Webull Review: How It Compares for Beginner Investors

Investing is much easier than it used to be.

Previously, you had to use old-school brokerage firms that had clunky dashboards and charged a fee every time you wanted to make a trade. But now there are several fee-free, mobile-friendly investing platforms you can choose from.

Webull is one of these newer platforms. It offers seamless investing with in-depth analytics that you can tap into right from your phone. This makes it a great platform for active traders who want to grow their portfolios.

If you’re just getting started with investing, here's how Webull works and what you should consider before investing through it.

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Overview of Webull

Created in 2017, Webull is a popular investing platform and has become one of the main competitors to Robinhood. It offers mobile brokerage services with some advanced features for frequent traders, like charting.

Webull is a Chinese-owned company with headquarters in New York and is registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission to offer trading in the U.S. 

While the platform doesn’t have robust research or educational materials, it does have a large community of investors and access to Nasdaq Level 1 and Level 2 trading data.

In some ways, Webull has its own native social media feed — a place where users can post their own content about investing opportunities.

Webull offers the following securities:

• Stocks
• Exchange-traded funds (ETFs)
• Options
• Over-the-counter stock trading 
• Crypto via Webull Pay

Due to ongoing regulatory uncertainty in cryptocurrency, crypto trading is offered separately from other securities on the platform. Crypto is provided in partnership with Bakkt Crypto Solutions.

This means that if you purchase crypto through Webull Pay, you won’t have direct ownership of your crypto assets. Instead, your assets will be managed by Bakkt. This is important to consider because it can limit your ability to transfer them to a digital wallet of your choosing.  

Aside from offering traditional brokerage services, Webull also gives you access to retirement accounts like traditional IRAs and Roth IRAs. If you leave your job and want to roll over your 401(k), you can do that with Webull as well.

Webull is a member of the Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC). Similar to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), which insures bank accounts, the SIPC offers coverage to troubled brokerage accounts. Webull investors are covered by the SIPC up to $500,000.

Webull Commissions and Fees

Webull offers a number of services without any fees.

For example, you can make no-fee trades and won’t be charged any maintenance fees. Options contracts don’t charge a commission but there is a $0.55 fee for index option contracts.

Webull does charge fees for margin accounts. Depending on your balance, expect to pay anywhere from 5.74% to 9.74%. Interest on margin accounts is calculated daily and paid monthly.

There isn’t a minimum account balance to open a Webull account but if you plan to do options trading, there is a $2,000 equity requirement.

ACH transfers are free but wire transfers are not. Webull charges $8 for domestic deposits and $25 for domestic withdrawals.

Webull’s low fees come with a trade-off. Instead of charging individual investors to make trades, Webull earns money by using a third-party market maker to execute orders. You might not get access to the fastest trades or best prices as a result.

Get started with Webull.

Webull Trading Platform

The Webull trading platform offers a smooth transition between mobile, browser, and desktop versions.

It’s simple to navigate and user-friendly, which can be appealing if you're a new investor. The mobile version offers advanced charting features that can help active traders make frequent investing decisions.

For new investors, Webull offers a paper trading feature. This allows you to create a practice portfolio and simulate trades without putting any money at stake. Once you feel comfortable with the platform you can transition to creating a live portfolio.

Webull doesn’t offer a lot of information in terms of advanced data. You automatically get access to Nasdaq Level 1 trading data but you’ll have to pay $1.99 per month for access to Nasdaq Level 2 data. Aside from that, you’ll get access to Webull’s community feed. This is content shared by other users that you can use to make trading decisions.

For hands-off investors, Webull offers robo-advising, called Smart Advisor. This allows you to auto-invest while Webull’s team manages your portfolio for you. Smart Advisor has a 0.2% annualized fee that is calculated daily. The fee is deducted each month.

Webull Customer Service

Webull offers limited customer service through phone support and email.

Response times can vary, especially if a request is made outside of normal business hours. Webull does not currently offer a live chat feature.

