While Robinhood led the way in commission-free trading, Webull is a newer competitor that’s quickly turned heads. Both platforms offer commission-free stock, ETF, options, and crypto trading. However, they differ in other features that traders want, such as account types, technical analysis tools, and cash management features.
So, is Webull or Robinhood the better choice for you? Keep reading our Webull vs. Robinhood review to find out.
About Webull and Robinhood
Robinhood set a new standard for brokerages when it introduced commission-free trading on a mobile-only platform in 2014. Over the past nine years, the brokerage has amassed more than 23 million users. It’s also introduced options trading, margin trading, fractional shares, cryptocurrency trading, interest on uninvested cash, and more. All of these features make Robinhood more attractive to a wider variety of investors.
Webull was launched in 2018 as a direct competitor to Robinhood. The platform offers commission-free trading on stocks, ETFs, options, and crypto. In contrast to Robinhood, Webull places a greater emphasis on technical analysis and market monitoring tools. Webull has grown incredibly quickly and now boasts more than 13 million users.
You can read our full Robinhood review here and our full Webull review here. Let’s take a closer look at the services and how they stack up.
How Are Webull and Robinhood Similar?
Webull and Robinhood are similar in many of the most important ways. Both platforms are commission-free brokerages with no account minimums. They each allow you to trade stocks, ETFs, options, and cryptocurrencies. Additionally, both brokerssupport margin accounts and extended hours trading. While Webull and Robinhood are mobile-first trading platforms, they each offer web trading platforms as well.
Another similarity is that both Robinhood and Webull have integrated news feeds into their platform. Webull’s news feed includes IPO, earnings, and dividend calendars, while Robinhood’s does not.
Both Robinhood and Webull offer individual brokerage accounts as well as traditional and Roth IRAs. You can rollover funds from an existing retirement account to either broker’s retirement accounts. One advantage to Robinhood’s IRA is that the broker will give you a 1% match on all of your contributions, up to the annual IRA contribution limit set by the IRS. Webull doesn’t do that.
Basic market data is included with any account at Robinhood and Webull. You can purchase Level II data with an additional subscription.
How Are Webull and Robinhood Different?
Paper Trading
Webull is one of the only commission-free brokerages to offer a trading simulator. You can have a paper trading account alongside your real investment accounts, giving you the chance to try out new trading strategies before putting money on the line.
Investable Assets
Robinhood and Webull diverge slightly in what assets you can invest in. Both brokers offer stocks, ETFs, options, and cryptocurrencies. You can buy fractional shares on either platform.
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If you want to trade OTC stocks, you can find them at both brokers. However, Webull has a wide variety of OTC stocks, while Robinhood only has a small handful. In addition, you must have a margin account to trade OTC stocks at Robinhood.
Webull also has a wider range of cryptocurrencies – 38 altcoins compared to 18 at Robinhood. Both brokerages have all of the most popular crypto tokens, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Dogecoin, and Cardano.
Neither Webull nor Robinhood support mutual funds or forex trading.
Technical and Fundamental Analysis
Where Robinhood and Webull differ most is in how they approach stock analysis.
Robinhood largely lacks tools for technical and fundamental analysis. It uses line charts by default and only recently added technical charts, which open in their own window within the app. The only technical indicators available are moving averages, Bollinger Bands, VWAP, RSI, and MACD. There are no drawing tools, but you can create alerts based on price or any of the available indicators.
Robinhood offers basic information about analyst ratings and earnings relative to expectations. However, there are only the barest of stock fundamentals presented. You can see a stock’s P/E ratio, for example, but not how it compares to the industry average.
The idea behind this interface is that Robinhood wants to remain friendly to beginner investors. Line charts don’t require a wealth of market knowledge to understand, even if they’re not all that helpful to traders who are hungry for information.
On the other hand, Webull offers much more in-depth technical analysis tools. There are technical charts with multiple bar types and around 30 popular indicators, which can be customized and saved as indicator sets. You can compare two stocks on the same chart or modify the timescale of a stock chart. Webull also has a variety of drawing tools, including Fibonacci retracements.
