Webull Review 2019

Webull is a US-based fintech startup offering zero-fee or discount brokerage services. The broker was founded in 2017 and it is regulated by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA).

Webull is considered safe because it is regulated by the top-tier financial authorities and provides a maximum of $500,000 investor protection including a $250,000 limit for cash as part of the SIPC protection scheme.

Recommended for investors and traders looking for zero commission and focusing on US markets.

Webull pros and cons

Webull offers commission-free US stock and ETF trading without inactivity fee. The account opening is seamless, fully digital, and really fast. The platforms are well-structured, user-friendly and offer many order types.

Webull's product portfolio is limited, covering only US stocks and ETFs. You can use only bank transfer for deposit or withdrawal, no credit/debit cards or electronic wallets are provided. Live chat and telephone customer support channels are not available.

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Webull review
Fees 5 stars

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

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 relating to broker fees. What you need to keep an eye on are trading fees, financing rates, and non-trading fees.

• Trading fees occur when you trade. These can be commissions or spreads.
• Financing rates or overnight rates are charged when you hold your leveraged positions for more than a day. A leveraged position means that you borrow money from the broker to trade.
• Non-trading fees include things like withdrawal fees or inactivity fees.

We also compared Webull's fees with those of two similar brokers we selected, Robinhood and Fidelity. This selection is based on factors like products offered, client profile, fee structure, etc.

Let's start with the trading fees.

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 is better than Fidelity's fees, but similar to Robinhood's.

Financing rates

Webull financing rates are generally high. Financing rates are charged when you hold your leveraged positions for more than a day. It can be a significant proportion of your trading costs.

We calculated the financing rates for a $2,000 debit balance.

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

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 review
Account opening 5 stars

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, China, and India.

Can you open an account?

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

However, during the account opening, you could choose only between the US and China. It would much better if a clear guideline was available relating to the non-US account opening. 

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 review
Deposit and withdrawal 2 stars

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

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Webull review
Web trading platform 5 stars

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 review
Mobile trading platform 5 stars

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 review
Desktop trading platform 5 stars

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 review
Markets and products 1 stars

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

Stock and ETF

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 product.

Webull review
Research 3 stars

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 only 20.

News feed

Webull's news is OK. 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.

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Webull review
Customer service 2 stars

Webull customer support can be improved. No phone and live chat are provided 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.

You can contact Webull via:

• message center through trading platforms
• email

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.

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Webull review
Education 2 stars

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 review
Safety

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. 

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.

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Webull review
Bottom line

Webull's fees are great. You can trade with commission-free US stocks and ETFs. 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 and ETFs. You can use only bank transfer for deposit or withdrawal, and wire transfer is charged for both direction. Customer support can be contacted only through email and message center on the trading platforms.

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

Webull main features and highlights

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