Webull Review

Webull Ratings at a Glance

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Winner of Benzinga's 2021 FinTech Awards for Best Investment App

What is Webull?

Webull and the app cater to intermediate and experienced self-directed investors and traders. Its commission-free structure is for short-term and active traders who would save a considerable amount on commissions compared to other online brokers.

Webull is a diverse platform that works well for both beginners and advanced users. While the platform is more involved than some of its competitors, its intuitive layout makes it easy to get used to. More likely than not, you'll find the features well worth learning.

The platform offers a series of trading courses and a trading simulator account with real-time data and advanced charting capabilities for U.S. listed stocks. These features can suit beginning traders who want to learn more about the market and develop a trading plan.

As you continue through this review, remember that investments are a risk. Users get a fantastic platform, but it cannot manage your money for you. This being said, you can mitigate the risk of investing as best as you can by using the platform properly.

The trading platform is available as a mobile web-based and desktop app with features useful for experienced and intermediate traders. More importantly, the desktop and mobile app mirror one another. The tools incorporated in the platform provide information and insights to help you make more profitable trades.

The platform features tools to help you perform both fundamental and technical analysis.

With respect to fundamental analysis, the platform lets you access analyst recommendations, revenue and historical earnings per share data, as well as key statistics, insider trades, stock information such as earnings, dividends and stock splits and news feeds so you can keep track of news that could affect your stocks.

On the technical side, the app provides a real-time bar, candlestick and line charts that have time frames ranging from 1 minute to 60 minutes and a set of historical data that goes back over the past 5 years. Additional technical resources include popular indicators such as Bollinger Bands, MACD, oscillators and more.

Sign up and get a free 3-month subscription to Level 2 Advance (Nasdaq TotalView service) for a deeper view of the markets and orders, with opening, closing, IPO and halt crosses. One of the perks is the NOII, which provides increased transparency and insight into the true supply and demand in the marketplace.

In addition, crypto on Webull is now available. Here's why you want to access this brand-new feature:

• $0 commission
• Can trade from one account
• Cryptocurrency investing is available 24/7
• Requires just a $1 minimum deposit.
• Free real-time data
• 8 charts and 50+ indicators to help analyze the market
• Highly customizable layout
• Accessible on mobile, desktop and web platforms
• Interact with others in the community tab
• Timely customer service
• 24/7 help center
• Two-factor authentication
• Safe and secure

Webull’s research gets our highest rating for ease of use, filtering capabilities and overall informational value. Research is found on 4 different pages on the mobile app, with markets, news, an individual stock page and a screeners page.

The screeners page gives you the option of which stocks to track and what technical parameters to watch and set smart alerts.

The feature includes an economic calendar with upcoming IPO dates, earnings and other news pertaining to the stocks you’re watching. You can set up your own watchlists and receive alerts through email or SMS on the app.

In addition to U.S.-based stocks, the platform can track Canadian stocks, ETFs, cryptocurrencies, futures, options, commodities and indices. Stocks you can track in real-time through the app include 5 categories in more than 90 countries/regions with over 25,000 stocks.

Other assets you can track include 100,000 funds, 1,000 currency pairs and 3,000 commodities. All in all, day trading is simpler because you have resources to lean on. There’s no need to leave several windows open to review all the information required to make a trade.

They also offers trade ideas and trading courses, such as day trading courses for beginners. One of the best features of the platform is its trading simulator, which is basically a demo account that you can use to try out the platform and simulate trading ideas.

Is Webull free? Yes and no.

Fees are not only reasonable, but they are affordable to the point that you never need to worry about overhead. Much like its major competitors, they don't charge a commission or a fee on U.S. stock trades or to open and maintain an account. Nevertheless, SEC and FINRA fees do apply.

• SEC fees. A $13 fee for a total of $1,000,000 of principal on stock sales only, with a $0.01 minimum.
• FINRA fees. A trading activity fee (TAF) of $0.000119 per share on stock sales only with a minimum of $0.01 and no more than $5.95.   

Each trader is required to have a minimum of $2,000 in your account to trade on margin. The applicable margin rates for a set of dollar account balances are shown in the table below.

Webull offers a free stock promotion in which you and someone an active trader refers to the platform could receive 1 share of stock worth up to $1,000. If you have a lot of friends who like to invest and are new, it could really add up, especially because they get the low fee experience, margin trading, massive selection and simplicity of the app. This might be the thing that helps some of your friends start investing for the future.

Payment for Order Flow

Does Webull use payment for order flow? Yes, they are able to offer free trading and its other services because it is receiving payment for order flow or PFOF. In essence, the company takes a consumer’s order and passes it on to a third-party (known as a market maker.) The market maker, in turn, pays a fee for the business.

The market maker that places the order pays less for the stock than the consumer and keeps the difference—also known as the bid-ask spread. Additionally, retail platforms like this one can collect rebates from public exchanges—as high as $0.003 per share, meaning that a 1,000-share lot is worth $3 to the exchange. This may seem small, but the numbers add up over time.