Even better, Webull helps traders by offering alerts, watchlists, and a basic stock screener. The app and desktop interface offer detailed fundamentals, including graphs of cash flow and income. Plus, Webull does a better job than Robinhood at providing information about analyst ratings by displaying price targets and a more nuanced rating breakdown.
So, Webull’s interface is targeting active traders and long-term investors who have a strategy and need the relevant information to implement it. It’s by no means the most technical platform for advanced traders, but it has all the common tools that intermediate technical and fundamental traders need to make decisions.
Cash Management Account
Robinhood offers 1.5% APY interest on uninvested cash in your account. If you have a Robinhood Gold subscription, that jumps to 4.4% APY.
Webull says it’s working on a similar cash management feature that will offer 4.1% APY, but it hasn’t been rolled out yet.
🏆 Top Rated Services🏆
Our team has reviewed over 300 services. These are our favorites:
| 📈 Best Day Trading Service Investors Underground 🎯 Best Stock Scanner Trade Ideas 📉 Best Stock Charts TradingView | 💰Best Stock Picking Service Motley Fool 📱Best Mobile Broker Webull 📊 Best for Stock Research Seeking Alpha |
Webull vs. Robinhood: Pricing Comparison
Both Webull and Robinhood are almost entirely free to use. There are no commissions on trades, no account minimums, and no account fees.
However, the two platforms do have some add-ons that cost money.
At Robinhood, additional features are bundled into Robinhood Gold. This is a monthly subscription that costs $5 per month. With a Robinhood Gold account you get:
- A higher interest rate on uninvested cash in your account (4.4% vs. 1.5% APY)
- Reduced margin trading rates (7.5% vs. 11.5% APR)
- Level II data from the NASDAQ exchange
- Morningstar research reports
- Instant access to a larger portion of cash deposits
Webull margin rates range from 5.49% to 9.49% APR. Level II data is available as an add-on for $2.99 per month.
Is Webull or Robinhood Better?
Whether Webull or Robinhood is the better brokerage platform depends primarily on what level of analysis you want to do while trading. While there are some gaps between the investable assets that Webull and Robinhood offer, these differences are minor for most traders.
In general, Robinhood is the better choice for beginner traders and traders who aren’t interested in conducting a thorough fundamental or technical analysis on trades. It has only basic technical charts and very minimal fundamental data. Line charts make it simple to see how a stock’s price has trended over months to years. In addition, Robinhood has a nice set of stock discovery tools and lists that can be useful for generating ideas.
Experienced traders may prefer Webull since it provides much more detailed stock information and more advanced technical charts. It’s certainly not the most comprehensive stock analysis platform on the market. But for a free brokerage, Webull does a nice job of putting basic technical charts, fundamental data, and price alerts at your fingertips.
Can You Have Robinhood AND Webull?
If you find that Webull and Robinhood each have unique features that you want to access, you’re free to open accounts with both brokers. There is no minimum account balance for either broker, so you can easily split your funds between the two.
That said, both apps are very similar, so you may be overcomplicating things for yourself if you try to use both. If you find that neither platform offers everything you need, you may want to consider an alternative commission-free broker.
Alternatives to Webull and Robinhood
Webull and Robinhood are just two of many commission-free brokerages. Charles Schwab, E*TRADE, Ally Invest, and TradeStation all offer commission-free stock and ETF trading with both mobile and desktop clients.
TradeStation stands out in particular as a particular competitor to Webull since it includes a more powerful technical charting with an abundance of overlays and studies. You can also trade futures with TradeStation.
Final Thoughts
When it comes to choosing between Webull and Robinhood, it’s hard to go wrong. Both brokerages offer commission-free trades with no account minimums and plenty of user-friendly features. However, for all but the most entry-level traders, Webull’s advantages in technical charting and stock analysis are hard to overlook. The platform offers far more information about the stocks you’re trading. It even supports paper trading to help investors try out new strategies without risking their funds.
