How broker bonuses actually work

Most broker bonuses are credit, not cash. The broker adds an amount to your account that you can trade with, but you cannot withdraw it until you meet a set of conditions. Until then it works as extra margin, which lets you open larger positions, not as money you own.

This is the single biggest misunderstanding. A headline like 100% deposit bonus sounds like the broker is doubling your money. In practice you are being given more buying power, with strings attached that decide whether any of it ever becomes yours.

Turnover, sometimes called a trading volume requirement, is how much you must trade before the bonus or its profits can be withdrawn. Forex and CFD brokers usually measure it in lots. A common shape is a number of lots per unit of bonus, for example six lots for every dollar of bonus credited.

Run the numbers before you commit. A bonus that needs thousands of lots to release a few hundred dollars is, for most retail traders, effectively impossible to clear. The bonus looks generous on the landing page and is unreachable in the terms.

Withdrawal rules and turnover are different things. Some brokers let you withdraw the profits you make with the bonus freely, while the bonus amount itself stays locked. Others treat the whole balance as bonus credit until conditions are met, and a few cancel a share of the bonus if you withdraw your own deposit early.

Always check what happens to your original deposit. If pulling it out early forfeits part of the bonus, the offer is less flexible than it appears.

Stock brokers often give a free share for funding an account, with a deposit-and-hold condition rather than trading turnover. You keep the share, but the proceeds from selling it may be locked for a period such as 30 days.

Crypto exchanges tend to pay a sign-up reward in crypto after a small deposit and trade. These rewards are usually real, withdrawable crypto once earned, but the headline figure is often a ceiling that few users reach.

In the EU and EEA, ESMA rules ban most trading bonuses for retail clients, so a broker regulated there cannot offer them to you even if the promotion exists elsewhere. A bonus advertised as global may exclude your country in the fine print.

Prefer brokers under strong regulators. A large bonus from a broker you cannot trust is worth less than a modest one from a broker that will let you withdraw.