Webull Corporation (BULL)

How it makes money

Webull does not charge a commission on most trades; it is paid by the plumbing behind the trade. The largest line is payment for order flow — rebates from market makers and liquidity providers for routing customer equity and option orders — which was $304.1 million in 2025, or 53.3% of total revenues, against $197.1 million and 50.5% in 2024. The second line is interest-related income ($154.3 million in 2025): stock lending, margin financing, and interest earned on customer and corporate cash balances, which rises and falls with interest rates. Third come handling charges ($87.3 million), mostly per-contract options fees and platform and trading fees, and finally other revenues ($25.3 million) such as data subscriptions and co-marketing. Total revenues were $571 million in 2025, up 46% on 2024. The company reported net income of $24.8 million for 2025 against a net loss of $22.7 million in 2024; after accretion on preferred shares and warrant fair-value effects, the net loss attributable to ordinary shareholders was $487.5 million in 2025 and $517.8 million in 2024.

Webull's nearest thing to a barrier is its stack of broker-dealer licences in twelve markets, which takes years and capital to assemble, plus the habit and inertia of an app with 5.0 million funded accounts. Neither is durable protection: the company itself describes the market for digital trading services as rapidly evolving and intensely competitive, pricing is already at zero commission across the sector, and a retail account can be transferred to a rival broker. Webull was also loss-making at the ordinary-shareholder level in both 2024 and 2025, which is not what a protected franchise usually looks like.

Almost every revenue line moves with the market. Order flow rebates and handling charges depend on how much retail investors trade, which swells in volatile, rising markets and dries up in quiet ones; Webull's daily average revenue trades grew 55% and equity notional volume 87% in the fourth quarter of 2025, the kind of swing that can reverse. Interest income depends on rate levels and on margin balances, which themselves shrink when investors de-risk. Customer assets of $24.6 billion at the end of 2025 were up 81%, partly because markets rose. A long bear market would hit trading activity, margin lending and new account growth at the same time.

Key risks

• The majority of trading income comes from payment for order flow — The company states that the majority of its trading-related income is derived from PFOF, and that the practice has drawn heightened scrutiny from the U.S. Congress, the SEC and state regulators, who could require additional disclosure, cap payment rates, or ban the practice entirely. It also discloses that PFOF may create a misalignment of interest with customers.
• Dependence on a limited number of market makers — Among the risks relating to its products and services, Webull states that it relies on a limited number of market makers and liquidity providers to generate a large portion of its revenues, and that losing any of them could negatively affect the business. The filing does not quantify how much each one contributes.
• Revenues follow trading activity — The company flags that its business is heavily reliant on trading-related income and would be hurt by a sustained slowdown in securities trading. Order flow rebates and handling charges are both paid per trade, so a quiet market reduces two of the four revenue lines at once.
• Exposure to interest rates — Webull states that a large part of its revenue comes from interest-related income on stock lending, margin financing and customer and corporate deposits, and that interest rates are a key driver of that income. It is directly and indirectly exposed to rate fluctuations and to rapidly changing rate environments.
• Short history and past losses — The filing warns that the company has a limited operating history whose results are not necessarily indicative of future performance, that it has incurred net losses attributable to ordinary shareholders — $487.5 million in 2025 and $517.8 million in 2024 — and that it may not maintain net income.
• Regulation in many jurisdictions, including event contracts and crypto — Webull is subject to extensive and constantly evolving regulatory requirements in every market where it operates, may be involved in investigations, actions and settlements, and states that its ability to offer event contracts depends on the outcome of ongoing and potential future regulatory enforcement actions. It separately flags that cryptocurrency laws, regulations and accounting standards are hard to interpret and evolving fast, and that crypto prices are volatile.
• Concentration of people and ownership in mainland China — The company discloses that its founder and chief executive officer is a citizen of the People's Republic of China and beneficially owns 16.4% of the ordinary shares, and that its mainland China subsidiary, Hunan Weibu Information Technology Co., Ltd., employed 863 people — 62% of all employees — as of December 31, 2025. Its FY2024 risk factors group this under concerns about the company's China connections.
• Platform outages and cybersecurity — The platform relies on software that may contain undetected errors, a surge in volume can make systems malfunction, and the company may suffer network interruptions, security breaches or attacks. It also warns that incorporating AI technologies into its products and processes brings business, compliance and reputational risks.

Webull has millions of small retail customers — 5.0 million funded accounts at the end of 2025 — so no single account matters. The concentration sits on the other side of the trade: the company states it relies on a limited number of market makers and liquidity providers for a large portion of its revenues, and payment for order flow alone was 53.3% of total revenues in 2025. The filing does not disclose how many such counterparties there are or what share the largest one represents, so no number can be given.