Webull Review 2020

Webull offers commission-free trades for US-based stocks, ETFs, and options. It charges no inactivity fee and withdrawal fee if you use ACH. On the negative side, the financing rates are higher and there are high fees for wire transfers.

How we ranked fees

We ranked Webull's fee levels as low, average or high based on how they compare to those of all reviewed brokers.

To get things rolling, let's go over some lingo related to broker fees. What you need to keep an eye on are trading fees, and non-trading fees.

• Trading fees occur when you trade. These can be commissions, spreads, financing rates and conversion fees.
• Non-trading fees include charges not directly related to trading, like withdrawal fees or inactivity fees.

In the sections below, you will find the most relevant fees of Webull for each asset class. For example, in the case of stock investing the most important fees are commissions.

We also compared Webull's fees with those of two similar brokers we selected, Robinhood and Fidelity. This selection is based on objective factors such as products offered, client profile, fee structure, etc. See a more detailed rundown of Webull alternatives.

To have a clear overview of Webull, let's start with the trading fees.

Webull trading fees

Webull trading fees are low. The fee structure is transparent and easy to understand. 

Stock fees and ETF fees

Webull offers free stock and ETF trading. It has the same no-commission structure as Fidelity and Robinhood.

If you prefer stock trading on margin or short sale, you should check Webull financing rates.

A financing rate, or margin rate, is charged when you trade on margin or short a stock. This basically means that you borrow money or stocks from your broker to trade. For this borrowed money/stock you have to pay interest. This is the financing rate. It can be a significant proportion of your trading costs.

Webull financing rate for stocks is volume-tiered. The more your debit balance is, the lower the financing rate is charged.

The financing rates above are also applied for the options trading.

Options fees

Webull options fees are low. It doesn't charge any commission.

Non-trading fees

Webull has low non-trading fees. It charges no account and inactivity fee.

There is no deposit or withdrawal fee if you use ACH transfer. However, wire transfers have a quite high fee. We tested ACH, so we had no withdrawal fee.

The fees for wire transfers as per this table:

For transferring out securities from your Webull account, a $75 fee is charged.

Webull account opening is seamless and fully digital. Your account will be opened within a day. However, Webull is available only for clients from the US.

Can you open an account?

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Based on customer support answers, Webull accepts clients from the US.  

What is the minimum deposit at Webull?

The required Webull minimum deposit is $0 for a cash account but can be more if you trade on margin, prefer short positions or unlimited day trading.

Account types

Webull offers only individual cash and margin accounts. Joint, IRAs, custodian, and corporate accounts are not available.

The account types are different based on the required minimum deposit and the availability of leverage, day trading, and short sale. 

*You trade with money borrowed from the broker, also called trading on leverage. You can also take short positions, i.e. when you sell a stock you don't own.

**You can buy and sell assets the same day as many times as you want. You can also take short positions, i.e. when you sell a stock you don't own.

How to open your account

Webull account opening is fully digital, easy, and fast. Our account was verified within 1 business day.

You can open your Webull account on the web, desktop, and mobile. We tested the account opening on the desktop platform:

1. After installing the platform, you can start the registration under the "Account"  menu. At the "Login" screen you will find the possibility of signing up
2. During the application, give your personal information like your name, date of birth, social security number, your address, etc.
3. State your employment information, financial experience, and situation
4. Verify your identity by providing a photo of your ID/passport
5. Choose account type (cash or margin)
6. Review your information
7. Submit your application

Webull deposit and withdrawal can be improved. You can use only bank transfer, there is only USD as a base currency, and a high fee is charged for wire transfer. As a plus, there is no fee for ACH deposit or withdrawal and transferring money is easy and user-friendly.

Account base currencies

Webull offers only USD as a base currency. This offer is similar to Robinhood's but much less than Fidelity's.

Why does this matter? Two things. First, if you fund your account in the same currency as your bank account, you won't be charged a currency conversion fee. Second, if you trade assets in the same currency as your account base currency, you will not have to pay a conversion fee.

A convenient way to save on the currency conversion fees can be to open a multi-currency bank account. Revolut or Transferwise both offer bank accounts in several currencies with great currency exchange rates as well as free or cheap international bank transfers. The account opening only takes a few minutes on your phone.

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Deposit fees and options

Webull does not charge deposit fees for ACH.

An $8 fee is charged for domestic wire transfers, while the international wire deposits cost $12.5. Clients outside the US can use only wire transfers.

We tested ACH transfer for deposit and it took 5 business days. According to Webull's website, the wire transfers usually completed within 1 business day. ACH transfer has a $50,000 per transaction limit, while wire transfers are completed within 1 business day and do not have such a limit.

