With so many new investing and trading platforms coming to market, it can be difficult to choose which is best for you. Recently, a variety of trading platforms have emerged.
Many of these apps are completely free for users and the companies have found ways to make money in other ways than charging customers. However, some are based on a monthly subscription model where users will pay a monthly fee to use the platform.
Either way, the investing industry has done a complete 180 from where it was a decade ago. With all these changes, how can you know which platform to choose? Read on to learn more about the similarities and differences between Stash and Webull.
Webull is a commission-free trading platform for intermediate traders that specializes in in-depth market data access. This is a great platform if you are interested in day trading, short selling, margin trading, cryptocurrencies, or market research.
Stash is a hands-off platform for long-term investors, offering portfolios and stocks and ETFs for a monthly fee of $1 to $9. This is a great platform if you enjoy investing in familiar stocks, saving for retirement, and using a debit card that can earn you stock!
Webull is a commission-free stock, ETF, and crypto trading platform. This platform is designed for active traders who are looking for a dynamic user interface.
Webull has a variety of features that benefit traders such as technical indicators, research agency ratings, financial calendars, margin trading, and short selling.
With easy access to margin, research tools, and live data, Webull has built an ideal platform for active traders. Check out our detailed review of Webull here.
Webull is a platform that is designed for the intermediate trader who already has some experience with the stock market. If you are a complete beginner, you might experience information overload. If you are a somewhat experienced trader, Webull will give you all of the data you will likely need.
Technical Indicators: Webull has a variety of technical indicators available on the platform. You can choose from 20+ indicators to help you become a more advanced trader such as moving averages, relative strength indexes, and more.
Virtual Trading Simulator: Webull has a useful feature called the virtual trading simulator. This feature lets you create a virtual portfolio with fake money to test out strategies before risking any of your real cash.
This is an ideal feature for someone just starting out or for someone who would like to test a trading theory. This feature provides $1,000,000 of fake money to practice trading with, risk free. Paper trading reacts exactly like the actual stock market so you'll know exactly what works, and what doesn't.
Smart Alerts: Webull allows you to set a variety of alerts for different holdings. You can be alerted when a price level is hit or a rate of change has reached a pre-determined level. There are also alerts for volume levels or changes. This can be useful for traders to get a sense of where the stock may be headed in the short term.
Financial Calendar:Â The financial calendar feature keeps you informed on all the latest and upcoming financial news. Important events such as upcoming IPOs, dividend payouts, and earnings releases are all provided to you in a calendar format on the Webull platform.
Margin Trading:Â Webull allows margin trading on its platform to certain users. You must have a minimum account balance of $2,000 to be approved for margin trading. The Webull margin rate can be as low as 3.99% but as high as 6.99% depending on the amount borrowed.
After Hours Trading: Webull offers after hours and premarket trading. You can trade securities from 4 am to 8 pm Monday to Friday on the Webull platform. This offers more flexibility in placing trades.
Short Selling: Webull allows its users to borrow shares for short selling. This fee changes daily and is based on the available stock. Follow this link for more information.
Fractional Shares: This feature has been a great way to level the investing playing field. For decades, users were only able to purchase stocks if they could afford the full amount. Now, this has been flipped on its head and users can purchase shares using dollar amounts and not number of whole shares. This allows investors with all income levels to invest in many of the most well-known stocks.
Webull is designed for active traders who focus on investment research. Webull provides an array of research tools for both the technical and fundamental invest0rs.
That being said, in most cases, this platform is best for those with some prior investment experience. If you are completely new to investing in the stock market, you might be overwhelmed by the number of research tools available to you.
If you sign up via our link and fund your account, you will get free stock!
Stash is an online trading and investing platform that aims to be simple, easy to use, and low cost. You can begin investing in Stash with as little as $5.
While this platform does emphasize that it is for everyone, the platform comes at a monthly fee of $1 - $9 per month. Depending on how much cash you have available to trade, $9 a month could be a hefty monthly fee. You may want to wait until you have more cash to begin investing.
Once you have your account open, you will be guided through a questionnaire. Stash will ask a variety of questions to analyze your risk tolerance, investment horizon, and personal preferences. Once Stash has an idea of what type of investor you are, the company can offer you a variety of recommendations customized to your investment objective.
You can build your own portfolio and Stash will make suggestions for which types of investments could make up the foundation of your portfolio.
Stash allows you to invest in a variety of stocks and ETFs on its platform. Stash allows you to invest in brokerage or retirement accounts. While the app offers you the freedom to choose your investments, it will also provide advice and suggestions along the way.
Stash is a great platform where you can learn about investing and build a diversified portfolio with the portfolio diversification score tool.
Fractional Shares: Just like with Webull, you do not need the full amount to invest in your favorite stocks. Invest as much or as little as you want in stocks like Amazon, Walmart, Netflix, and Tesla.
Automatic Investing:Â Set up your account to invest on regular cadences to take advantage of dollar-cost averaging. By setting up regular and recurring investments, you can fully harness the power of scheduled investing with Stash.
Stock-Back Card: By opting in for the Stash+ account, you will have access to the Stock-Back debit card which will round up your purchases and add more stocks to your account. This is great if you don't have a regular investment set up or like the idea of investing with each purchase.
When you purchase from a retailer or service provider that is already in your stock portfolio, you will be rewarded in stock from that company. For purchases where you are not invested in that company, Stash will allow you to choose where to invest that rounded up cash.
Custodial Accounts:Â Another feature that we love about Stash is the ability to invest for your posterity. Stash allows users to open custodial accounts and start saving for their children's retirement. This feature is available only with Stash +.
Life Insurance: This is an important part of everyone's financial picture and Stash wants to help. With just the beginner account, users will automatically get $1K of life insurance. Upgrade your account to Stash+ for $10K of life insurance. This is a fairly unique feature in the investing landscape.
Stash is a suitable platform for beginner investors but we believe the fees can outweigh the benefits depending on your account balance.
M1 Finance offers a similar product to what Stash is offering, but for free. While the platform is easy to use and get started with, you may outgrow it in a short period of time. Stash is designed for mobile users who are looking to invest that have little to no prior investing experience.
In this fee-free environment, it is hard to justify paying any fees to trade or manage your money.
The research tools and number of investment types available on Stash are relatively limited. Webull is for those who value investment research as well as free trades. That being said, a complete beginner will likely find Webull to be too complicated.
You will have more options for research tools and investments with Webull or M1 Finance. On top of that, these platforms are free whereas Stash is charging $1 to $9 a month. In our opinion, there are better options out there than the Stash investment platform.
