Deposit bonuses and the lot requirements in the footnotes

[Fairman]

Deposit bonuses and the lot requirements in the footnotes

A bonus of 50 percent sounds like free money. The terms usually say the bonus cannot be withdrawn until a set number of lots has been traded, often a large number.

For a scalper, trading many lots is not hard, which makes the offer look tempting. But the bonus often comes with restrictions that hit scalpers specifically: no scalping, minimum trade duration, or exclusion of trades under a certain number of pips.

There are also cases where the broker can cancel profits made with bonus funds if the terms are breached, and the terms can be interpreted broadly.

Margin and leverage rules may also change on a bonus account, and the bonus often vanishes if the client withdraws any funds.

The simple test is asking whether the account would be opened without the bonus. If the answer is no, the bonus is a lure. If the broker is good without it, the bonus is irrelevant and can be declined without loss.

A rough rule is never accepting a bonus without reading the full terms and saving a copy. Terms can change, and the saved copy is the evidence of what was agreed.

Has a bonus ever turned out to carry a condition that mattered?