Deposit bonuses are prohibited for retail clients of firms authorised in Europe, the United Kingdom and Australia. They remain common at offshore entities, including the offshore arms of brands that cannot offer them onshore, and they are among the most consequential terms a new client accepts without reading.
The four terms that decide whether a bonus is worth taking
- The volume requirement, and whether it is achievable at your normal trading rate.
- Whether the requirement gates only the bonus or your own deposit as well.
- What happens to the bonus when you withdraw before completing it.
- Whether the bonus counts toward margin, and therefore toward your stop-out.
The volume requirement
A bonus is released against traded volume, usually expressed as lots per unit of bonus. A common structure requires one standard lot traded for every few units of bonus credited, which on a modest bonus can mean tens or hundreds of lots.
Convert it before accepting. Take the required volume, divide by the lots you genuinely trade in a month, and you have the number of months the condition will take at your normal rate. If that number exceeds a few months, the bonus is not a benefit; it is an incentive to trade more than you intended, which is exactly what it is designed to be.
Then price the requirement. Every lot traded costs a spread and possibly a commission. A requirement of a hundred lots at one pip per lot on a standard lot costs a thousand units of the account currency to satisfy — which may exceed the bonus itself.
Check whether the condition locks your own deposit
The most damaging variant makes the entire balance — bonus and deposit together — non-withdrawable until the volume condition is met. A trader who deposits, accepts a bonus and then wants their money back finds it gated behind trading they did not plan to do. This term is disclosed, and it is the one to look for first.
Bonus and margin
Whether the bonus counts toward margin changes how the account behaves under stress. Where it does, it raises free margin and therefore permits larger positions — and it moves the stop-out level, because margin level is calculated on equity that includes credit the broker can remove.
Some brokers remove the bonus when equity falls to a threshold, which reduces equity further and can trigger the stop-out that the removal was a response to. This is disclosed in the terms and it is rarely obvious from them. If the bonus counts toward margin, read the removal clause specifically.
What happens on withdrawal
Three patterns are common. The bonus is removed and your deposit and profits are paid — the cleanest arrangement. The bonus is removed along with a proportional share of profits attributed to it, which requires an accounting you cannot verify. Or the withdrawal is refused entirely until the volume condition is met.
The second is the one to be careful with, because it introduces a calculation performed by the counterparty on a basis the client cannot check. Where the terms describe profits being adjusted rather than simply the bonus being removed, that is worth understanding fully before accepting anything.
Cashback and rebates are different
A volume rebate — a payment per lot traded, credited after the fact — is a different instrument from a deposit bonus. It is withdrawable, it carries no volume gate on your own funds, and it reduces effective trading cost rather than incentivising volume you had not planned.
For an active trader a rebate is straightforwardly useful, and the arithmetic is simple: it lowers the per-lot cost by a known amount. The only caution is that a rebate offered by a third-party introducing broker may route your account through that intermediary, which is a relationship worth understanding separately.
The reasonable position
A bonus is a marketing expense the broker expects to recover through the volume it generates. That does not make it a trap — a trader who was going to trade that volume anyway is receiving something for nothing. It makes it a term to evaluate arithmetically rather than accept as a gift.
Before accepting any bonus
- Find the full terms document, not the promotional page.
- Calculate the required volume in lots and divide by your genuine monthly volume.
- Multiply the required volume by your average cost per lot and compare against the bonus.
- Establish whether the condition gates your deposit or only the bonus.
- Read the removal clause and whether the bonus counts toward margin.
- If any of these cannot be answered from the document, decline the bonus.
The last step is the operative one. Declining a bonus is always available, costs nothing, and leaves the account under terms you can read in full.
Common questions
Can I withdraw a deposit bonus?
Almost never as cash. The bonus is credit that supports trading and is removed on withdrawal. What may become withdrawable is profit earned while it was in place, subject to the volume conditions.
Why are bonuses banned in some jurisdictions?
Because they were found to encourage retail clients to trade more and take larger positions than they intended. European, UK and Australian rules prohibit them for retail clients of authorised firms.
Does the bonus affect my stop-out level?
If it counts toward margin, yes. It raises equity and free margin, and some brokers remove it when equity falls to a threshold — which lowers equity further at the worst moment. Read the removal clause.
Is a rebate the same as a bonus?
No. A rebate pays per lot traded, is withdrawable, and reduces trading cost without gating your funds. It is a different instrument and generally the more useful one for an active trader.