While PFOF is a fairly common practice, it could reduce price execution and quality.

Webull’s parent company Webull Financial LLC is a member of the Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC). The company protects the securities of its members up to $500,000, which includes $250,000 for cash claims.

The company’s clearing corporation Apex Clearing Corp. has also purchased an additional insurance policy. The policy covers protection for securities and cash up to an aggregate of $150 million. $37.5 million is the maximum limit for any 1 customer’s securities and $900,000 of that can be in cash.

Both the SIPC protection and the extra insurance policy held by Apex Clearing Corp. do not cover members from a loss of the market value of their securities.

Webull v6

Webull 7.0 Update

On May 13, 2021 Webull released another update to their platform, Webull 7.0. The updates include:

• Learning Tools: You can access information to provide additional insights into investment decisions.
• New Account Homepage Design: The new account page makes it easier to read and access information including the newly added daily P/L and realized P/l screens.
• Integrated Message Center: You can now customize messages into various categories to better organize information..
• Financial Report Analysis: In-depth financial data is now available in a visualized analysis form to help you make fast and informed investment decisions.
• Depth Market Quote: You can now see advanced Market By Order and MPID on both bid and ask transactions.
• 3 More Cryptos: Dogecoin (DOGE), Stellar Lumen (XLM) and Zcash (ZEC) are now available to trade via Webull Crypto.

The customer support team is available at:

• Customerservices@webull.us
• 888-828-0618
• Facebook, Twitter and Instagram

The FAQs offer you detailed information on opening an account along with the funding and transfers of cash or stocks. It also has a Trading on Webull section with information about commissions and fees, tradable assets and order types.

The FAQ sections found on the help page can answer your basic questions. Email or call for more details or to speak with an agent for more information or further assistance.

Tradable Asset Classes on Webull

Webull currently offers trading stocks on more than 5,000 U.S. listings and ETFs in the United States. Options trading for over-the-counter stocks, mutual funds, and bonds are not yet available, which is somewhat limiting. Even though you cannot trade bonds or a mutual fund, you can build the rest of your portfolio here and, perhaps, branch out later as more features become available.

Another important feature is the ability to margin short sales and leverage the sale up to 4 times that amount in the account for trades made the same day and 2 times the amount for trades held overnight. Keep in mind that your net account balance when trading with margin is $2,000.

If the balance falls below that amount and you have open positions, you run the risk of the broker liquidating your position to make up for the margin shortfall.

With a balance of $25,000 or more in equity, you gain access to unlimited day trades. Day trading in a cash account can only be funded with settled funds. For example, if a day trader only has $500 settled in a cash account, then you can only use up to that amount for trading in that account.

Trading Outside Market Hours

Additionally, premarket hours and after-hours options trading allow you to work the market when everyone else is asleep. Premarket hours give you a chance to react to overnight news affecting one of your holdings. After-hours trading is similar, but remember that liquidity drops during this period, institutional investors often trade during this time and you may want to wait until premarket hours to make your move.

The extended trading hours are:

• Premarket trading hours start at 4 a.m. and end at 9:30 a.m. EST
• After-hours trading begins at 4 p.m. and ends at 8:00 p.m. EST

Think of extended hours trading as another way to access the market when other investors have clocked out for the day. This can be especially helpful if you’re trading on margin and want to work in a less active market with a bit more predictability. There is no extra fee for trading after hours.

From the ease of downloading the app to the simplicity of making your 1st live trade, Webull appeals to traders at all experience levels. The trading platform has an intuitive, easy-to-use interface on both the mobile app and desktop version that can be learned by trading in the demo account.

Changing your account type from a normal account to a margin account can be done directly on the platform as long as you’ve sufficiently funded the account. Another advantage of the platform is its customizability. From making watchlists to setting alerts, traders of any level can take advantage.  

Webull vs Competitors

Here are some other platforms where you can trade stocks and cryptocurrency. How does Webull compare in this Benzinga Money Webull Review: An analysis of stock trading platforms?

If you’re a U.S. citizen and only trade U.S. stocks and ETFs, this platform could be an excellent choice for you. You can access the stock and many other markets in the app or on the website, with commission-free trading options, crypto trading, a powerful investing app and much more.

Though the platform currently only allows trading in stocks (OTC stock included) and ETFs, you can watch a number of different markets worldwide, including cryptocurrency investing, forex and commodities. As the company grows, access to trading in other assets and markets should become possible over time. Trading tools abound for every investor, and you can take your portfolio to the next level.

The platform’s charting capabilities are more than adequate for many traders using technical analysis, with over 22 technical indicators. The platform’s news feeds and analyst evaluations will also give you considerable fundamental information for both investment and trading analysis.

Frequently Asked Questions

Benzinga Money Webull Review: An analysis of stock trading platforms.