Crossroads of Self-Trading: Exploring the Real Deal between Webull and Ally Invest

Let’s talk about two popular investing platforms: Webull and Ally Invest. Both are great for beginners and are low-cost, making it easy to dip your toes in investing waters. But how do they stack up against each other? Let’s dive in!

Webull and Ally Invest are different in who they cater to. Webull attracts younger users with its mobile experience and offers things like fractional shares and cryptocurrency. Ally Invest, on the other hand, suits seasoned investors who want reliable data and don’t care much for fractional shares or crypto. If you already bank with Ally, their investing platform can be a seamless integration.

New to Webull? You can score up to 12 free stocks just for trying it out. The company is U.S.-based, regulated by the SEC and FINRA, and has flourished since its 2017 birth as a mobile app. Today, it is a web and desktop platform too, enjoyed by new and experienced investors. Apart from crypto trading, Webull offers many investment products and supports fractional shares (great for beginners!). Other features include real-time market data, a free trade simulator, commission-free short-selling, extensive technical indicators and extended trading hours.

On the other hand, Ally Invest is the offspring of Ally Bank, promising to simplify banking and make it more accessible. Whether you’re trading stocks, ETFs, mutual funds, options, or fixed-income products, Ally Invest has tools and analysis features that’ll help you grow your portfolio. Features include zero commission on ETFs/stocks, dynamic profitability graphs, advanced data/research options, and no commission on foreign exchange.

As for actual investing, Webull prioritizes stocks, ETFs, options, and cryptocurrencies, even supporting fractional shares trading. Keeping different types of investors in mind, it provides traditional, rollover IRAs and Roth too. However, it doesn’t facilitate trading certain cryptocurrencies like Solana, Internet Computer, Polkado, Uniswap, Algorand, stable coins, etc.

Meanwhile, Ally Invest offers a wider variety of investment options including mutual funds and fixed-income products. However, it lacks access to cryptocurrencies, doesn’t support futures trading and doesn’t offer fractional shares.

Both platforms have easy-to-use interfaces: Webull has a mobile, web-based, and desktop platform while Ally Invest ties with Ally Bank, showing all related accounts in one place. Keep in mind, Ally Invest’s platform feels a bit dated and the predetermined menu may disappear at times.

When it comes to mobile apps, both have their pros and cons. Webull’s app offers paper trading for beginners and advanced graphing tools for seasoned investors. But it lacks mobile check deposit, bill paying, and Zelle transfer features. Ally Invest’s app, available via the Ally Bank app, offers extended hour trading, good charting features and more financial transactions like bill pay and mobile check deposits.

Fees on Webull are easy to understand: there are no account fees, nor fees or commissions for trading stocks, ETFs, or options. But there is a 1% charge on each crypto transaction. Ally Invest’s fee structure, however, is a bit more complex where the fee varies depending on the type of trade.

Both platforms offer excellent research tools too. Webull focuses on technical and fundamental analysis, whereas Ally Invest provides more data and research options along with profitability graphs, various screeners, and backtesting via a built-in strategy builder.

Speaking of cryptocurrencies, Webull supports the popular ones like Bitcoin, Ethereum, Cardano and more. But it lacks a crypto wallet, meaning you can’t transfer coins off the platform. Ally Invest, however, does not provide crypto trading at all.

So, what’s the better choice? It depends on your needs. If you want a platform for trading popular cryptocurrencies, go for Webull. If you want a broader range of investment types and don’t mind a slightly complex fee structure, consider Ally Invest. As with all financial decisions, be sure to carefully evaluate what works best for your situation.