Where Webull shines
Where Webull falls short
What Webull is best for
Webull at a glance
Full details about Webull
Is Webull right for you?
How we review brokers: our methodology
Where Webull shines
Low cost: Webull ranks among the best in terms of costs, with free stock and options trades and a relatively low per-contract options fee, when it even applies.
Advanced tools: Webull was built to be user-friendly for a mobile-first generation, but that doesn’t come at the expense of advanced charting and screener tools.
Appeals to a broad audience: In some ways, the company seems to have taken cues from modern forerunners like Robinhood, which appeal to new and casual investors who expect a great mobile experience and a clean, simplified desktop interface. But Webull is also a strong choice for more advanced active traders, offering in-depth charting, dozens of technical indicators, advanced orders, market data from several sources, customization and more. All of this is packaged up in an approachable, sleek platform.
Wide investment selection for day traders: In addition to offering stocks, options, ETFs, ADRs, fractional shares and crypto, Webull recently launched commodities trading and futures trading. For traders, that wide selection of tradable assets might compensate for Webull's lack of mutual funds.
Cash management: Webull users can currently get 5% APY on their uninvested cash, which is among the highest of any brokerage.
Where Webull falls short
No mutual funds: If you’re looking for the easy diversification of mutual funds, you won't find them at Webull.
Thin research support: Webull's third-party research and data offerings are lackluster compared to most other brokers.
Webull is best for
Intermediate investors.
Active traders.
Options traders.
Webull at a glance
Account minimum | $0. |
Stock trading costs | $0. |
Options trades | $0 per trade and $0 per contract on equity options. $0.55 per contract on non-equity options such as index options. |
Account fees (annual, transfer, closing, inactivity) | None. |
Interest rate on uninvested cash | 5%. |
Tradable securities |
|
Number of no-transaction-fee mutual funds | Not rated. |
Trading platform | Mobile, browser-based and downloadable desktop platforms available with advanced charts, indicators, screeners and customization. Not the most intuitive buy/sell interface, but it's usable. |
Mobile app | Mobile app offers advanced features including charts and indicators, paper trading, price alerts and voice command. |
Research and data | A handful of data providers including Bloomberg and Refinitiv. |
Customer support options (includes how easy it is to find key details on the website) | Customer support available by phone from 9:00 a.m. Eastern time to 4:15 p.m. Email and in-app help center available 24/7. |
More details about Webull's ratings
Account minimum: 5 out of 5 stars
There is no account minimum at Webull.
Stock trading costs: 5 out of 5 stars
Webull ranks high in terms of cost, with no account minimum and free trades on stocks, exchange-traded funds and American depository receipts.
Options trades: 5 out of 5 stars
Webull no longer offers completely-free trades on all options — they still do not charge a commission, and equity options are still no-contract-fee, but they do now charge a per-contract fee of $0.55 on index options. However, that's still lower than the fees charged by many other brokers.
Account fees: 5 out of 5 stars
Account fees are one area in which Webull has improved over the years; it has dropped its old transfer fee and joined the exclusive ranks of brokers that charge no account fees at all.
Interest rate on uninvested cash: 5 out of 5 stars
Webull investors get their uninvested cash swept into a network of accounts at partner banks that accrue interest daily and pay it out monthly. Webull's 5% APY on uninvested cash is available to all users, and is one of the best cash interest rates among any broker.
Tradable securities: 3 out of 5 stars
Despite a robust offering for active traders, Webull lacks access to some common securities, such as mutual funds. Bonds are only available in the form of bond ETFs. For investors interested in saving for retirement in an IRA, this could make it harder to truly diversify across assets traditionally found in a retirement portfolio.
On the upside, Webull offers fractional shares — and provides cheap credit to advanced investors via some of the lowest margin rates in the business. It also recently launched commodities and futures trading.
Crypto offering: Webull's sister app Webull Pay gives investors the ability to trade 8 cryptocurrencies for USD. Webull Pay is a relatively well-reviewed app (4.05 stars, on average) that offers investors a smooth, easy-to-use trading interface. However, like many crypto offerings from stock brokers, it has fewer features than many pure-play crypto brokers. There are no crypto-crypto trading pairs, staking features, or third-party wallet compatibilities on Webull Pay, for example.
