WeBull Rating:  

Review of WeBull investing app: brokerage fees and commissions, pros and cons, minimum requirements and promotion offer for opening a new online account or IRA with the discount stock broker.

Overview of Webull

Webull is one of the big $0 commission brokers in the United States. Before you open an account at Robinhood or another low-cost firm, be sure to read this article.

Range of Investments

Webull clients get to trade equities and exchange-traded funds. That’s it—at least for now. Even more disappointingly, the brokerage house does not offer any OTC securities; and only penny stocks priced above $1 and trading on major exchanges are available. If a stock goes below $1 in price (or slips below $10 million in market cap), it’s placed on a restricted list.

Retirement and Education Accounts

Webull does not currently offer IRA’s, 529 plans, Coverdell accounts, or UGMA/UTMA accounts.

Webull Margin Accounts

But Webull does offer margin accounts. Currently, margin rates are very low: between 3.99% and 6.99%, depending on the amount borrowed. A really nice feature on its desktop platform (discussed up ahead) is margin rates posted for an entered ticker symbol. For most big stocks, initial is set at 50%, and maintenance is 25%. For short positions, maintenance is a higher 30%. In all cases, every stock will shows its requirements on the platform.

Webull Account Fees

As already mentioned, Webull charges nothing for stock and ETF trades. There’s no point in mentioning commissions on options and mutual funds, because they’re not available.

There are no account fees at Webull. There’s no need to worry about annual, maintenance, inactivity, or low-balance charges. They simply don’t exist. An account can be opened with zero deposit. Occasionally, Webull offers one free share of stock for opening an account.

One unpleasant fee Webull has is a $75 ACAT transfer out fee. As previously alluded to, Webull also charges for incoming wires ($8 domestic and $12.50 international). Outgoing is even more expensive.

Promotion

Get one FREE stock between $8 and $1000 when you deposit $100+ at WeBull.

Open WeBull Account

Customer Support

In order to keep its commission schedule as low as possible, Webull has to cut costs somewhere; and it sure has succeeded in the customer service department. The brokerage firm does not post a phone number on its website, and we have no idea what it is. The company does offer an e-mail address: customerservice@webull-us.com.

There are no branch locations, no online chat, and no self-help features on the website. There are answers to frequently-asked questions.

Trading Software

Webull is the only $0 commission broker with a free desktop platform. The software delivers some decent tools, although they’re not quite on the same level as some of the other software programs in the brokerage industry.

First up is charting. There are 8 graph styles (including OHLC bars, candles, and Heikin Ashi). Multiple comparisons can be made to stocks, ETF’s, and indexes. There are only 9 technical indicators plus volume. We counted 10 drawing tools, and this number includes 3 Fibonacci tools (retracements, extensions, and time zones).





In the default layout, a graph can be expanded almost the width of the monitor. There’s a column on the right-hand side that cannot be removed. But it’s possible to detach the graph into a separate window, and here it extends the width of the monitor.

In the right-hand column, there’s a lot of important information. An entered ticker symbol shows margin requirements for long and short positions with yellow and blue icons. Another icon verifies that real-time quotes are on.

The best way to place a trade is by right-clicking on a chart. This produces a drop-down menu with several selections, one of which is a trade ticket. Buy and sell buttons are displayed at the top, with order type underneath. The software delivers only market, limit, stop, and stop limit choices. Day and GTC are the only 2 duration options. What we did like was the incorporation of take-profit and stop-loss options.

The drop-down menu on a chart also presents the ability to add a stock to a watchlist or set up an alert. The watchlist delivers real-time data on any stock, ETF, closed-end fund, or index that is there.

A trade tab on the left-hand side creates a multi-order ticket system where multiple graphs sit near multiple order forms.





One of the best features on Webull’s desktop system is a simulator. At the bottom of the left-hand column, there is an icon with $ sign. Clicking on this generates a practice trading environment with many of the same tools as the live system. However, stop-loss and take-profit orders are missing, and a graph cannot be expanded full screen.

Important features missing on Webull’s platform are Level II quotes and direct-access routing. The broker does not offer a website login or browser platform.

Mobile Platform

Although the lack of website trading is disappointing, Webull does not disappoint in the mobile category. The first highlight is simulated trading once again, a rare feature at any brokerage firm. This is a great opportunity to practice.

Charting on the app delivers some exciting features not frequently found on mobile platforms. There are 8 graph styles available ( same as the desktop system). We also found technical indicators, such as exponential moving average and relative strength index. We were able to access twenty years of price data for some stocks. The smallest interval on a chart is one minute. A feature we really liked was the ability to display price action during extended hours. Comparisons are also possible.





A watchlist can be created on the app; and in fact, a default one is included. Securities can easily be added or deleted. It’s possible to create more than one watchlist. Another useful tool is alerts. There are multiple types that can be established. We found volume, % change, and price.

