Charles Schwab vs Webull

Charles Schwab and Webull both offer commission-free U.S. stock and ETF trading, but almost everything around that headline differs.

Schwab is a full-service brokerage and banking ecosystem: thinkorswim for active trading, futures and forex, a broad fund and fixed-income shelf, Intelligent Portfolios for managed investing, and Schwab Bank for cash. Webull is a U.S.-centric active-trading platform whose $0 headline pricing extends to equity options and whose product set has expanded into futures, crypto and event contracts.

A single ranking would not be useful. These platforms answer different questions about how a portfolio is held and traded.

Stocks and ETFs

Schwab charges $0 on online U.S. stocks and ETFs, with a $0 brokerage account minimum. Broker-assisted equity trades cost $25 and automated phone trades $5. Industry, ADR, securities-borrow and other applicable charges can still apply.

Webull charges $0 commission on eligible U.S.-listed stocks and ETFs with regulatory and exchange fees still applying, and states a $0 account minimum and $0 standard account fee.

Standard options

Schwab charges $0.65 per contract, with applicable regulatory and exchange charges and contract fees applying across each leg of a multi-leg trade. A low-value buy-to-close provision applies under its published schedule.

Webull charges $0 commission and a $0 Webull contract fee on stock and ETF options, with regulatory and exchange fees still applying and an oversized-option fee of $0.10 per contract at 500 contracts or greater.

For a high-volume equity-options trader this is one of the clearest structural differences in the comparison.

Index options

Schwab's canonical record does not establish a separate consumer index-option rate; index options fall under its published options schedule.

Webull states $0.50 per contract on its controlling pricing page. Some Webull pages have stated $0.55; the discrepancy is tracked as a monitoring trigger and should be confirmed before trading.

Futures

Schwab charges $2.25 per contract, per side on futures and futures options through Charles Schwab Futures and Forex LLC on thinkorswim, with exchange and NFA fees additional, across equity index, interest rate, currency, energy, metals, agricultural and crypto-linked futures.

Webull charges $0.25 per contract, per side on micro futures, $0.70 on mini futures and $1.25 on standard futures through Webull Futures LLC, plus exchange and NFA fees.

Platforms

Schwab's platform family is thinkorswim desktop, web and mobile plus Schwab.com and Schwab Mobile, with paperMoney simulated trading, Level II quotes, market depth, screeners, technical studies and research. StreetSmart Edge is no longer a current primary platform.

Webull offers Webull Desktop, WebTrade, Mobile and Webull Lite, with advanced charting, cloud-synced drawings, unlimited layouts, custom alerts, screeners, paper trading and subscription data feeds including Nasdaq TotalView, NBBO and overnight Level 2.

Forex

Schwab supports retail forex on thinkorswim with 65+ currency pairs through Charles Schwab Futures and Forex LLC. The stated commission is $0 and the principal trading cost is the bid/ask spread.

Webull's canonical record does not establish conventional retail spot forex.

Crypto status

Schwab does not currently support direct spot crypto. Schwab Crypto is recorded as an announced product, "coming soon" as of the canonical fact-check date, through Charles Schwab Premier Bank, SSB, covering Bitcoin and Ether at a 0.75% trading fee with zero stated spread. Crypto ETPs and crypto-linked futures are available today, and neither is direct crypto ownership.

Webull supports direct crypto today through Webull Pay LLC with Coinbase, and Bakkt Crypto Solutions, LLC in New York, Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands, with a headline 70+ assets, about 1% spread included in the buy and sell price on many trades, $0 custody fee and 24/7 trading. Crypto accounts are not SIPC protected.

Fractional shares

Schwab supports dollar-based and share-based fractional orders across most U.S.-listed stocks and ETFs, from a $1 minimum purchase at $0 online commission. The current program is broader than the legacy Stock Slices model.

Webull supports fractional shares from a $1 minimum fractional buy, with a $0.01 minimum fractional sell and a minimum quantity above 0.00001 shares. Fractional positions cannot be transferred by ACATS and fractional short selling is not supported.

24/5 trading

Schwab supports 24/5 trading in more than 1,300 eligible stocks and ETFs — not the entire U.S. listed universe.

Webull supports 24/5 trading on selected securities with pre-market, after-hours and overnight sessions running Sunday evening through Thursday overnight, with eligibility subject to change.

APIs

Webull's OpenAPI covers stocks, fractional stocks, options, futures, crypto and event contracts over HTTP, MQTT and gRPC, with Python and Java SDKs, including broker, trading, connect and market-data interfaces.

A comparable public trading API is not established in Schwab's canonical record.

Prediction and event contracts

Webull offers Kalshi event contracts through Webull Futures LLC at $0.01 per contract firm fee plus $0.01 per contract exchange fee, with $0.01 to $0.99 contract pricing and $1 winning and $0 losing settlement, in a separate account that is not SIPC protected.

Event or prediction contracts are not established in Schwab's canonical record.

Automated investing

Schwab Intelligent Portfolios has a $5,000 minimum with no separately stated advisory fee and $0 commissions, automatic rebalancing, tax-loss harvesting above $50,000 in invested assets subject to eligibility, and a required cash allocation held as an FDIC-insured deposit at Schwab Bank. Investors still bear underlying ETF expenses and the indirect economics of the cash allocation. A Premium tier adds CFP access for a $300 initial planning fee and a $30 monthly advisory fee at a $25,000 minimum.

Webull Advisors LLC offers automated portfolios with a $100 minimum and an annual advisory fee of approximately 0.15% to 0.30% depending on strategy.

Funds, fixed income and traditional breadth

Schwab's shelf covers mutual funds with thousands of no-load and no-transaction-fee options, index funds, corporate, municipal and government agency bonds, brokered CDs and Treasuries, alongside a wide account list including 529, custodial, inherited IRA, individual 401(k), Keogh, trust, estate, organisation and international accounts.

Webull's canonical record establishes a narrower traditional shelf, with pricing stated for corporate bonds at 0.10% of principal value (minimum $10) and Treasuries at a 0.10% markup, and $0 minimum IRA and brokerage accounts.

Banking and ecosystem

Schwab Bank supports Investor Checking with a $0 monthly service fee and $0 minimum balance, unlimited eligible worldwide ATM fee rebates, $0 foreign transaction fees on eligible debit-card transactions, bill pay, mobile deposit and a linked Schwab One brokerage account, plus bank and money-fund sweep options.

Webull's canonical record establishes a cash-management feature with an FDIC bank-sweep program and money market fund access, noting that not every cash balance is FDIC insured — only cash enrolled in the eligible sweep program, subject to program rules and limits.

ROIStreet does not assign a winner or star rating. The fit depends on whether you need a full financial ecosystem or a low-cost, product-dense trading platform.