Investing

Webull vs Fidelity: What Are the Differences?

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Fidelity and Webull both offer impressive investing platforms, but they differ in many ways. Fidelity is a full-service broker that offers access to a wide variety of investing products, a competitive robo-advisor, and access to human financial advisors.

Webull is an online broker that stands out for its advanced research tools and intuitive mobile investing experience.

Both offer access to commission-free stock and ETF trading. But which is right for you? Let’s take a closer look.

Fidelity overview

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Fidelity Investments offers a wide range of products and services for all types of investors.

Fidelity can trace its roots back to 1946, and currently serves more than 44 million customers. The firm is known as a leader in low-cost investing. For instance, it offers access to a line of zero-expense-ratio mutual funds. Expense ratios are fees charged by fund management companies and these can really eat away at your returns over time. But Fidelity Zero funds charge no expense ratios and invest in a variety of companies across domestic and international markets. This makes it easy to build a low-cost and well-diversified portfolio with Fidelity.

Plus, the Fidelity GO robo-advisor charges no advisory fee on balances of less than $25,000. Robo-advisors are automated platforms that recommend and manage a portfolio based on your financial goals, risk tolerance, and other personal indicators. The Fidelity GO platform builds portfolios with its zero-expense-ratio mutual funds.

The firm also offers the award-winning research platform Fidelity Active Trader Pro, an advanced research and analytics platform.

Webull overview

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Webull is a popular investing app offering advanced research tools.

Webull is a relatively new company having been established in 2017. But it has since come a long way.

Today, Webull offers its services to more than 20 million registered users. It offers access to various securities like stocks, ETFs, options, and futures contracts.

Webull stands out for its intuitive desktop and mobile investing platforms, as well as advanced research tools that could appeal to the tech-savvy investor.

For instance, its desktop trading platform offers more than 50 fully customizable indicators and 60 technical signals including classic pattern, and candlestick pattern, and technical indicator

Users on the Webull mobile app can use its advanced version offering access to advanced market insights and technical resources. But they can also switch back and forth from Webull Light, which is designed for beginners. Newcomers could also make use of its paper trading feature, which allows you to test rades with virtual cash.

Hands-off investors may be interested in its robo-advisor platform called Webull Smart Advisor. Currently, new Smart Advisor customers get a 6-month free trial. Afterward, fees are calculated daily based on the account balance at an annualized rate of 0.2%. These fees are deducted monthly. However, keep in mind it requires a $100 minimum investment.

Fidelity vs Webull: Which is better?

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Weigh the pros and cons before you decide on Fidelity or Webull.

When it comes to choosing between Fidelity and Webull, it may come down to what type of relationship you want with the firm.

Fidelity is a well-established and full-service broker that can help investors meet various goals like investing, retirement planning, paying for healthcare, and more. So it may be the right place for you if you want all your money management done in one place.

Fidelity simply has more in terms of offerings than Webull. At the moment, Webull doesn’t offer access to common securities like mutual funds and bonds or account types like health savings accounts (HSA).

But here’s some of what you can find at Fidelity.

But that’s not to say Webull falls short when it comes to quality, especially for its target base.

Overall, Webull could satisfy the digital-first active trader who wants low-cost access to basic securities like stocks and ETFs with the backing of advanced research tools and analytical capabilities.

And although Webull no longer offers direct access to crypto, you can get cryptocurrency through its Webull Pay app.

Why we covered this

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With so many brokerages out there, do your research to find the right one for you.

Fidelity and Webull are both standout brokerages, but they may not be one-size fits all for investors. Fidelity is a large low-fee broker that offers access to a long line of products like stocks, ETFs and alternative investments, along with several accounts like Roth IRAs and HSAs. Fidelity also allows you to work with human financial advisors. Webull may work best for online-only active traders who want sophisticated research tools and platforms.

If you want to learn more about Fidelity, check out our regularly-updated list of Fidelity Investments guides, news and coverage.

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