse exchange-traded notes (ETNs).

Options: Depending on your experience level, you’ll have access to options trading of differing complexity. For example, Level 1 options traders can only execute covered calls, buy-writes and cash-secured puts. Level 2 traders can trade long calls and puts and some advanced multileg options trading strategies. Level 3 offers a full suite of options techniques, such as condors, butterflies and spreads.

Futures: One of the first mobile apps to offer futures trading, Webull is now live with contracts for stock indices, agriculture, metals, currencies, energy, interest rates and cryptocurrencies. Commissions apply to future contracts.

Cryptocurrencies: Webull also offers cryptocurrency trading, but you must download the separate Webull Pay app to access crypto markets. Only eight tokens are tradable, with some noticeable absences like Solana, Tether and Polygon.

Webull’s customer service is adequate, a step above what you’ll find at Robinhood but well below the level you might experience at a legacy broker. Your request starts at the Help Center, which offers FAQs and articles about common user problems like linking to your bank or finding tax documents.

If the Help Center doesn’t solve your issue, there are three ways to contact the company: live chat, email and phone. The live chat feature is available on the mobile app, but you must visit the website to find the customer service email and phone number — both listed below. You can also ask questions on the company’s social media channels, but response times vary.

Webull’s mobile app, available at Apple App and Google Play stores, can feel like sensory overload if you're an inexperienced investor. The broker crams a lot of bells and whistles into its app, which is helpful for investors who know what they’re looking for but overwhelming for those who want a simplified experience.

However, once you get past the initial learning curve, building a watchlist and purchasing stocks is a fairly streamlined process. Just tap on the magnifying glass search function at the top right of the screen and enter the stock symbol you’re looking for. Once you’re on the stock page, you can easily add it to your watchlist by tapping the heart symbol next to the search symbol.

Once you’ve constructed a watchlist, purchasing shares and building a portfolio are easy. You can buy and sell stocks using 14 order types, including traditional market and limit orders, plus more advanced multichain orders like trailing stops, take profit/stop limits and one-triggers-the-other (OTO) group orders.

Webull was meant for use on a mobile device, so the app is often more intuitive and functional than the desktop trading platform. Tablet versions are also available, but the smoothest user experience comes from the smartphone app.

The Webull experience requires exploring the app, understanding all its features and locating the news or trading analysis you want to read. But once you’ve mastered it, a very flexible and personalized user experience awaits. Users can adjust basic settings like language, font and brightness as well as page layouts for quotes, charts, watchlists and news feeds. 

Traders can customize their charts using more than 50 technical indicators, ranging from basics like moving averages to more advanced trend and market strength indicators. If you’re inexperienced with technical analysis, Webull has automatic signals that appear as green or red circles on the charts. These circles represent a trading signal, like the Inside Bar on this Nvidia Corp. (NASDAQ: NVDA) chart, which indicates a short-term continuation of a bullish trend.

The Discover page on the app is also fully customizable, so your preferred features can be brought to the top while unused ones are pushed down or deleted. Some features include Explore ETFs, Options Center, Upcoming IPOs, What’s Trending, Webull Learn and Sage Tracker.

Smart Advisor: Webull’s robo-adviser services are called Smart Advisor. They automatically manage your portfolio based on your inputs and goals. The artificial intelligence (AI) system, plus a team of management professionals, curates a personalized portfolio for you. The Smart Advisor management fee is 0.2% of assets annually.

News and company reports: Webull offers breaking market movement news and earnings releases from NASDAQ, Dow Jones, Barron’s, Reuters and Benzinga. Users can add earnings releases to their calendars and track incoming data from press releases and financial documents like 10-Ks and 10-Qs.

Rewards and promotions: Who doesn’t like free stocks? Webull offers new signups a chance to earn free equities depending on how much they put into their initial deposit. The current reward is 20 free fractional shares for a $500 opening deposit or 70 fractional shares for a $25,000 deposit. Other bonuses and promotions include a 4.5% match on IRA transfers and 10 free stocks for getting a friend to sign up and deposit $100.

IPOs: Early access to hot initial public offerings (IPOs) has long eluded retail investors, but Webull seeks to change that by offering clients the option to invest in new issues before they hit public markets. The amount of shares you can buy is limited, and Webull doesn’t always have access to the cream-of-the-crop IPOs. 

Cash management: Webull now offers clients interest on uninvested cash through this bank sweep program, which can pay up to 5% annual percentage yield (APY). The Free Credit Balance is the only amount eligible for the cash management program, so read the terms and conditions before enrolling.

Paper trading: Webull’s platform is for a more seasoned investor, but one feature it has that Robinhood lacks is the paper trading account. Instead of putting cash at risk right away, you can try the platform using fake money to test theories, explore the system and learn the minutiae of the app.

Dividend reinvestment program (DRIP): Clients invested in dividend-paying stocks can opt into automatic dividend reinvestment, which purchases fractional shares with any dividends deposited into their accounts.

Stock lending income program: If you participate in this program, you can lend high-demand stocks out for interest. For example, if you have 100 shares of Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT), you can lend them to the broker and receive daily interest. Interest rates vary depending on demand, the number of shares lent and prevailing interest rates.

Webull is a registered broker-dealer with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and customer assets are protected by $500,000 of Securities Investor Protection Corp. (SIPC) insurance. Security protocol is a priority, and Webull offers a bounty of options to keep accounts safe. The company uses 128-bit encryption for online transactions and transfers from the bank to Webull and vice versa, which Plaid authenticates. Webull uses Apex for its clearinghouse, which offers another layer of insurance. Apex covers transactions up to $37.5 million.

Clients also have tools for data security. Two-factor authentication is available and recommended for anyone investing or moving money on a mobile app. Users can set up an additional trading password that must be entered before any order is executed or a pattern lock requiring sequence memorization.

Webull has been around for seven years and made a name for itself as one of the best online brokers and a strong competitor to firms like Robinhood that target retail investors. The charting tools allow for different levels of analysis, and traders new to technical analysis can quickly learn the ropes. 

Webull charges no commission on stocks, ETFs and options and has recently offered new user benefits like cash and trade management, stock lending and retirement accounts. If you’re looking for an app to assist with day trading, Webull has more tools than the competition with most of the same perks.

Webull vs. Competitors

Webull’s main competitor is the Robinhood online broker, a simplified platform geared toward new retail investors. Webull also targets the retail crowd but with a more advanced trading system and charting tools for those with technical prowess. Robinhood is excellent for beginner traders; experienced traders will find it too basic for sophisticated trading.

Compared to legacy brokers like Schwab and Fidelity, Webull lacks robust customer service features and has fewer options for managed portfolios and investment advice. But big brokers often channel resources toward high-net-worth clients, while Webull is firmly aimed at the retail camp. If you’re looking for an adviser to develop a detailed plan, you’ll probably prefer a more traditional broker. But if you want do-it-yourself investing, Webull is a better and cheaper choice than the alternatives.

Frequently Asked Questions

Methodology

For brokerage reviews, Benzinga created a weighted scale based on the following criteria: usability, services offered, customer service, education, research, mobile app, account minimums and fees. We aim to provide the most up-to-date, impactful and trustworthy reviews. For an in-depth look at our process, read the full methodology process.