Adding fund to your account is easy, but it is required to use the mobile application. Webull promises to include fund management into the desktop and web platform soon.

You can only deposit money from accounts which are previously linked to your brokerage account.

Withdrawal fees and options

Webull charges no ACH withdrawal fees. 

Similarly to the deposit, wire transfers are charged: $25 for domestic wire withdrawals, while $45 for international withdrawals. Clients outside the US can use only wire transfer.

How long does it take to withdraw money from Webull? We tested the ACH withdrawal and it took 2 business days. Before you can withdraw your funds, there is a 7-day ACH and a 1-day wire transfer holding period, when you cannot access your money.

You can only withdraw money to accounts in your name. If the depository and the withdrawal account is different, there is a 60 day holding period due to regulatory compliance.

How do you withdraw money from Webull? You can withdraw money from Webull by following these steps:

• Open the mobile trading platform
• Go to the "Home" menu, then select "Withdrawal"
• Enter an amount, select "Transfer to my bank"
• Initiate the withdrawal

Compare to other brokers

Webull offers a great web trading platform. It's suitable for both beginners and advanced traders as it's easy to use, but offers also advanced features, like customizability or a wide variety of order types. On the negative side, a two-step login is missing.

Webull launched its mobile platform firstly, the web and desktop versions followed somewhat later.

It is available in English and Chinese.

Look and feel

The Webull web trading platform is user-friendly, well-designed, and has a clear structure. It is easy to navigate with the tools on the two sides, while the middle of the screen works like a traditional desktop platform.

The workspace is highly customizable.

Login and security

Webull web platform offers only a one-step login. A two-step login would be more secure.

Search functions

The search functions are good, you can search by typing both a company's name or asset's ticker.

There is also an auto-suggestion which shows relevant results.

Placing orders

Webull offers a wide variety of order types:

• Market
• Limit
• Stop
• Stop limit
• Bracket orders (take profit, stop-loss)

If you are not familiar with the basic order types, read this overview.

There are also two order time limits you can use:

• Good 'til canceled (GTC) 
• Day

Alerts and notifications

You can easily set alerts and notifications. To do this, simply search the stock, then go to the bell icon on the top right corner and customize your price or other financial information alerts. 

Portfolio and fee reports

Webull has clear portfolio and fee reports, which is available on the left sidebar "Account" menu.

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Webull mobile trading is great, one of the best on the market. It's user-friendly, well-designed, and provides all important features, like advanced order panel, price alerts or two-step login.

Webull's mobile trading platform is available both on iOS and Android. We tested it on iOS.

You can choose between the English and Chinese languages.

Look and feel

The Webull mobile trading platform is user-friendly, has a clear structure and well-designed.

Login and security

Webull provides a two-step login besides one-step login. You can activate this feature in the "Menu" / "Settings" / "Account&Security" menu. After the activation, you will get security codes in text messages for each login.

Search functions

The search functions are great. You can search by typing both the ticker and name of the assets.

Placing orders

Webull offers the same order types as the ones available on the web trading platform.

Alerts and notifications

You can set price and news alerts. Similarly to the web trading platform, it's very easy to set an alert.

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Webull offers a desktop trading platform as well. In functionality and design, it is totally the same as the web trading platform.

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Webull has a limited product portfolio. It offers only US-based stocks, ETFs, and options. It lacks popular asset classes, like funds, bonds, forex, etc.

Webull's stock and ETF offers are not a surprise as the majority of US brokers focus mainly or only on the US market. However, there some exceptions, like Fidelity or Interactive Brokers which cover international stock exchanges.

Stocks and ETFs

Webull gives access only to the US market. It is the same as Robinhood's offer but lags behind Fidelity's.

You can trade with stocks on these stock exchanges: NYSE, NASDAQ, AMEX. 

You can't trade with low-priced stocks or “penny stocks” and OTC products.

Options

Webull gives access to US options markets, however, it's not clear which options exchanges exactly

Webull offers easy to use research tools. The recommendations and fundamental data are great. The charting tools are not the most advanced and the news flow can be also improved.

Webull offers research tools on all platforms. We tested them on the web trading platform.

When you looking first at the trading platform, it's not intuitive where you can find the research tools. They are located on the far right-hand side after you click on an asset.

Trading ideas

Webull provides trading ideas for some stocks. Under "Analysis" widget you can see analysts' opinion for buying, holding, or selling the asset. There is also an opinion for a price target. What we missed is some information about the analysts.