Some customers have complained on TrustPilot about lack of customer support to resolve account issues.

Who Should Get Webull?

Webull is great if you have a basic understanding of investing and want access to technical analysis tools like charting. It’s also good for active traders or investors who like to trade options.

If you're a beginner, you may find Webull’s user-friendly interface to be a good place to start your investing journey. It’s less overwhelming than other platforms and the community feed allows you to learn from more advanced users — although other platforms are even more beginner-friendly.

READ MORE: How To Start Investing

Who Shouldn’t Get Webull?

If you're a beginner who's not interested in advanced analytical tools or options trading, Webull may not be your best choice.

There are other mobile-friendly investing platforms on the market, many of which come with better educational tools. Even legacy firms, like Charles Schwab and Fidelity, are working hard to meet investors where they are, offering their extensive knowledge base through mobile apps.

If you're a passive investor who prefers to buy and hold assets or if you want greater diversification through bonds and mutual funds, you might also be deterred from using WeBull.

Many of the tools Webull offers are valuable for active traders but they might not be useful to someone who doesn’t make trades regularly.

READ MORE: Active vs. Passive Investing: Which Is Best?

Alternatives to Webull

While Webull is one of the more popular investing platforms out there, especially for younger investors, it isn’t the only one you can use to build your portfolio.

Webull vs. Robinhood

Webull and Robinhood are two of the most popular mobile-first investing platforms, and both offer easy-to-use interfaces. The biggest differences come down to advanced features and educational content.

Robinhood takes the cake when it comes to education. It offers a wide variety of articles and other forms of content to introduce you to basic investing concepts. Webull doesn’t offer much in the form of educational content. Instead, it relies primarily on its community members to provide information for each other.

Both platforms have similar offerings. Webull and Robinhood offer stocks, ETFs, and crypto but lack mutual funds and bonds. In 2022, Robinhood started offering retirement account services on its platform, even offering a 1% match for IRA account holders (3% with a Robinhood Gold membership). Webull offers retirement accounts but it does not provide a match.

Where Webull comes out ahead is with advanced trading and analytical features. Webull offers over-the-counter products as well as conditional ordering. Users have access to advanced charting tools that aren’t found on Robinhood.

While Robinhood might be a good investing entry point for new investors, Webull is the better option for those with a bit of experience behind them.

Learn more about Robinhood.

Webull vs. Fidelity

Webull and Fidelity are two different platforms that cater to opposite trading strategies.

While Webull is good for if you're a frequent trader who needs access to tactical analysis tools, Fidelity is suited for long-term investors who prefer to hold onto assets for a while.

Fidelity is a full-service brokerage firm that offers a larger variety of products than Webull does. This includes many of its own low-fee or no-fee mutual funds and index funds.

Aside from its suite of offerings, Fidelity also offers a larger library of educational and research material than Webull.

Where Webull comes out ahead is in its technical analysis tools. These tools are better suited for investors who like to make frequent trades.

Even though there are fewer options for investors with Webull, this might be appealing if you don’t need the breadth of resources provided by Fidelity.

Webull vs. E*Trade

Webull and E*Trade appeal to similar types of investors but each offers a different suite of products. Depending on your financial goals, one platform might be better than another.

The biggest difference comes down to products and account offerings. Webull offers no-fee options trading and cryptocurrency while E*Trade doesn’t support crypto and charges a small fee for options contracts.

While Webull offers retirement accounts, it’s rather limited. E*Trade offers a wider range of non-traditional accounts like SIMPLE IRAs and SEP IRAs.

E*Trade also offers bonds and mutual funds. This may appeal to you if you want a more diversified portfolio.

Final Thoughts

For beginner investors, Webull is an easy-to-use trading platform that simplifies making frequent trades with low or no fees. It also offers analytics and a community feature so you can learn from other investors like you.

But with simplicity comes a few drawbacks. Even though Webull is easy to use, it doesn’t offer the same educational content or variety of investing options that legacy platforms do.

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