Webull Review: Is It Better Than Robinhood?
‘Get 2 free stocks when you signup for Webull TODAY!’
That’s the main marketing strategy that has been used by Webull to get more customers over the past few years.
But the key question is;
Is this platform really good for investors?
Let's find out in this article.
What You'll Learn:
Without further ado, let me jump straight into the meat and potatoes of this investing platform.
What Is Webull?
Just like Robinhood, Webull is a free investing platform which allows you to trade stocks for free.
Webull allows you to buy and sell stocks of some of the biggest companies in the world e.g. Google, Tesla, Ford, Apple, Amazon, etc using your own mobile or desktop device.
The cool thing about Webull is that you can start trading with just a limited amount of money unlike other brokers which requires you to invest a lot of money in order to get started.
Another unique thing about Webull is that they give you up to 2 free stocks when you open an account with them i.e. 1 stock for signing up and the other one for depositing at least $100.
This allows you to get a head start with trading since you can be lucky to get up to $1 400 worth of stocks hence allowing you to get started on a high note.
With that being said; the next key question is:
What makes Webull unique than any other free trading platforms out there?
To answer this question, let's take a look at its features.
Webull Features
Webull comes with a ton of great features such as paper trading, watchlist, markets, amongst others and these shall be further explained in the next few sections.
Watchlists
As soon as you login into your Webull app, the first thing that you see is the Watchlist tab, which shows you all the companies and stocks that you have been keeping an eye on.
This gives you real time data on the performance of all your target stocks, hence allowing you to make educated decisions on whether to buy or sell those stocks.
Markets
This feature allows you to see what’s happening around the world markets since you should always keep updated about the market trends.
You can choose to view markets in specific geographical location e.g. US, UK, Canada, etc and this is very useful for investors who are only interested in investing in few companies located in specific geographic locations.
You should always invest in companies located in stable economies since this increases some guarantee on the safety of your investments (to some extent) unlike a scenario where you invest in struggling economies where most companies are closing down.
Alternatively, you can also analyse what's happening in the crypto market since cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin are currently trending these days.
Thus, this feature is also important since it gives you real actionable data that you can use to take educated decisions.
Main Trading Portfolio
Webull trading portfolio allows you to buy and sell stocks using your mobile or desktop device.
Their interface is very easy to use and navigate since the ‘buy and sell’ features are not that much complicated.
The trading portfolio uses line charts, mountain charts, or candlesticks, hence allowing you to customise your dashboard based on your tastes and preferences.
But if you're a day trader, l highly recommend that you should use the candlestick charts since these are much easier to analyse than mountain charts.
Paper Trading
I give some credit to Webull when it comes to demo trading since most brokers out there do not offer this feature.
Paper trading gives you the ability to trade using some artificial money, so as to gain some valuable skills before you invest real money.
This is ideal for beginners who do not have any trading skills since you can learn the basic fundamentals of trading for free before you risk investing your money.
However, it is important to note that you cannot withdraw the money that you make from paper trading since it is not real money, but rather just some artificial figures that are shown on your dashboard.
But if you're a complete beginner, l highly recommend that you utilise this feature so that you can learn how the investment functions works hence helping you to avoid loosing your hard earned money.
Calendar
This is a great feature which is located in the Webull app.
This shows you data based on the upcoming events that are going to take place in each company inside the trading portfolio.
This helps you in making educated decisions since most company events affect their stock values (either negatively or positively).
For example, if Tesla launches a new car, the company value might increase by a significant percentage since there will be more income flowing into this company as a result of sales generated from that new product launch.
This will also trigger the share value of this company by a significant value since a rise in company value mean an increase in the share value as well.
Given this example, you can buy more shares from this company when it is about to launch a new product since your shares might appreciate in value when the company eventually launches that new product.
On the contrary, you can predict that the company's shares are going to depreciate in value if the company is planning to have a ‘crappy’ event hence, you can also use this data to your advantage and sell your shares before they depreciates in value.
Alerts
Another great feature which comes with Webull is the ‘alerts’ feature, which allows you to get some notifications whenever your stocks or any companies reaches a certain level.
For example, you can ‘set’ that if company X reaches a certain price, you should get an instant notification so as to make some quick decisions since the stock market is continuously fluctuating.
This is ideal for investors who invests in many different companies since it might be a bit difficult to keep up with all the various companies inside your portfolio.
Webull Community
Webull allows you to communicate with other traders who uses this app since it comes with a built-in community tab where investors can share their opinions and ideas.
