Best Brokerage Bonuses – Earn Up To $5,000

Our posts on the best bank account bonuses and best credit card bonuses are some of the most popular on the site, recently I’ve been trying to post more brokerage bonuses as I know some people use these to make some extra money and it helps them grow their investments. This post will be for the best brokerage bonuses, I’m relatively new to these so I’d welcome your input on bonuses we might have missed and any relevant important information you think should be included. Unlike other sites we don’t use affiliate links for brokerage bonuses so you can ensure you’re getting the best possible deal, rather than the one that pays us the most.

WeBull Brokerage – 2% match & $100

Direct link to offer

2% match on brokerage transfers, valid through September 30, 2025. Plus $100 bonus for initial deposit of $2,000.

Wells Fargo $2,500 Premier Bonus

Direct link to offer

Requires $250,000 in cash or investments. Must open checking Premier checking account; $250,000 requirement can be done with the brokerage. Must be opened in a Wells Fargo branch. Account also has a $35 month fee, waived if you have $250,00 balance.

Robinhood – 2% IRA Transfer Bonus

This one also requires Robinhood Gold for 1 year ($50) and also has a long 5 year hold period requirement.

Robinhood 1-3% IRA Contribution Match

Direct link to offer

This bonus is limited due to the annual contribution limits to IRAs. Robinhood Gold members get a 3% match and everyone else gets 1%.

Firstrade – 2%/3% IRA Bonus

Direct link to offer

2% on IRA transfers and 3% on new contributions. Requires 5 year hold.

TradeUp – $2,000 Bonus + Free Stocks

Direct Link to offer

Get $1,000 with $50,000 transfer or $2,000 with $100,000 transfer.

  • Read our full post
  • Deposits must be maintained for at least 1 year (possibly closer to 2 years) to get the full bonus

TastyTrade – Up To $5,000

Direct Link to offer

Excellent deal to get $3,000 with $250,000 transfer. The other tiers are great too, such as $2,000 with $100,000 transfer. There is a 12 month holding period on the funds in order to be eligible.

Public Brokerage – Up To $10,000

Direct Link to offer

Some pretty good tiers here, ranging from $150 with $5,000 transfer to $10,000 with $5M transfer.

Citi Wealth Management – Up To $5,000

Direct link to offer

Huge bonus and it works for self directed accounts, main issue is that account set up is all manual and extremely slow.

  • Read our full post
  • Deposits must be maintained for three months after account opening (but you can fund within two months of account opening meaning funds can be in there for roughly ~1 month)

M1 Finance – .5% Bonus

Direct Link to offer

During January 2025, M1 Finance is offering a bonus of .5% on your investment transfers of $10,000 or more. Maximum $25,000 bonus (on a $5M transfer).

Merrill – $1,000

Direct Link to offer

Merrill has a bonus of $1,000 with $250,000 asset transfer. There’s also a way to get $1,500 with $500,000, details in this post. There are other tiers as well.

Betterment – $1,000

Direct link to offer

There are various tiers. The $1,000 bonus requires $175,000 in brokerage or IRA funds. There is also a 3 year hold. 

TD Bank – $750

Direct Link to offer

There are various tiers on this offer; the highest is $750 with $75,000 investment. Holding period of just 60-90 days.

Schwab – $101

Direct Link to offer

The Schwab Starter Kit offer gives $101 in the S&P to new customers who deposit $50 within 30 days.

Schwab – Up to $1,000

Direct Link to offer

This offer is for new Schwab members who get referred from a friend; ask a friend who is an existing Schwab member. Largest bonus of $1,000 requires an investment of $500,000+.

E*Trade – Up To $4,000

Direct Link to offer

The $4,000 tier requires $1.5M deposit. There are lots of other tiers as well. Notably, there is a $100 tier with $50 deposit which is an easy bonus for a lot of people.

E*Trade – Up To $40,000 IRA Bonus

Direct Link to offer

Many useful tiers. For example, $200,000 IRA transfer gets $1,000. There are lots of other tiers as well.

Interactive Brokers – Up To $1,000

Direct link to offer

Promotion is a bit confusing as it’s not that clear when/how long the funds need to be in your account for. You also get the bonus in the form of interactive brokers shares and these can’t be sold for one year.

Moomoo – $600 & More

Direct Link to offer

Moomoo is offering a 3% match on investments, up to $600. Max this out with a $20,000 investment transfer. Also stacks with 8.10% APY promo for 90 days. You can also ACH transfer an additional $2,000 $5,000 for another bonus of 30 60 free stocks.

Chase Self Directed – $700

Direct Link to offer

Highest tier requires $250,000+ investment. Must be maintained for 90 days.

Smaller Bonuses – No Requirement

There are a number of smaller brokerages that offer sign up bonuses with no deposit requirement. The bonuses are much smaller, but might still be worth picking up for some people.

