Webull UK Review 2024

Overview

Webull launched in the US with pretty immediate success. The platform continues to grow in popularity amongst traders and investors because of the excellent value it provides.

Although in the UK, Webull isn’t commission-free, there’s no charge to open and hold an account, making use of its cutting-edge platform.

There are some limitations. For example, you can only use a general investment account (GIA). There are no tax-efficient options like a stocks and shares ISA or a self-invested personal pension (SIPP). And you can only invest in US equities.

However, there are more than 10,000 US stocks to choose from on the Webull UK platform. The commission for buying or selling stocks is 2.5 basis points (0.025%), and the foreign exchange (FX) fee for converting your GBP into USD is a competitive rate of 0.35%. Unfortunately, you’ll always need to pay this FX fee, as US stocks are the only option.

A particularly useful benefit is that Webull is excellent for investing small amounts. There’s no minimum deposit to open your account, and you can invest in fractional shares from just $5 (about £4).

The Webull account opening process is fairly straightforward. You can do it all on the app by following the stages as prompted. We had to wait about 20 minutes for ID verification (you must also submit proof of address).

You’ll need to provide personal details, digitally sign a W-8BEN form and also set up some security details (like a 6-digit trading password and create back-up security questions).

Some investors have had issues with the app glitching during the sign-up process, but Webull has said they will be ironing out these early teething issues.

Webull’s customer service team are responsive, and when we had a slight issue making a first deposit via a bank transfer, contacting the team through the in-app Help Centre was easy, and they quickly got things sorted.

Where Webull really stands out from the pack is its analysis tools and features. It’s the kind of information that some platforms put behind a paywall.

On top of there being plenty of useful trading data, it’s all presented in an easy-to-understand way using graphs, charts, and other visuals.

Account types

This is one area where Webull is quite limited compared to many other investing platforms available to UK investors.

At the moment, you can only invest using a general investment account (GIA). This means that you may have to pay tax on any capital gains over £6,000 or on any dividends over £1,000 each year (and these allowances can change, as they were recently lowered).

If you’re happy just using a GIA, perhaps you have a stocks and shares ISA elsewhere; the lack of account options won’t bother you.

Webull isn’t a platform (right now) where you can hold all your different types of accounts. It’s probably best to use Webull alongside another core investing platform if you want to use an ISA, SIPP, LISA, Junior ISA or Junior SIPP.

Hopefully, as Webull becomes more established in the UK, it might review its account options and look at offering more to investors. We’ll have to wait and see!

Free share program

Webull offers a free share bonus for new UK users.

The current promotion is as follows:

• Deposit of ANY AMOUNT and maintain a balance for 180 days to get 3 fractional shares, the combined value between $9-$900.
• Or deposit of ￡2,000 or more and maintain a balance for 180 days to get 20 fractional shares, the combined value between $60-$6,000.
• Duration: 24/7/2024 – 20/8/2024

Additional benefits:

• Zero commission for the first 90 days
• In-Depth Quotes free for 1 month
• Receive a complimentary 1-month subscription to Level 2 Advance (NASDAQ TotalView) from the day you sign up.

For more brokerage offers, check our article on free share offers available in the UK.

Fees

Unlike some platforms, Webull has a pretty straightforward fee structure. This makes it much easier to figure out whether Webull will be a cheap platform for you to invest in US stocks.

Here’s an overview of all Webull’s fees and commissions:

It’s also worth pointing out that Webull has an ongoing promotion where your commissions will be waived for your first 90 days of investing (although this could change in future).

As you can see, Webull offers excellent value for UK investors looking to buy and sell US stocks.

The commission is low (and free for 90 days), there’s no platform fee or any deposit/withdrawal fees and no inactivity fee. The currency conversion (FX) fee of 0.35% is the only other cost charged by Webull. This isn’t the cheapest FX rate, but it’s competitive compared to other UK trading platforms.

Markets and products

Webull UK only offers US stocks, that’s it. You can place large orders or trade fractional shares from just $5.

You can access investments from the major US stock exchanges:

• New York Stock Exchange (NYSE)
• Nasdaq
• AMEX
• And other exchanges

Even though international diversity is an issue, Webull comes with plenty of excellent analysis and trading tools to make up for this.

In the app, you can easily look at a stock’s:

• Current and past earnings
• Key indicators (EPS, Net Margin, Debt to Asset and more)
• Income statements
• Balance sheets
• Cash Flow
• Peer comparison (to see how a stock ranks against competitors)

Alongside all the great analysis features offered on the Webull app, there’s also a decent amount of social features.

You can have a custom news feed, create posts or polls, use pictures, and follow and engage with other ‘Webullers’ using the platform.

Unfortunately, you’re not able to copy to trades, but it’s a useful way to connect and learn from other investors and be part of an active investing community.

There is absolutely loads you can do with the social features, such as viewing other investors’ posts and even seeing how successful their stock predictions have been in the past!

Platform

With Webull, you can use the mobile app or the desktop app to trade. The web app is quite clean-looking, possibly making it a bit easier to make trades.

However, there are plenty of features on the mobile app that aren’t on the desktop (like the social features and some analysis details and graphs).

With the mobile app, there’s plenty packed in. And although it’s not the most user-friendly for beginners, it’s full to the brim with trading features.

Both the mobile app and the desktop app are probably more suited to intermediate and experienced investors. If you’re a beginner, you may need some time practising with the trading platforms to get more comfortable.

One downside to the Webull app is that it’s not very intuitive for finding stocks unless you search exactly what you’re looking for. However, the Webull desktop app is easier to navigate, and when you first download it, you’ll be presented with the option of picking a ‘starter’ or ‘seasoned’ investor mode.

Selecting starter means you’ll get some additional help navigating the desktop trading app and setting things up.

However, Webull is definitely designed more for those who like to trade, and beginners might find the interface slightly confusing at first.

If you want to find stocks, you need to head to the ‘Markets’ tab, where there’s a lot going on at first glance but plenty of useful market info once you get comfortable navigating yourself around.

The web and desktop trading platforms are very modern, but the user interface isn’t the slickest. But there’s plenty of functionality built into the trading platform, and this makes up for the slight complexities of getting to grips with Webull.

Safety

Webull is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), and it comes with full FSCS (Financial Services Compensation Scheme) protection for deposits of up to £85,000 should something happen to Webull.

Keep in mind that this compensation does not cover the value of your investments dropping. It’s just there to protect you if anything goesawry with Webull. But this should provide you with some peace of mind.

Webull is a relatively new company, so we’ve not yet seen how it handles adversity. It’s also worth considering that Webull is an Asian company (even though it’s regulated in the UK) based out of the US.

Bottom line

There’s a lot to like about the Webull investing platform. It offers a unique way for UK investors to trade US stocks. It would be better if there were no commissions, but the 0.025% rate is still very cheap.

Webull’s UK investing platform does have its limitations. You can only invest in US stocks, only a GIA is available, and there’s no diversity of assets. However, its strengths lie in the huge amount of analysis tools and resources built into the app – there are also plenty of social features to keep you engaged with the Webull investing community.

Webull presents UK investors with a cheap way to access the US stock market (even though it means always paying a 0.35% FX fee when trading).

We hope this review of the UK Webull platform has given you some useful insights to help you decide if this is an app you want to try for your US stock portfolio.