Turnover requirements explained

Turnover, also called a trading volume or wagering requirement, is how much you have to trade before a bonus or the profits from it become withdrawable. It is the single condition that most often decides whether a bonus is worth claiming.

Until you meet it, the bonus is locked. The headline number tells you how big the offer is; the turnover tells you how hard it is to actually keep.

Forex and CFD brokers usually measure turnover in lots. One standard lot is 100,000 units of the base currency. A requirement might be a fixed number of lots, or a number that scales with the bonus, such as a set number of lots for every unit of bonus credited.

Watch for the scaling kind. A rule like six lots for every dollar of bonus sounds small until you multiply it out. A $500 bonus would then need 3,000 lots traded, which is far beyond what most retail traders reach in the time allowed.

Crypto exchanges and some stock brokers measure the requirement in traded value instead of lots, for example a set dollar amount of trades within a window. This is easier to reason about: divide the required volume by the bonus to see how much trading each unit of bonus costs you.

A reward that needs $100 of trades to unlock $200 is generous. One that needs $20,000 of trades to unlock $50 is not.

Free-share offers from stock brokers often skip trading entirely. Instead they ask you to deposit a minimum and hold it, or hold the awarded shares, for a number of days. No turnover, but your money is locked for the period.

Treat the lock as the cost. A 30-day hold on a small free share is mild; a 12-month hold to keep a cashback rate is a real commitment.

Work out the ratio of required trading to the bonus, and check the time limit. If clearing the turnover would cost you more in spreads and risk than the bonus is worth, the offer is not worth claiming, however large the headline.