Acorns – $23

Direct link to offer

$13.50 is from Swagbucks, other $10 is from Acorns.

Robinhood – Free Stock & $50 Rakuten

Direct link to offer

You only get a free stock worth $3-$150, but better than nothing and Robinhood offers commission free trading. You can now sign up via Rakuten and get $50 or 5,000 points as well.

Webull – Four Free Stocks

Direct link to offer

Basically the same as Robinhood, you get four stocks stock valued between $3 and $1,000.

Bonuses Not Listed

Below are some brokerage bonuses we don’t want listed under the ‘best brokerage bonuses’, we are including them here so that readers know they have been intentionally left out and why.

Post History
    William Charles
  • On August 19, 2020, 17:17
Tags: brokerage bonuses

View Comments (564)

  • TradeStation has a Nerdwallet offer where you deposit $5,000 into a new brokerage account to get $150. Must use promotion code NERDAGMV

    If I'm reading correctly, it looks like the deposit must be made within 45 days and you would get the bonus a month later.

    Details of promotion: https://www.tradestation.com/promo/gen/nerdwallet/?subId1=3d135092d45a49a6bc71cbb076df39b0

    Found under https://www.nerdwallet.com/best/investing/brokerage-account-promotions-and-bonuses

    @2 @6

  • Webull is doing a flat 2% bonus (no tiers) for new customers only until September 30, 2025. This looks similar to the 2024 bonus except that the bonus will be paid in monthly installments over 24 months instead of 50% after one year and 50% after two years. And you get 30 days of premium and the 4% APY booster. Valid for deposits from $2,000 to $1,000,000. https://www.webull.com/offers-promotions/deposit

    • Quick question. What happens if I invest 10k and take 5k out after a month. Will I still be eligible for 2% bonus for the remaining 5k?.

    • What is the SIPC insurance limit of Webull and would you trust transferring any money above the SIPC insurance into Webull for getting the 2% bonus?

      • Looks like Webull does not let you transfer *any* money out and keep your bonus, be warned.

        "After the first payment date, if your withdrawals and transfers out are greater than your deposits and transfers in, you will be disqualified from receiving any remaining bonus installments."

  • Just saw an offer for $1000 instead of $700 on Chase Self-Directed:

    This is an invitation to get up to $1,000 when you open a J.P. Morgan Self-Directed Investing account—an investing experience that puts you in control

    • question.. I just did a Chase Self-directed bonus.. just got the bonus and about to close account. Seems like I need to wait 12 months from closure before going for round 2?

      • I have a similar question. Based on my understanding, one can open multiple Chase Self-directed accounts? You can get the bonus for a new account given it has been 12 months since you got the bonus last time. Therefore you do not necessarily close the account for opening a new account to get again the bonus, it is only the date for your last bonus that matters. Am I understanding correctly?

  • Is there a list of brokerage bonuses that are allowed to be churned, somewhere? I keep seeing Merrill mentioned but are there others?

    • E*Trade is churnable. I've done it at least 3 times, maybe even more (i don't have access to my whole history right now).

      • @guest_2071384 Oh interesting. I tried to do the IRA offer earlier this year after completing 2 regular brokerage bonuses but the promo couldn't be attached. They said the system showed that I reached the limit of 2 for new brokerage account openings. They said they did have an IRA offer for existing members tho but the tiers weren't as good.

    • @guest_1875514 In my experience, you can do etrade twice (new accounts including retirement accounts although they have offers for existing customers from time to time), Schwab (they also match other brokerages), Citi Self-Invest (once per quarter), Wells Fargo (once per year), Chase Self-Directed (once per year), and Chase Private Client (once per year). I'm not 100% sure about Merrill since they say it's once per account type but DPs here are pretty positive.

      To my knowledge, these brokerages are not churnable: TastyTrade, moomoo, HSBC.

      Some other brokerages I know that come out with unique offers from time to time that you can participate in include SoFi, TradeUP, and Webull.

      Not sure about others.

      • I think the following brokerage bonuses are churnable, that I did not see mentioned yet:
        -Tradestation
        -eToro

        • TradeStation no-go.. several datapoints showing churn failed in 2024 and 2025. For me they denied it even I met all requirements and filed CFPB

          eToro.. any good offers currently? :)

      • actually, I haven't done HSBC. but I also don't see any current bonuses with them at the moment.

      • @guest_1835802 this is a really great list! Did you mean to say that you did Schwab twice? I've had Schwab accounts (brokerage, checking) forever.. I wish it could be done twice.
        Wow Citi can be done 4x per year? I just did my first Citi Invest this year.. well still waiting for the bonus to post.. it's due later this month. I was told I need to keep my Citi checking open until the bonus posts. But catch-22.. if I close my Citi checking then it could be difficult to open a new one in the future.. since Citi seems to block me for a few years in between churns.
        Does WellsFargo do smaller bonuses? I only see that 250k brokerage bonus for WellsFargo right now. I guess I should close my old WellsTrade account I don't use.. in case of any churn opportunities.

