Webull Review 2024 | Bankrate (2024)

Webull is a solid broker choice for investors who are looking for a low-cost mobile trading platform. While not as well known as rival Robinhood, Webull’s offering wins in several areas. You won’t pay commissions on stocks, ETFs or options, and new investors can get started with fractional shares for as little as $5. The mobile app is easy to use and allows you to trade on the go, or just track the securities you’re interested in. Crypto traders won’t pay a direct fee, but they’ll need to use Webull Pay, a separate app launched in 2023. Webull has upped its game of late, too, and now offers futures trading and fractional trading on U.S. Treasurys in addition to a competitive yield on cash deposits.

A major downside of Webull is that it only offers a few individual account types. You’ll need to go with a more comprehensive brokerage offering from a traditional firm such as Schwab or Fidelity to open joint, custodial or self-employed retirement accounts. At more established brokers, the research offering is also a step up from Webull’s.

Pros: Where Webull stands out

Feature-rich mobile app

Webull brings a solid mobile app with a feature set that’s richer than key rival Robinhood’s offering. The app’s overall presentation feels impressive, and you’ll be able to use charting tools to analyze the trading action (more below). Each stock has a comprehensive page that links out to third-party news articles and a company’s press releases, while a comments page shows what Webull members are saying about the stock, so you can get a feel for sentiment there.

The app also offers high-level financials, and you’ll be able to access a detailed look at the order book and order flow distribution. A trade button sits at the bottom of the screen and a quick click pulls up the trading screen where you can input the trade details and go. If you’re trading options, hit the options tab and you’re inundated with options quotes. Click the options strategy and setup you want, and you’re ready to trade.

Finally, you’ll be able to place trades using your voice with the AI-enabled voice feature. It all feels really sci-fi, even if you’ll want to double-check to make sure you’re making the right order.

Free trading and no account minimum

Webull’s top feature might be its ability to trade stocks and ETFs without a commission. Admittedly, that’s nothing out of the ordinary these days, since the whole industry has gone to commission-free trading, but it’s still important to have. You’ll get full extended hours trading and three complimentary months of Nasdaq Level 2 quotes when you sign up.

But Webull does the industry one better, with no-cost options trading, which was added to its capabilities in early 2020. That means no base commission nor a per-contract fee, though it does pass along tiny regulatory fees. That’s about as good as it gets, though Robinhood does pare out even these regulatory costs for clients.

Webull makes it easy to get started too, as there’s no account minimum — which is similarly standard for the industry nowadays.

Cryptocurrency and futures trading

If you’re looking for another differentiator between Webull and most brokers, crypto is one place, as is the recently introduced ability to trade futures. Webull allows you to trade cryptocurrencies directly, rather than as futures as some of the top brokers require. You won’t pay an explicit commission for this service, but you will pay a spread markup of 100 basis points (i.e. 1 percent of your purchase price) on either side of a trade.

However, Webull recently moved crypto trading to a separate app called Webull Pay in response to the Securities and Exchange Commission suing the largest crypto trading platforms, Binance and Coinbase. Webull says it created Webull Pay to protect the rest of its business from potential litigation.

You’ll be able to trade cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, Dogecoin and Shiba Inu with a $1 minimum, and you’ll be able to do so 23 hours a day, seven days a week. You can get price quotes on other cryptos as well, even if you’re not able to trade all of them. Webull says it’s working on adding more cryptocurrencies to the eight that are currently available to trade.

But Webull is even newer to the futures world, having opened trading there back in March 2024. Futures allow traders to purchase interests in a variety of commodities, and it’s a clear differentiator from most brokers, which do not offer the feature at all. The capability really adds some extra gloss to the offering here, even if many or even most clients won’t find it that useful. The broker charges $1.25 per regular contract, with mini and micro futures at $0.70 and $0.25, respectively.

U.S. Treasurys

You can trade bonds at Webull now, too. Ok, ok, it’s just U.S. Treasurys for now, though the app plans to add corporate bonds and municipal bonds later on. It’s a new step into an area where financial apps often don’t tread, though rival Public has also made a similar move.

The interesting thing here is that Webull allows fractional bond trading, with a $100 minimum. That’s much easier to swallow than the typical $1,000 price point for bonds. Webull charges 0.07 percent for bonds expiring in the next year, 0.4 percent for those expiring in the period of one to three years out and 0.7 percent.

Competitive cash account

Webull offers high and competitive yields on cash that’s just hanging out in your account. You won’t need to open a new account, you won’t have to deposit a minimum amount to get the yield on offer and you won’t be subject to fees. Plus, the account is FDIC-insured. So, if cash is just sitting in your account between trades, you can pick up interest on it with no extra effort.

The rates are variable, however, meaning they’ll rise and fall as the Federal Reserve adjusts interest rates. Nevertheless, the yield here is competitive with what’s available at other brokers in their cash accounts, at the time of publication. You’ll need to enroll in the cash management program to get started here.

Charting tools

Whether you’re using the web-based client or the mobile app, Webull provides you with a set of charting tools that will help you analyze the price action. You’ll be able to use your preferred charting method (candlesticks, for example), and you’ll also get a detailed look at the day’s trading action (volume analysis and Nasdaq Level 2 quotes, if you have the service). In total, you’ll have access to a few dozen indicators or technical studies.

Instant funding

Webull offers instant funding on deposits up to $1,000, something that rival Robinhood also offers. It’s a cool feature that gets you in the game immediately, though the funds might not actually clear until a few days later. For longer-term investors, instant funding won’t make a difference, but many traders want the funds to be there now and it’s a “nice to have” anyhow.

Fractional shares

Webull offers fractional shares on both purchases and dividend reinvestments for stocks and ETFs. For a minimum of $5, investors can purchase fractional shares in stocks and ETFs, but be sure to check that the companies you’re interested in are available because Webull says the list of available investments is subject to change.

Webull clients may also reinvest their dividends into fractional shares. The program allows you to select all eligible securities or to pick specific securities that you want the reinvestment to apply to. You’ll have to receive at least $1 in dividends and be able to buy at least 0.00001 shares in the reinvested stock to participate.

Cons: Where Webull could improve

Limited account types and tradable securities

Webull gives you access to only individual accounts, whether that’s the basic taxable account or a traditional IRA, Roth IRA or rollover IRA. It lacks many account types typically found at other brokers: joint accounts, custodial accounts or self-employed accounts, such as a SEP IRA or solo 401(k). That makes it a better option for solo traders.

Along the same lines, the broker does not offer mutual funds, which may make it a deal-breaker for some investors, but likely won’t be a detriment to short-term traders. Nor does it offer forex. These elements may not matter to certain investors, but they’re worth noting.

Limited free research

Webull doesn’t provide a lot of free fundamental research, a place where its major broker rivals excel. That’s not exactly a surprise given the low-cost nature of the app, but the broker does provide some useful information for investors. You will get tons of detailed trading data, some basic financials and key statistics as well as news feeds on your specific tickers.

Again, the available information is solid for what it is, but it won’t supplant the analytical work you’ll want to do if you’re investing in individual stocks. On that front, Webull (like Robinhood) makes a better fit for traders who know what they want to do rather than truly new investors.

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