This allows you to network with other like-minded investors around the globe which are in the same journey as you.
Some of these traders are professional traders, meaning you can get some useful tips from them since they always share their tricks and strategies that they use to get more profits from this platform.
Thus, if you're a complete beginner, you can learn from these professionals hence helping in cutting your learning cave into half or less.
Customer Service
As an investor, you always want to get 24/7 customer support from your broker so as to curb with any problems that may arise during your trading activities.
Webull provides 24/7 customer support via email, phone, or even live chat.
You can contact their support team at any time if you experience any problems and the customer support team is always there to help you.
Thus, if you have used any brokers with poor customer service before, Webull is not one of them.
Pros of Using Webull
• You can get started for 100% free
• Webull gives you 2 free stocks just for signing up
• Webull interface is easy to use and navigate
• Allows you to practice your trading skills through their paper trading feature
• Webull allows you to add some beneficiaries, which is not possible when using other brokers like Robinhood
Cons of Using Webull
• No Option Trading
• Does not provide level 2 trading, which makes it difficult for day traders to use this app
• Does not allow fractional trading, which makes it difficult for small investors to invest into bigger companies
Final Verdict
In my opinion, l think that Webull is a great investing platform especially for beginners since it comes with a ton of great features.
The fact that they give you free stocks as well as paper trading allows you to learn the fundamental basics of investing at risk free.
This allows you to gain some investing skills before you actually commit your money into this platform.
The fact that Webull has an incredible community makes this app more ideal for beginner investors since they can network with other like minded investors, who have the same vision, hence allowing you to stay motivated and keep focused.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Is Webull Safe?
Of course YES!
Webull is a safe platform to use since it is insured by SIPC, which is the same organisation that is used by other brokers out there.
SIPC protects the investors from loosing their investments since they can help investors to recover their money in cases where the broker decides to shut down for various reasons.
The cool thing about SIPC is that it protects all investors, both US and non-US residents hence you don’t need to worry about your citizenship when it comes to getting SIPC protection.
(They treat every investor as equal)
Webull also uses the APEX clearing house for placing stocks and orders, which is the same clearing house that is used by other brokers like Robinhood.
How Can l Make Money With Webull?
There are various ways that you can make money with Webull.
Firstly, you can become a trader on this platform whereby you can buy and sell stocks for a profit.
This is the most common way of making money with stock trading platforms especially if you have some skills.
Secondly, you can invite other people to signup for the platform and both of you get up to 2 free stocks which ranges anywhere between $7 to $1 400.
Thus, you can just invite your friends and family using your Webull referral link and you can start to get free referral stocks.
However, keep in mind that it is very rare to get a free stock worth $1000+ since most people only get free stocks that are worth around 7 bucks.
How Does Webull Make Its Money?
That's an interesting question.
Most people are worried about how these free trading platforms actually make their money since they don't charge for using their platform.
The truth is; Webull makes some of its money from selling global market data through their paid subscription service.
This means that if you want to get real time data about the global markets, you might need to pay a certain fee every month since this data is only reserved for paying members.
Is Webull Better Than Robinhood?
This question has been trending over the years now but let me just make a quick comparison here.
Webull gives up to 2 free stocks to its new members which allows new customers to get a head start with their investing journey. On the other hand, Robinhood only offers 1 free stock which is quite less than the Webull’s free stocks.
On the contrary, Robinhood is better than Webull when it comes to fractional shares since you can buy a small percentage of a share if you cannot afford to buy the whole share. However, Webull does not have the option to buy fractional shares meaning you have to gather the full amount in order to buy a share from a company.
Lets take a look at paper trading.
Webull allows you to practice your trading skills through utilising their paper trading option and this is ideal for beginners who may are still learning about trading.
On the contrary, other brokers (including Robinhood) does not have this option, which makes it difficult for most beginners to gain some skills since you have to practice using real money.
Webull also allows you to add some beneficiaries to your portfolio, meaning you can assign your friends and family to your trading account in case something happens.
On another note, Robinhood does not offer this feature which makes it difficult to assign your portfolio to your relatives hence if something happens, your relatives might fail to claim your investments.
Based on this analysis, l think that Webull is better than Robinhood as it was clearly shown by these tangible facts.
However, everyone has his/her own tastes and preferences thus, l cannot decide which platform is the right fit for you.
But if you need to get 2 free stocks to boost your trading journey, then you should consider using Webull.
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