My Honest Webull Review After 6 Years
I started with Webull six years ago. I transferred in about $60, and the account grew to a whopping $88 in the beginning.
Today, that account is worth over $35,000*.
This review is based entirely on my own live account. I do not review products I have not personally used, and everything below reflects my actual numbers, not a demo or a sponsor script.
📺 Watch the full walkthrough above — I show my live account, real numbers, and every step from signup to selling.
The Verdict
Webull is one of the strongest free brokerage apps for beginners specifically because it does not force you to outgrow it.
Most beginner-friendly investing apps hit a ceiling. You start simple, you learn more, and then you are stuck paying for research tools elsewhere because the app you started with does not scale with you.
Webull solves that by offering full research, charts, and financial data for free from day one, while also offering a simplified mode called Webull Light for anyone who wants the easy version. You can switch between the two whenever you want.
| Metric | Value |
| Years using Webull | 6 |
| Starting balance | $88 (roughly $60 transferred in) |
| Current account value | $35,000+ |
| Open profit and loss | +$9,000 (about 35%)* |
| Number of open positions | 13 |
| Apple position example | $17,453 invested, now worth $26,490 (+51.7%)* |
It is not the app that makes or loses you money. It is the investments you buy inside it. Webull’s job is just to get out of your way, and it does.
Getting Started: Account Types
Webull offers several account types depending on your goals.
| Account Type | Best For |
| Individual taxable (cash) | Most beginners. No borrowing, no margin risk. What Bob personally uses. |
| Individual taxable (margin) | Experienced traders who understand margin calls and leverage risk. |
| IRA / retirement | Long-term retirement saving with tax advantages. |
| Custodial account | Parents wanting to start investing for a child. |
| Crypto / options / futures | More advanced traders — not covered in this beginner review. |
For most people getting started, an individual taxable cash account is the right call. It requires no borrowing, carries no margin call risk, and is the exact account type I have personally used for six years.
A margin account lets you borrow money from Webull to invest more than you have. That can work for experienced traders, but it also means you can owe money if your positions move against you (a margin call). If that sounds confusing at all, choose cash.
What I Like — and What’s Worth Knowing
| What I Like | Worth Knowing |
| Fractional shares from as little as $1 or $5 a day | Full research tools can feel like a lot on day one — Webull Light solves this |
| Free full financial data, charts, and research (no paywall) | Cash account is the right call for most beginners — margin carries real risk |
| Recurring/automated investments, including fractional | Settled cash takes a few days after a sale before it can be withdrawn |
| Beneficiary designation avoids probate entirely | Selling everything triggers a real tax bill in a taxable account |
| Automatic dividend reinvestment (DRIP) | Weekend and after-hours orders will fail without extended hours enabled |
| Instant buying power while a bank transfer settles | Any brokerage will ask for your SSN — this is a legal requirement, not a red flag |
How to Actually Get Started With Webull
| # | Step |
| 1 | Sign up with your phone number, verify the code, and set a login password. |
| 2 | Download the Webull app from the App Store or Google Play. |
| 3 | Choose an account type — individual taxable (cash) is the right starting point for most people. |
| 4 | Enter your legal information, including SSN. Every brokerage is legally required to collect this for tax reporting and fraud prevention. |
| 5 | Choose cash over margin unless you specifically understand and want leverage risk. |
| 6 | Before funding the account: set up a passkey or authenticator, and add a beneficiary under Account Management. |
| 7 | Deposit funds. Instant buying power lets you start trading before the bank transfer fully settles. |
| 8 | Buy your first position — whole share or fractional, starting from as little as $1 to $5. |
Before you fund the account at all: set up a passkey or authenticator under Account & Security, and add a beneficiary under Account Management. This takes two minutes and means your account transfers directly to your beneficiary without probate if anything ever happens to you.
Buying Your First Investment
Webull supports both whole shares and fractional shares. If a stock costs $600 and you only want to invest $20, you can buy exactly $20 worth instead of needing a full share.
For most beginners, a market order is the simplest choice — you buy at whatever the current price is when you hit confirm. More advanced order types (limit, stop-limit) are available once you are ready for them.
I personally like starting with a broad market ETF, something like an S&P 500 fund, because it spreads risk across hundreds of companies instead of betting on one.
Recurring Investments: The Feature That Actually Builds Wealth
This is the single most important feature in this review, and it is the exact mechanism behind my own $5-a-day investing results.
Webull lets you set a recurring investment starting from as little as $1, on any schedule you choose, including every single trading day. Once it is set up, it runs automatically without you having to manually buy anything.
Automating the purchase removes the emotional decision entirely. You never have to decide whether today is a good day to invest — it just happens, including on the red days when most beginners hesitate.
If you want to see the actual multi-year results of this exact strategy, read: I Invested $5 a Day in the S&P 500. Here’s What Happened.
Dividends and DRIP
Webull supports automatic dividend reinvestment (DRIP). When a company pays a dividend, instead of that cash sitting in your balance, it automatically buys more shares of that same investment.
This is a small setting worth turning on for almost everyone building long-term wealth rather than living off dividend income today. It is what turns a modest dividend into a compounding snowball over time.
Selling and Withdrawing
Selling works the same way as buying, in reverse. Select a position, tap sell, choose market or limit, and confirm.
One detail that catches people off guard: after a sale, the cash is unsettled for a few business days before it can be withdrawn to a bank account. This is standard across every brokerage, not specific to Webull.
Selling a profitable position in a taxable account triggers a real tax bill. A $9,000 profit is genuinely $9,000 of taxable gain if you sell it, separate from taxes owed on dividends even when reinvested through DRIP. Plan sales with your tax situation in mind, not just the market price.
Taxes Made Simple
Every year, Webull generates a tax document (1099-DIV and related forms) covering dividends and any realized gains from the prior year. This can be imported directly into TurboTax, H&R Block, or handed to a CPA.
You can also check realized profit and loss for the current year at any time under the P&L section, which is useful for tax planning before year-end rather than being surprised in April.
Webull Light: The Simplified Mode
If the full app feels like too much at first, Webull Light strips the interface down to a handful of essentials: your balance, a simplified trade screen, and basic account management.
You can switch between Light and the full app at any time, which means Webull genuinely grows with you rather than requiring you to switch platforms as you learn more.
📊 Try Webull for Yourself
This is the exact brokerage I have used for 6 years to go from $88 to over $35,000. Sign up through the link below for current promotions.
â–º Transaction Register — $15.99 (track your account alongside your budget)
The Bottom Line: Is Webull Worth It?
Six years and roughly $35,000 later, my honest answer is yes, specifically for the person who wants full research tools without a paywall and the option to start as small as a few dollars a day.
It is not the platform that builds wealth. It is the habit of buying, holding, and automating that Webull makes genuinely easy to stick with.
If you are ready to start, the link above has current signup promotions. And if you want to see exactly what a small, consistent recurring investment actually returns over time, read this next: I Invested $5 a Day in the S&P 500. Here’s What Happened.
*Disclosure: Webull links on this page are referral links — I may earn a reward if you sign up, at no cost to you. All results are my results but are not typical. All investing involves risk. Nothing on this page [expressed or implied] constitutes any form of financial, tax, or legal advice.