Placing trades on the app is fairly straightforward. The order ticket has the same order types as its desktop cousin. Buying power, including a conversion to number of shares, is displayed on the ticket. One really nice feature is the ability to specify extended-hours trading. As with the desktop system, there is no Level II data or direct access to specific market makers. Strangely, Level II quotes are available on the Hong Kong exchange.





Although Webull doesn’t offer trading in option contracts, its mobile app does display chains for calls and puts. Maybe this is a sign of future changes.

Promotions are oftentimes displayed on the app in the form of pop-up windows. We found offerings of free shares of stocks and a MacBook Air.

While we were impressed with many features on Webull’s app, we didn’t find mobile check deposit, bill pay, or streaming video news; and these absences will subtract a star.

Extended Hours Trading

Webull customers can start trading stocks and funds before the market opens. The broker’s early-bird session starts at 4 o’clock in the morning, EST, and runs until the opening bell. When the market closes, Webull delivers another extended-hours period. This one closes at 8 pm. There are no surcharges for trading during these times. One disappointment in this category is the lack of overnight trading in select ETF’s.

Day Trading

Webull’s commission schedule makes it a tempting alternative for day and swing traders. Despite this one advantage, the small number of technical studies (and the lack of advanced order types, direct-access routing, currencies, futures, options contracts, and Level II quotes) means that day traders have few resources here. On the plus side, the desktop platform’s trade ticket can be used alongside a chart for quick order entry.

Financial Education and Security Research

Webull’s website has a help area with many answers to questions that new customers will have. Other than that, the website is pretty much worthless.

The mobile app and desktop program, though, offer much more. On the desktop, the right-hand column mentioned earlier offers analyst ratings (Citigroup has 28), analyst price targets ($67.61 for Citi), short interest, institutional holdings, ETF weighting, press releases, information from financial statements (in both numerical and graphical format), news articles, trading data, and the order ticket.

A stock screener (but not fund screener) makes an appearance on the platform as well. It is able to look for equities based on a host of criteria, including volume, % price change, market cap, dividend yield, technical events, and more.





A markets tab on the desktop system shows market data from the U.S., Hong Kong, and global markets. Actual trading of these securities is not possible. Same situation exists for cryptocurrencies.

Surprisingly, the mobile platform has a lot of research and learning tools. There is a community forum where customers can discuss trading at the firm. A tab for the U.K. shows indexes on the London market, a heat map of major movements in different industries, and the day’s biggest ETF and stock price changes.

An economic calendar shows which companies are scheduled to release earning in the coming week. Upcoming dividends, IPO’s, and economic data releases are shown as well.

A stock profile delivers a lot of helpful data, such as the day’s price range, news articles, whether a stock is marginable or shortable, support and resistance lines, EPS estimates, and more.

Comparison

Although Robinhood is usually considered Webull’s biggest rival, Firstrade also charges $0 for stock and ETF trades. Moreover, Firstrade has a large selection of mutual funds, and these too carry $0 trade fees. Unlike Webull, Firstrade offers option contracts, and they come with no per-contract charges. Firstrade customers get to trade OTC stocks as well, and these too have zero commissions.

While Firstrade may seem like a much better pick, the broker has no desktop platform. This is its major weakness compared to Webull. But Firstrade does have a website trading with a very good trade bar.

Robinhood has a simple browser platform with full-screen charting. It has about the same number of technical indicators as Webull’s platform. However, Robinhood’s charts have no drawing tools and fewer graph styles. Robinhood doesn’t restrict stocks priced below $1, and the offering of options and cryptocurrencies without commissions is very appealing.

Last, but not least, is M1 Finance. Stocks and ETF’s can be traded commission-free; although the broker only sends market orders at certain times of the day. This we consider a major drawback compared to Webull. But M1 also offers fractional shares, which Webull traders don’t get. M1 also offers a debit card, which as we saw, Webull doesn’t have.

As for commission-charging brokerage firms, Ally Invest and Schwab offer much better software, customer service, learning materials, and a wider range of tradable securities. The equity commission is also $0. For infrequent traders, we think one of these would be a better value.

Recommendation

For understandable reasons, we are not able to suggest Webull for fixed-income, derivative, or mutual fund investing. Beginners also will not be well served here. Retirement savers and long-term investors should also look elsewhere.

For stock and ETF trading, either on a desktop platform or mobile app, we do recommend Webull, especially for traders on a shoestring budget. Traders who do go with Webull should be aware that problems with customer service could exist at some point down the road.

We once again propose Webull for traders who frequently use a mobile device. The brokerage firm has a very good one that has ample research materials.

WeBull Review Judgment

For zero commissions, traders at Webull get a lot. Although its desktop software doesn’t quite measure up to what is available elsewhere for $5 trades, we do judge the broker a hard to beat value for stock and ETF traders.

WeBull Promotion For A New Account

Get one FREE stock between $8 and $1000 when you deposit $100+ at WeBull.

Open WeBull Account