Fundamental data

Webull offers a few fundamental data for some of the stocks and ETFs. You can find financial statements and some basic fundamental ratio, like EPS or EBIT for the last 5 years.

Charting

Webull has OK charting tools. You can easily edit the charts, but there are limited technical indicators, you can use 45.

News feed

Webull's news is OK. There are links to articles in CNBC, Seeking Alpha, and Bezinga to name a few. However, we felt that Webull could increase the amount and prioritize the most important news stories to be more useful. When you click on an asset, you can find links to third-parties' websites. Among third-parties, you can find more prominent ones, like Yahoo Finance or Reuters. 

We also liked the wide range of real-time market data. You can gain access to trading information not just for equities and ETFs, but also indices, forex, and futures. Besides, all of the major markets are integrated, so you can easily collect data from almost all over the world (North America, Asia, Europe).

Other research tools you will enjoy

We liked Webull's stock screener. You can use filters from some basic company information to financial indicators, like EPS or PE ratios. It was interesting that you could use the stock screener for some non-US markets, like stocks on the Indian or Chinese stock exchanges.

There are also other useful tools on Webull that we felt are worth a mention for traders.  For example, the social 'Newsfeed' tool on the mobile platform allows users to post updates and share their trading tips, the 'Rewind' button plays a flashback of realtime share price movements over the past 30 days, and the contests that Webull regularly hosts offer stock prizes or other incentives.

Compare research pros and cons

Webull customer support can be improved. The phone support is hard to reach and our questions through email were not answered. As a plus, we got fast and relevant answers to our messages through the trading platform's message centers and the answers we received through the phone were relevant.

You can contact Webull via:

• message center through trading platforms
• email
• telephone

We got relevant and fast answers to our messages under the "Feedback" section, on the trading platform. We liked that this customer support channel is available even on the weekends.

We emailed several times [email protected], but we haven't received any reply.

The telephone support is really hard to reach out, but the answers they give are relevant. When you cal Webull, you have to select a topic. It's annoying that you will be connected with a live representative only if you select the #4 option. After we were connected, we had to wait for more than 5 minutes until the representative was connected. On the other hand, the guidance and answers we got were helpful.

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Webull offers a demo account and some quality educational content. However, other educational tools are missing.

At Webull you can learn in the following ways:

• Demo account
• Quality educational articles

The demo account is great, you can use almost all of the live account's features.

The articles are OK, have a wide coverage but miss the frequent updates. The FAQ is a useful place to get to know some basic brokerage services.

There is a growing community amongst the Webull investors, and such a thing means easier sharing your views with fellow investors.

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Webull is regulated by top-tier financial authorities, like the SEC and FINRA. You are also protected by a high investor protection amount, $500,000 which includes $250,000 for cash. On the negative side, Webull is not listed on any stock exchanges and doesn't publish any financial information.

Is Webull regulated? Yes, it is regulated by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA).

Is Webull safe? To be certain, it is best to check two things: how you are protected if something goes wrong and what the background of the broker is.

How you are protected

This is important for you because the investor protection amount and the regulator differ from entity to entity. With Webull this is not an issue though as all customers are covered by Webull Financial LLC and the US investor protection scheme, called SIPC.

The SIPC investor protection scheme protects against the loss of cash and securities in case the broker goes bust. The limit of SIPC protection is $500,000, which includes a $250,000 limit for cash. This amount is substantially higher than the amount most investor protection schemes provide. 

Not all investments are protected by SIPC. In general, SIPC covers notes, stocks, bonds, mutual fund and other investment company shares, and other registered securities. It does not cover instruments such as unregistered investment contracts, unregistered limited partnerships, fixed annuity contracts, currency, and interests in gold, silver, or other commodity futures contracts or commodity options.

On the negative side, Webull does not provide negative balance protection.

Background

Webull was established in 2017. The longer the track record of a broker, the more proof we have that it has successfully survived previous financial crises.

You may have some troubles if you are looking for more information about the company. The amount of financial information is quite limited compared to other brokers.

Being regulated by top-tier financial authorities and offering a high amount of investor protection are all great signs for Webull's safety.

Find your safe broker

Webull's fees are great. You can trade with commission-free US stocks, ETFs, and options. The account opening is easy, fully digital, and fast. The platforms are easy-to-use and well-structured.

Webull has some drawbacks though. The product portfolio is really limited, covering only US stocks, ETFs, and options. You can use only bank transfer for deposit or withdrawal, and wire transfer is charged for both directions. The telephone and email customer support are hard to reach out to.

As the account opening is seamless, and Webull offers commission-free stock and ETF trades, feel free to try it.

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