$Webull(BULL.US) Q2 results are out; Dolphin Research offers a quick take.

1) Rare alpha. Historically, Webull's alpha has been limited, with performance closely tied to the US market. Only in the latest quarter did it generate some excess vs. the market.

See the charts below: the first shows avg. daily trades for stocks and options, which clearly jumped in Jun and Jul. June's tape was strong, and performance remained resilient through July's selloff. Options, which carry higher per-trade revenue, gained share faster than stocks (chart 2)...

The PDT rule was removed on Jun 4, driving option contract volume up 34% QoQ. Quarterly revenue hit a record $198.8mn, and Adj. OPM rose to 31.5%.

However, marketing spend in 2H will remain roughly flat vs 1H and will not come in below Q2 levels. Management is placing the incremental upside on agentic trading and on the acquisition of Thailand's Pi Securities, expected to close by end-Aug.