Key takeaways
- The bonus is trading credit, not cash: it raises your equity, but only profits (and sometimes slices of the bonus) can be withdrawn.
- Judge an offer by one number: lots required ÷ the lots you normally trade per month. If that is more than the expiry period, skip it.
- UK, EU and Australian entities generally cannot pay retail bonuses, so most offers run through offshore licences with weaker protection.
How a forex welcome bonus works
A welcome bonus is a one-time incentive for traders opening their first live account with a broker. It lands as a separate "credit" line in MT4, MT5 or cTrader: it counts toward equity and free margin, so it can carry open trades and soak up small losses, but it cannot be transferred out.
Withdrawable money comes from two places only: the profits you make while the credit is active, and — in partial-release schemes — portions of the bonus that convert to cash as you hit volume milestones. Withdraw any of your own deposit early and most brokers cancel the credit, and often the profits linked to it.
5 rules that decide what the bonus is worth
- Lot requirement and expiry. How much volume, by when — and whether every instrument counts toward it.
- Profit cap. Common on no-deposit offers: profits above the cap are simply removed.
- Withdrawal trigger. What happens to the credit if you take out part of your own deposit.
- Banned strategies. Hedging across accounts, arbitrage, very short scalps and some EAs void many bonuses.
- Licensing entity. Note the company name and licence number on the sign-up page, then check them on the regulator's own website.
Verdict: is it worth it?
Take a welcome bonus only when the broker is one you would choose anyway, its licence checks out, and the lot target fits inside the expiry at your normal trading size. Otherwise a bonus-free account is the better deal: you give up a headline number, but keep full control of your deposits and withdrawals. Keep your usual risk per trade either way — our lot size guide shows how.