Webull (NASDAQ:BULL) enters an expansion phase backed by strong top-line momentum, having expanded full-year 2025 revenues by 46% to $571 million and total assets to over $4.1 billion. While working capital shifts led to a $250.9 million net operating cash outflow in the first half of 2026, the online brokerage maintains a solid balance sheet anchored by $1.04 billion in total equity and a TTM return on invested capital near 18%. As detailed in another piece, Webull leverages its strong revenue growth and disciplined cost management to scale high-margin product offerings across its international footprint.
On September 14, Webull began offering eligible customers CME Group’s nano-sized S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 futures. Each contract is a tenth the size of a Micro E-mini, so you can take a stake in the big indexes with far less money on the line. It sounds like a footnote. But the launch arrives right after the best quarter the broker has ever reported, and it shows where management wants to steer its customers next.
Small Contracts, Big Appetite
When Webull reported results on August 19 for the quarter ended June 30, revenue came in at $198.8 million, up 51% from a year earlier. Trading-related revenue did the heavy lifting, rising 66% to $147.7 million, which is exactly the kind of income a product like nano futures is meant to feed. Costs grew far more slowly, with total operating expenses up 13%. That swung the company from a pre-tax loss of $21.4 million a year ago to pre-tax income of $34.7 million.
Customers are showing up in force, too. Management said its updated tools for active traders, rolled out when the Pattern Day Trader Rule was scrapped on June 4, contributed to record volumes. Options volume reached 213 million contracts, up 34% from the prior quarter, and customer assets climbed 79% from a year earlier to $28.5 billion. Webull also launched in Spain, Argentina, and Colombia and is now licensed in 35 markets. By adding futures and prediction markets to its B2B offering, the company is clearly widening its shelf instead of leaning on one product.
The Fine Print on Growth
Start with who is driving the numbers. Registered users rose 13% to 28.2 million, but funded accounts grew only 8% to 5.13 million. Revenue, meanwhile, jumped 51%. That gap says growth is coming mostly from customers trading more, not from a flood of new ones, and revenue that leans on trading volume is only as steady as the trading itself. Assets tell a similar story. Customer assets rose 79%, yet net deposits grew just 7%, so fresh money is a small part of the picture.
Costs and the product itself deserve a look, too. Adjusted operating expenses rose 26% to $136.2 million, and the company ties its cost growth to brokerage and transaction fees that swell as volumes do. Busier trading is not free. The nano launch is also modest in scope. Customers need an approved futures account, and the contracts still come with margin, risk and jurisdictional limits. Neither the launch announcement nor the earnings release says how much futures trading contributes to revenue today, so the size of this opportunity is hard to judge.
Funds Lean In, Shorts Linger
The number of hedge funds holding Webull ticked up to 36 from 34 in the prior quarter. It is a small move, yet it points toward accumulation rather than exits. Short sellers, however, hold 8.06% of the float, which is a real bear camp and not a fringe view. On valuation, the shares trade at 19.61 times forward earnings, as of September 25, so the market is already assuming this year’s profit swing carries on.
At nearly 20 times forward earnings, the valuation is far from single-digit cheap, pricing in aggressive multi-quarter profit expansion. Short sellers appear to be targeting this exact vulnerability, betting that if market volatility slows, lower trading activity and rising volume-based transaction expenses will compress margins and leave the stock vulnerable to a valuation contraction.
What Really Moves the Needle
Nano futures are tiny, but they say something big about a broker that keeps adding ways to trade after a record quarter for volumes. The open question is whether that activity turns into lasting customers and deposits, or stays a function of how busy traders feel. Bulls need products like this to draw in new money and new accounts, not just busier trading from existing ones. If volumes cool while costs keep running ahead, that is the moment the bears get their opening.
READ NEXT: 10 Best Future Stocks to Buy Under $10 and 12 Best Performing Semiconductor Stocks to Invest In.
Hedge Fund Resource Center