Overview of Firstrade and WeBull
If trading with the lowest possible commissions is of paramount importance to you, then Webull and Firstrade should be at the top of your list.
Besides their very low fees, the two brokers also provide a host of other features that make them great values. This article will try to determine
if one is better than the other.
Broker Cost
| Broker Fees |
Stock/ETF
Commission |
Mutual Fund
Commission |
Options
Commission |
Maintenance
Fee |
Annual IRA
Fee |
|
Firstrade
|
$0
|
$0
|
$0 + $0 per contract
|
$0
|
$0
|
|
WeBull
|
$0
|
na
|
na
|
$0
|
$0
|
Services
| Broker Review |
Cost |
Investment Products |
Trading Tools |
Customer Service |
Research |
Overall Rating |
|
Firstrade
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
WeBull
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Promotions
WeBull:
Get 2 FREE stocks between $3 and $1,000 when you open account at WeBull.
Firstrade: $0 commissions + up to $200 in transfer fee rebates.
Range of Offerings
Webull currently offers exchange-traded funds and stocks. It does not provide trading in any other type of investment. Moreover, stocks that go below $1 in price or $10 million in market capitalization are placed on a restricted list. The broker does not offer retirement accounts, financial advice, or portfolio management.
Firstrade clients have access to much more. The company offers not just stocks and ETF’s, but also bonds, options, and mutual funds. Firstrade does not place penny stocks on a restricted list (although there is a half-penny surcharge per share for them). IRA’s are available at Firstrade, although not investment advice.
Desktop Trading
Webull is a new brokerage firm. As of right now, it does not provide any method to trade on a laptop or desktop. There is currently no account login. Its website is used to advertise its trading services. It hosts a question and answer section that addresses many issues unique to the broker’s investing style.
Firstrade is light years ahead of its rival here. Not only is account management possible on the Firstrade website, but trading in securities is possible. There is a very good trade bar at the bottom of the window that can submit orders for stocks, ETF’s, and options. It can be minimized or expanded to show more information.
In expanded mode, the trade bar offers multiple order types and expiration dates. Option chains can be extended from the expanded mode, and a small chart with multiple timeframes can also be shown. Next to the chart are news articles and a Morningstar rating.
The website itself can be used to submit orders. We found the trade tickets for bonds and mutual funds easy to use.
There are many other tools on the website. Alerts can be activated based on a variety of criteria, such as volume, last trade, and % change since previous close. A streaming watchlist displays quotes of stocks in real-time (indexes are delayed 20 minutes).
Charting on the Firstrade site is borrowed from Morningstar. A graph cannot be displayed full screen, although there are several drawing tools available. We found ellipses and Fibonacci retracement levels. There are also company events and technical indicators. We were able to add comparisons and expand a graph out to 1972, a very impressive feat.
Besides all the trading features of Firstrade’s site, we were impressed with the account management section as well. We found applications and forms, tax information, a document upload feature, and the ability to electronically transfer an account to Firstrade.
Mobile Apps
We saw that Webull doesn’t provide any trading capability on its website. Instead, the broker provides a mobile app, and it has some powerful tools. We particularly liked its charting program, which provides ten technical indicators and several graph styles. Horizontal display is enabled, and we liked the ability to add a stock or index for comparison. Extended hours and company events can also be added.
The Webull trade ticket offers several order types and extended-hours trading. One really useful feature is simulated trading. Firstrade does not offer a simulated trading feature on its app, although it does have a good charting program with about 20 technical studies. On the downside, company events cannot be shown, and a graph cannot be rotated horizontally.
Firstrade’s order ticket is similar to Webull’s with the same features. One major difference of course is the ability to trade option contracts.
Customer Service
Webull customers can use an e-mail address to contact the broker. There is no phone number posted on its website or mobile app. There is an internal e-mail system on the mobile platform. The company has one brick-and-mortar office in New York.
Firstrade does much better here by offering phone service during the week. There is also an online chat function on the website that we have had good luck with. Firstrade has launched a chatbot named Sammi. It is able to answer basic queries. Firstrade hosts a Saturday customer service session at its HQ in Flushing, New York.
Promotions
WeBull:
Get 2 FREE stocks between $3 and $1,000 when you open account at WeBull.
Firstrade: $0 commissions + up to $200 in transfer fee rebates.
Investment Education and Research
Both brokers in our survey have good investment research tools. Although Webull fails to offer much of anything on its website, its mobile platform provides many useful features. For example, we found information on international indexes and stocks. An equity’s profile page delivers analyst ratings (more than 40 for some stocks), financial reports, and the latest news. Useful features include figures from a stock’s financial statements in bar chart format.
While Firstrade doesn’t offer much on its mobile app, we did find a lot of helpful resources on its website. The broker actually pulls information from Morningstar. Data that you would typically find on that website will be shown on Firstrade’s site. Firstrade also hosts a learning center on its website called Education Center. Articles on ETF’s, options, stocks, mutual funds, and bonds are available.
Recommendation
For bond, option, or mutual fund traders, we obviously recommend Firstrade for reasons already mentioned. The same is true for desktop or laptop traders.
Mobile traders will probably do better at Webull. Its app has more features and research materials than Firstrade’s does.
If customer service is important to you, then we definitely suggest going with Firstrade because Webull’s customer service is atrocious.
For beginners, we propose Firstrade over its rival. The learning center on the Firstrade website has decent articles which are ideal for new traders. Its resources from Morningstar would also be good for beginning investors.
Firstrade vs WeBull Summary
Firstrade and Webull are competitive in many areas; although in some, Firstrade is the only option. Use this article to pick the right firm for your trading needs.
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