"100% deposit bonus" is the most effective marketing phrase in this industry, and also the most misunderstood. Most new traders think the bonus is money added to the balance. It is not. A bonus is a conditional margin credit that cannot be withdrawn until specific conditions are met.
This article is brand-independent — the mechanics described work the same way in almost every broker that offers bonuses. To make the examples concrete, we use the bonus types published by LiteFinance, but numbers change periodically; read the current terms on the broker's official website before joining.
What exactly is a bonus?
A bonus is an amount included in your account's margin calculation but not included in your withdrawable balance. When you deposit 500 dollars and receive a 100% bonus, you see 1,000 dollars in the terminal; 500 of this 1,000 dollars is yours, and 500 is the broker's conditional contribution.
The only concrete thing this provides you is more margin room: you get caught in a margin call later for the same position size. What it does not provide is profit potential — the bonus does not increase the earnings of your positions, it only allows you to open larger positions. The difference between these two explains why a bonus is a risk multiplier.
Types commonly seen at LiteFinance: 30% bonus on deposits over 50 dollars, and 100% bonus on deposits over 100 dollars with a promo code. Bonuses are usually valid for 6 months and carry a maximum cap amount.
How is the volume requirement calculated?
For the bonus (and in most cases, the profit originating from the bonus) to become withdrawable, you need to complete a certain trading volume. This volume is expressed in lots and is usually calculated with a multiplier linked to the bonus amount.
The following example is not a real campaign condition, but a calculation set up to demonstrate the mechanism. Read the multiplier of your own campaign from the terms page and do the same calculation.
- –Assumption: You deposited 500 dollars, and received 500 dollars in bonus with a 100% bonus. Suppose the campaign sets a requirement of 1 lot traded for every 1 dollar of bonus.
- –Required volume: 500 lots. In EUR/USD, 500 standard lots means a nominal trading volume of 50 million dollars.
- –Cost of this volume: On an account with a 1.8 pip spread, approximately 18 dollars per lot × 500 lots = 9,000 dollars in trading costs.
- –Result: To make a 500 dollar bonus withdrawable, you need to pay 9,000 dollars in costs. Under this condition, the bonus is mathematically not something worth taking.
- –Do the same calculation on a campaign with a low multiplier — for example 0.1 lots for every 1 dollar of bonus — and the figure drops to 50 lots and the cost to 900 dollars. The decision lies entirely in the multiplier.
The unseen cost of a bonus: behavioral change
The real price of the volume requirement is not the spread you pay, but the behavior it pushes you into. A trader trying to complete the requirement opens trades even when their strategy does not give a signal — because their goal is no longer to make good trades, but to accumulate lots.
This is one of the most systematic ways to blow an account in forex, and the cause is not the bonus, but the incentive created by the bonus. The same trader would make 10 trades a month if they did not get a bonus; with the bonus, they make 60 trades, and the expected value of these 50 extra trades is negative.
The second unseen cost: at most brokers, the bonus is canceled upon a withdrawal request. So if you want to withdraw money while you have an active bonus on your account, you lose the bonus and in most cases the profit originating from the bonus. This is a real loss for someone in need of urgent cash.
When does a bonus make sense?
A bonus is not always bad — when its conditions are read correctly, it works in certain situations.
- –If there is a requirement close to the volume you would already trade. For someone trading 40 lots a month, a 50-lot requirement is an achievable target without changing their behavior.
- –If you plan to use the bonus only as a margin buffer rather than withdrawing it — and if you do not allow this buffer to let you increase your position size.
- –If the duration of the bonus (usually 6 months) aligns with your normal trading pace.
- –And in any case: if the bonus is not the reason you choose the broker. Broker selection is made based on regulation, cost, platform, and withdrawals; a bonus does not compensate for any of these four.
Five lines to read in bonus terms
- –Volume multiplier: how many lots for every $1 of bonus? This single figure determines whether the bonus is achievable.
- –Which instruments count toward volume? In some campaigns, only certain pairs or positions held longer than a specific duration count.
- –How much is the bonus cap? Even if the percentage looks large, the absolute cap is often low.
- –What is the validity period? When the period expires, the bonus and, in most cases, the profits generated from it are deleted.
- –Does a withdrawal request cancel the bonus? Almost always yes — but do not assume without seeing the exact phrasing of the condition.
Summary
A bonus is not free money, but a conditional margin credit, and its true cost is written in the volume requirement. When you calculate that requirement in lots and convert it into trading cost, you see exactly how much the bonus costs you — and in most campaigns, this figure is larger than the bonus itself.
When choosing a broker, do not use the bonus, but four core axes: regulation, cost, platform, and withdrawals. In FXPARTNER's broker rankings, every broker is scored on precisely these four axes. This content is for general information purposes and is not investment advice.
Best 5 brokers
01XM Global
9.5IndexXM Global
- Min. deposit
- $5
- Leverage
- 1:1000*
02Lite Finance
9.2IndexLite Finance
- Min. deposit
- $10
- Leverage
- 1:1000*
03FxPro
9.1IndexFxPro
- Min. deposit
- $100
- Leverage
- 1:2000*
04MultiBank Group
9.0IndexMultiBank Group
- Min. deposit
- $50
- Leverage
- 1:1000
05AvaTrade
8.9IndexAvaTrade
- Min. deposit
- $100
- Leverage
- 1:400*
Sponsored links. Ranking is based on the FXPARTNER Index score, which consists of regulation, cost, platform, and withdrawal axes; affiliate revenue does not affect the ranking.