If you don’t think the CCP has the ability to freeze account holders ability to withdraw from any bank or brokerage they have influence over your just delusional. My argument isn’t that china is creating profiles either, that’s absurd, they buy them from the NSA like everyone else. “Your” company is great, I’m not knocking it. I’m pointing out its a bad time to have your money in Chinese owned bank/brokerage. Nothing more. By webull’s own admission, the average account value is less than $5000, those are not retail investors, those are everyday Americans with very little savings being sold a bucket of hopium.
Discussion
Retail investors/traders are everyday Americans, non-institutional traders. It is unlikely that Webull would freeze funds just as much as it is unlikely that TikTok creators & sellers would have their funds siezed- and there is far more money flowing through TikTok than there is on Webull. There's a significant tenfold chance that a US crypto exchange would collapse before Webull decides to withhold funds from Americans because their government says so.
For Webull to operate in the US, they use Webull Financial LLC which is independent in the US and under US regulations such as FINRA. It is also SIPC protected, meaning accounts are insured up to $500,00 including $250,000 for cash- so regardless of Webull's origins, it is under US regulations and guidelines. They also use Apex Clearing which further insulates your Webull account from foreign interference.
The same regulations applies to Moomoo, Robinhood, TradeStation, IBKR, etc. If they are operating in the US, they abude by US regulations.
Your views on China during the current economic FUD is valid- but American retail traders/investors with funds in a Webull account can rest easy knowing their funds are insured- up to a point, and like you said, more than the average $5000 account size.
Just for the sake of your argument if something did happen, would it be a blow to the average American on Webull? Sure. Would they lose those funds forever? No. Would it take time to recover those insured funds? Absolutely. But this is irrelevant, Webull funds from American users are in a US-based LLC, and any assets owned by these users are also managed by Apex Clearing- a completely separate entity from Webull.
Hey listen, I hope you're right. I think if my account value was 5k I wouldn't care to much either. But it's not so ill be over here being all super paranoid and crazy ;p It will be fun when your connected with IB or maybe lightspeed. : )
IBKR is certainly on our list, however, they are one of the few brokers that actually require a vetting/approval process which we still have to undergo, so we don't have an ETA for it yet.
Wasn't familiar with Lightspeed until you mentioned it, appears they offer API Trading so it's likely they will have a compatible API- but unknown what their process will be like until we look into it more, or make contact, which looks like is needed to work with their API.
Currently we're focusing on the big 10 right now. Webull & Moomoo done, Schwab/thinkorswim next, then Robinhood, TradeStation, Tastytrade, Firstrade, Fidelity, Tradier, & IBKR- in no specific order. Also will be looking into MT5 integration, along with other smaller but popular brokers amongst short traders such as SpeedTrader, TradeZero, etc.
Hope to see you on the leaderboards soon!