Number of no-transaction-fee mutual funds: Not rated.
Webull does not offer any mutual funds.
Trading platform: 4 out of 5 stars
Webull excels at marrying the minimalist look and feel the mobile-first generation is accustomed to with the capabilities of a more advanced product. This also helps Webull achieve the somewhat unique feat of creating a platform that bridges intermediate level trading and advanced trading, ushering users along their investment journey as they gain more experience. The extended trading hours — 4:00 a.m. Eastern time to 8:00 p.m. on weekdays — are a nice touch, as well.
How we nerd out testing trading platforms
Our reviewers — who are writers and editors on NerdWallet’s content team — hands-on test every online broker platform in our analysis. That way, we’re able to report on every aspect of the user experience, from funding a new account to actually placing trades.
We score each broker against a set of criteria that factors in both the capabilities offered and the actual user experience of trading with those capabilities. This includes how easy it was to sign up for and fund a new account. Note that a broker may score very highly for the platforms it offers, but low for the experience of actually using that platform. These are scored separately in our analysis, and they are weighted evenly when factored into the broker’s overall score. This means a broker can offer an advanced trading platform, but if it is clunky to use or the process of opening an account is unnecessarily arduous, that will be reflected in their score.
Webull offers investors access to initial public offerings (IPOs), as well as over-the-counter (OTC) stocks for an additional commission. That puts it ahead of some brokers in terms of the capabilities of its trading platform — but behind those that offer free OTC stock trades.
But in trying to appeal to both beginner and advanced investors, Webull delivers a less-than-perfect product for both groups. New investors might struggle to find the "buy" and "sell" buttons amidst all the chart widgets and screeners, while advanced investors might find those widgets and screeners somewhat disappointing compared to what's available from other trading-oriented brokers.
Webull also accepts payment for order flow (PFOF), which can result in orders being executed slightly slower or at slightly worse prices than at non-PFOF brokers — although its effects will be negligible for most investors. The PFOF business model involves routing customer orders through trading firms for execution, and the trading firms can use the customer order data to inform their own trading decisions. Webull says its execution quality is 99.43%.
🤓Nerdy Tip
The average execution quality of all brokers we review was 97.4% as of Aug. 31, 2023. That means 97.4% of orders were executed at a price that was at or better than the National Best Bid and Offer. Executing at or above the NBBO means you may receive price improvement, or a better share price than you were originally quoted.
Mobile app: 5 out of 5 stars
Webull has a highly rated mobile app, which makes sense, considering it’s targeting mobile-first customers. Within the app, users can access advanced features, like charts and indicators, a paper trading account and voice command functionality.
Research and data: 2 out of 5 stars
Webull's third-party research and data offerings feel significantly more limited than those of their competitors. Investors get access to data from Refinitiv and news from Bloomberg. A handful of other services are available — but less than most other brokers offer.
Customer support options: 5 out of 5 stars
Webull offers customer support via phone during market hours, by email 24/7, and an easily-navigable website. Its educational support offerings, however, are limited.
Is Webull right for you?
If you’re a true beginner, or if you’ve yet to build a well-diversified, long-term portfolio, there may be other brokers better suited for you. However, if you’ve got an intermediate level of experience, are interested in active trading or are hoping to improve your trading skills through advanced orders and technical analysis, Webull could be a good fit — especially considering its low price point compared with brokers with similar offerings.
How do we review brokers?
NerdWallet’s comprehensive review process evaluates and ranks the largest U.S. brokers by assets under management, along with emerging industry players. Our aim is to provide an independent assessment of providers to help arm you with information to make sound, informed judgments on which ones will best meet your needs. We adhere to strict guidelines for editorial integrity.
We collect data directly from providers through detailed questionnaires, and conduct first-hand testing and observation through provider demonstrations. The questionnaire answers, combined with demonstrations, interviews of personnel at the providers and our specialists’ hands-on research, fuel our proprietary assessment process that scores each provider’s performance across more than 20 factors. The final output produces star ratings from poor (one star) to excellent (five stars).
For more details about the categories considered when rating brokers and our process, read our full methodology.
