Robinhood Is Losing Thousands of Traders to a China-Owned Rival
Webull offers free trades and has picked up users after outages at Robinhood this year
By Bloomberg News
Even in a year full of surprises on Wall Street, this one stands out: A Chinese-owned brokerage has quietly built one of the fastest-growing retail trading platforms in the U.S.
Webull, founded by Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. alum Wang Anquan, has increased its roster of brokerage clients by about tenfold this year, to more than 2 million, by offering free stock trades with a slick online interface. While that’s still a fraction of the more than 13 million at Robinhood, the broker that popularized commission-free trading, Webull says it’s been peeling off users from its rival. The company has plans to pursue a big funding round from private U.S. investors and may expand into automated financial advice and money management with a so-called robo-adviser service.
Webull’s breakneck U.S. expansion is almost unheard of for a Chinese-owned financial company, particularly at a time when relations between the two countries have sunk to the…
