Best Stock Trading App? Robinhood or WeBull?
I hear a lot of Webull vs Robinhood debates online, and I wanted to weigh in with my thoughts a little today!
Robinhood and Webull are both zero-fee, zero-commission broker apps that allow you to trade stocks, ETFs, crypto, and more. Here are some of the pros and cons between the two apps in order to help you decide which app will best suit your needs.
Summary of Webull vs Robinhood
| Traditional primary residence loans | ||
|---|---|---|
| Category | FHA loan | VA loan |
| Eligibility | For primary residences, must meet all below lending criteria. | •Having served 90 or more consecutive days of active duty in a time of war. •Having served 181 or more consecutive days of active duty during peacetime. •Having served six years or more in the Reserves or the National Guard. •Being the spouse of someone who died because of a service-related disability or while performing in the line of duty. |
| Backed by… | Insured through HUD | Federal guarantee |
| Minimum credit score | 580 with 3.5% down; 500 with 10% down. | None - Though most lenders will impose their own requirement on this. Generally, you want to be over 620. |
| Debt-to-income (DTI) requirements | Benchmark is 43% - but your lender has the freedom to make its own decisions. Up to 57% | Benchmark is 41% - but your lender has the freedom to make its own decisions. |
| Down payment required | 3.5%-10% depending on creditworthiness | 0 |
| Private Mortgage Insurance (PMI) | Yes - 1.75% up front, 0.55%-1.2% for a minimum of five years. | None! |
| Average interest rate | Better | |
| funding fee | NA (but see PMI up front payment) | 1.25%-3.3% or 0.5% for loan assumption |
| Loan limits | •Single family $314,827 - $726,525 •Duplex $403,125 - $930,300 •Tri-plex $487,250 - $605,525 •Four-plex $605,525 - $1,397,400 | No limit on first time use as of 20200101! subsequent use - $484,350 - $726,525 depending on the cost of living in your county. |
| Cash reserves | • 1-2 - No requirement • 3-4 - Typically require three months of principle, interest, taxes, and insurance (PITI) in cash reserves. | No requirement - lenders may add their own stipulations. |
| Intend to live in the property for… | A reasonable amount of time (generally assumed to be one year). - must intend to move in within 60 days of closing. | A reasonable amount of time (generally assumed to be one year). - must intend to move in within 60 days of closing. |
| Energy Efficient Mortgage (EEM) | Up to the lesser amount of: •5% of the adjusted home value. •115% median home price for the area. •150% of the conventional loan limit. $8,000 limit. | No limit, but three tiers of qualifications: •0-$3,000 - requires contractor's written bid. •$3,001-$6,000 - requires above, plus a completed energy analysis proving your utility savings will be more than the loan increase will cost. •$6,001+ Requires all of the above, PLUS an appraisal that shows the improvements made will increase the value of the home as much, or more, than the cost of improvements. |
| Suitability inspections | yes | yes |
| Closing costs / concessions | Flexible, and up to 3% concessions may be paid by seller. | Flexible, and up to 4% concessions may be paid by seller. |
App Design and Usability
Having personally used both of these platforms throughout 2020, I can say that the primary difference to me is that Robinhood is easier to use, and appeals to beginner investors, while Webull is more complex, and will appeal to more analytical investors.
Webull has more data and detailed graphs, but is a little harder to navigate.
Robinhood Fees 
Robinhood is commission-free on all trades to include options and cryptocurrency trading. You are able to utilize Margin trading on Robinhood but must upgrade to Robinhood Gold with a $5 monthly membership fee in order to do so.
The first $1,000 of margin can be borrowed interest-free though, and after $1,000 rates are 5%.
Personally, I upgraded to the Gold plan just so I could transfer more money into Robinhood without having to wait before being allowed to purchase stocks with it. Only ACH transfers are permitted to fund your account which means no deposit or withdrawal fees.
Webull Fees 
Webull has no fees or commissions on stock or ETF trades as well. You will pay the spread and SEC transaction costs, but these are a fraction of a penny. You can transfer money in and out of your account without additional fees.
Margin rates are 6.99% for up to $25,000!
There are wire transfer fees with Webull though:
Domestic wire transfers are $8 per deposit and $25 per withdrawal.
International wire fees are $12.50 per deposit and $45 per withdrawal.
Security
Both Webull and Robinhood are registered broker-dealers with customer accounts being SIPC protected.
Webull has an insurance policy for up to $37 million in securities and $900,000 in cash.
Both Robinhood and Webull use encryption for their accounts and can set two-factor authentication on the accounts as well!
Issues
Robinhood has had a couple of issues in the news over the last year where the platform essentially crashed and shut some users out of the account for a day. That being said, it has not happened frequently, and I’ve never personally had any issues with Robinhood or Webull.
Neither platform allows you to truly day-trade, as there are limits to the number of same-day transactions you can make in a given day. Honestly, I do not think this is a huge deal because day trading isn’t something you need to really be messing with regardless.
Robinhood Vs Webull Bonuses for Joining
Both Robinhood and Webull offer bonuses for joining their platform. I think this is a brilliant incentive for growing their platforms, and honestly was the whole reason I opened an account with each platform, instead of just one of them.
Get 2 Free Stocks from Webull Here! (1 for signing up, and 1 when you deposit $100)
Webull seems to have more aggressive growth tactics. They often give 2, 3, sometimes even 4 free stocks just for setting up an account and depositing $100. These stocks can be valued over $1000 too!
Get 1 Free Stock from Robinhood Here!
Robinhood gives a free stock for joining their platform too!
If you wanted to test out both platforms, you could sign up for an account, and then transfer $100 into Webull, and automatically earn at least 3 free stocks, which would be an instant return on your investment!
Webull vs Robinhood Which is Better
Honestly, it depends on your experience level, and what you want out of a platform.
I would suggest Robinhood for an easy to use solution and user-friendly experience. If you are looking for more data points, detailed graphs, and reports though, Webull is probably the better option for you!
Ultimately, both platforms will help you trade securities, and the most important component is that you know what you are doing before placing money into the market.
Also, don’t get sucked into bad investment strategies in the stock market. Stay with proven systems!