        I was able to churn SoFi in the past around 2022.. but I think they cracked down on it.
        I was really hoping to find a brokerage bonus I could do, that's available to me, because I want to park some SGOV somewhere.. but looks like I can't find any that I currently qualify for at this moment. I've already done TradeUP, TT, etc.

        • You don't have to close the CPWM account. Leave a couple hundred bucks worth of ETFs just to keep it open. It streamlines the next round, as much as Citi can be streamlined.

        • Hi @guest_2070089 For Schwab, I just remembered that I had to ask for new offers while I was already doing the referral offer for $500/$100k, and they came back with something similar as long as I was depositing new money.

          However I asked them to match the TastyTrade offer for $1k/$100k, and they said they'd match if I did the $2k/$250k tier instead. I eventually went with TastyTrade because I wanted the lower tier. So I think it is possible to participate in additional offers with Schwab if you ask.

          For Citi, yes my advisor said the offer is valid once per quarter so I split my IRA to do 2 back-to-back quarters. The bonuses were deposited into my IRA.

          I believe @guest_1039297 is correct about Wells Fargo in that I have not seen a lower tier than $250k and that you keep your WellsTrade account open.

          • nice! I should ask Schwab if they have any offers. I got my first and only bonus with them like 13 years ago.
            I'm curious, did you ask them over the phone? Or did you do via chat / secure message so there's written proof?

            Sorry for all the questions, but for Citi.. do you know how Citi calculates the "once per quarter?" Like for example, I opened my account in February.. but received the bonus in June. Does that mean I need to wait until 3rd quarter of 2025 or I could go for another bonus now?

          • @guest_2070892 I think the first time I asked about Schwab's existing offers was over the phone. For TastyTrade matching, it was through chat and I sent them screenshots over secure message. The confirmed the offer they'd match over secure message and the terms and conditions.

            For Citi, I realized I did Citi Personal Wealth Management and not Citi Self-Invest because CPWM had better tiers. The terms might be different for Self-Invest. My advisor (free) helped me open the CPWM accounts.

            Regarding "once per quarter", CPWM will have the current quarter's deadlines on the offer page and when those expire, the next quarter will be posted. I'm not sure if you did CPWM or Citi Self-Invest. If you did CPWM Q1 offer in Feb, you should be able to do the CPWM Q2 offer which ends in June.

            Again, my DP with Citi is with CPWM and not Self-Invest.

        • You don't need to close the WellsTrade account. The bonus is for the Premier checking account, and an existing WellsTrade account can be linked to it. But I haven't seen Wells bonuses (that count brokerage balance) for lower than $250K.

    • Chase private client. Having to go in with the coupon code can be a bit painful tho

  • I know it'd be crazy work, but maybe putting the tiers on this page for each broker, all one line (eg. $100,000:$500;$250,000:$2000;$500,000:$3000;$1,000,000:$5000) would make it easy to search so someone looking to invest 500k could quickly see the highest offer

    • Different brokerages have their tiers at different levels. Some don't have tiers. There aren't that many brokerages, so it only takes a short while to compare them.

    • I got an email about it today. beware of the fees. outgoing acat fee $100 (partial and full). IF you do an ira and closeout its $95 and if the balance is less than 100,000 the ira also has a $50 annual fee. they also have a no activity fee of $50 if balance below 100,000 for all types.

      • Also, all bonuses go to the checking or saving account even if you open an ira you still pay taxes as they are reporting it as interest. CIT Bank will deposit the qualifying bonus into the customer’s Savings or eChecking account within 30 days following the 60-day qualifying period.

      pdf of fees
      https://www.firstcitizens.com/content/dam/firstcitizens/pdfs/hosted/wealth/self-directed-investing-fee-schedule.pdf

      the positive is that it looks like you can close right after receiving the bonus but calculate the fees before doing so. I was going to with an ira, but between the acat and closure fee as partial wouldnt be worth it. it would cost $195 of the bonus to start with.

      • Thanks for all of the details. The outgoing transfer fee is $100. It did not specify partial or full. I see many other brokerages also has the same fee listed, but they do not actually charge for partial transfer fee. I guess we need a dp on this. The good thing about this promotion is that you only need to maintain the funds for 60 days and you can close it after you get the bonus.

      • why do an IRA with so many fees? just do an individual brokerage and not worry

        • even with the individual brokerage there is a $100 acat out fee (even partial) and a no activity fee if under 100,000. I was looking for the larger bonus which is why i was looking at an ira account with them. my brokerage is locked up with webull which i just deposited to and they have a much higher bonus for the same deposit amounts. THey also have an acat out fee, $75.

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