2021 Webull vs Robinhood – Who Has The Millennials Vote ?

I have been reluctant to checkout Webull trading platform for a good while now.

But something happened recently that good me to change my mind.

I am now ready to consider Webull and as an addition, this discussion on Webull vs Robinhood will bring to light the very reason why I changed my mind on the up and coming broker.

Webull vs Robinhood | How We Got Where We Are Today

In the Robinhood platform review, we discussed basic features and attractiveness of that broker.

Our focus on this one will be more towards what Webull is bringing to the table that is having most millennials switch from Robinhood to Webull.

The Popularity Contest

Google trends shows us that over the last five years, the search interest of Robinhood way surpass its Hong based rival.

One could not help wonder though with the recent aggressiveness of Webull to take market share from Robinhood what this chart will look like in a year or two.

Webull vs Robinhood - Webull Promotion for up to 4 shares
Webull Promotional Offer to attract New traders away from Robinhood

We will make sure to revisit it as it updates automatically.

What Make both attractive to Millennials

Both Webull and Robinhood started a mini-revolution in the industries of brokers in 2018 by introducing free comissions for trading.

At the time that was nothing short of exceptional.

The reason was because the old guard brokers (the likes of TD ameritrade, Charles Schwab, Fidelity and ETrde) were charging an arm and a leg to trade basic stocks , ETFS and Options.

Fast forward Oto Ober 2019 and the advantage introduced by the newcomers Webull and Robinhood went away.

Webull vs Robinhood - Free Stocks Promotional Offers
2 Free Stocks from Webull Upon signup

In a span of two week in early October 2019, all US brokers decided to remove the trading commissions fees they used to charge ranging from $6 to $10 per trade !

This move by itself creates a storm as these companies needed to find a solution to replace the lost revenues from trading commissions.

The fix was clear: consolidation was coming in the industry.

Charles Schwab acquired ETrade while TD Ameritrade took ove r?

Where did that leave webull and Robinhood ?

Webull vs Robinhood Free Shares

They both had to get creative as they could not longer count of the $0 commissions to deplete their competition.

The new strategy common to Webull and Robinhood is to extend promotional offers to new traders.

The most most popular of which is free 2 free shares upon signing up.

For a limited period, one can get 2 additional shares by simply depositing $100 or more into one’s trading account.

The most exciting part of this whole process is that you can end up getting 2 very expensive shares for free (think Apple, FB, Google, etc).

I just signed up today and less than an hour later.

Webull vs Robinhood - Free 2 Shares of SWM stock from Webull
My 2 Free SWN Shares from Webull

Webull goes even further into creating an affiliate program out of this.

One can invite their friends and receive to 15 stocks over a short pre-defined period.

Over the long un, the rate of accrual of such stocks is two for each new friend you bring it.

Here is my Link if you you like to Sign Up as one of my friends 🙂

Webull vs Robinhood | How to Create an account

The process of creating an account on both platform is seamless.

Just before I started writing this piece, it took me less than 10 minutes to guide a new trader from our Discord room at Successful Tradings through it.

Webull will ask for you to upload a picture Identification and the rest of the information is fairly standard.

The approval process took less than an hour as I did it during the days.

Webull margin vs Cash Account

Webull provides up to 3X the buying power of your initial deposit.

Let’s say you deposit $2500. Webull will add 3 times that amount to your account bringing your buying power to $10000.

The advantage of this is that you can take more trade since you buying power is higher.

The drawback is that you can lose more than what you have deposited thus owning Webull money.

The other restriction that comes with a margin account is the pattern day trader rule which is explain in great length in the video below.

As explained in the above video, there is a way to avoid the Pattern Day trader rule by simply opting for a Cash account.

Sure, you do not have the benefit of the increase buying power, but you will certainly avoid the drama of losing money you do not own or having to hold onto winning/losing positions because you ran out of day trades.

Our recommendation: as a beginner who does not meet the $25000 requirement to avoid the pattern day trader rule, go with the Cash account and work your way into building it up to $25000.

Webull IRA account

Not sure if this is available yet as Webull is yet to update their documentation on their website.

Webull Transfer Fees

Get an image here explaining what they are.

What Can you Trade on Webull Platform | Stocks | ETFs | Crypto | Options

For the longest of time, Webull did not offer its traders the ability to trade options.

As of this writing, the following instruments can be traded on all Webull trading platforms: Desktop, Web based and Mobile App.

Stocks

Webull was one of the first platforms along with Robinhood to offer trader $0 commission on trading stocks and ETFs.

ETFS

Webull vs Robinhood - Webull offers Stocks, ETFs, Crypto and Options for zero comission
Stocks | Options | ETFS | Cryptos Can Now Be Traded on WeBull

Options | Webull Option Trading Is Here…Finally

Options trading is what has been lacking for the longest time on Webull.

With its introduction, one can expect more serious traders to take advantage of the enticing promotions offered by Webull.

Cryptocurrencies

Per Webull website, one must reside in the Unites States of America to trade cryptocurrencies.

This is a new feature added at the end of November 2020.

The application process usually takes less than 24 hours to get approval.

What most important about this is the fact Webull allows traders to buy Crypto with the newly unveiled fractional shares for as low as $1 !

Crypto Trading is Available on Webull with Fractional Shares

Webull Fractional Shares

If you are new to trading, the concept of fractional shares may not be all that familiar to you.

The basic principle of fractional shares trading is to allow traders with limited capital to be able to buy a portion of a stock instead of a full share.

Let’s suppose you would like to buy NVDA stock valued at almost $500 .

However, your current investment capital is only $200.

Therefore you cannot presently afford a full share of NVDA stock.

With Webull Fractional shares trading, you now can buy from 0.0001 to 0.99 shares of a stock depending on your allocated budget.

Here is our recent detailed video explaining how to trade Fractional shares on Webull platform.

Webull Premarket Hours

Webull offers a full range of extended hours trading.

Except on stock market closed Days, traders can participate in the following:

Webull Customer Service Phone Number

Webull does not have a direct phone number or Live chat at this time.

You have to rely on the Help Center by sending a direct message to Webull Support.

Webull Desktop App 4.0

Webull Desktop App 4.0 is their most recently launched version.

Many traders are raving about it already especailly how fast the speed of execution is.

We will be bringing you an in-depth analysis of its many features as we continue to unveil Webull new trading platform.

There are so many new items on Webull, it is no wonder many millennials are turning away from Robinhood.

How can we tell ?

Our own research from Google Trends points to an increase in the search keyword “Transfer to Webull from Robinhood”.

If that was not enough, how about the Level 2 offering ?

Webull Level 2 Trading for Free

What is Webull 2 you may ask ?

Simply, Level 2 data enables traders to better read the tape.

Which means they have a view of the depth of orders which can help anticipate the direction of price and establisg a strategy to get a good entry or exit.

As a welcome to new traders, Webull is extending aa 3-month free access to this data free of charge.

Webull vs Robinhood - Level 2 Data Access for 3 months
Webull Level 2 Data Access for 3 Months

CONCLUSION

At this stage of our evaluation of Webull vs Robinhood, the advantage is clearly is favor of Webull.

We will continue to update this article as we test and explore the many newly introduced features on Webull.

For now, our recommendation is for new investors and traders alike to open an account with Webull and start learning how to become a better stock and Options trader.