Forex bonuses are cash incentives that online Forex brokers offer to newly registered traders. Some brokers also offer bonuses to existing clients to encourage them to make another deposit into their trading accounts. Online brokering services offer several types of bonuses and give them away either as cash or percentages of clients’ deposit amounts.
Types of Forex Bonuses
The following is a brief introduction to various types of bonuses clients come across at online Forex brokers:
- Welcome Bonus – This is the most common variety of Forex bonus, given away to clients who have just loaded funds into their trading accounts.
- No Deposit Bonus – This is a bonus given away to newly registered clients just to encourage them to start trading without risking their own money.
- Loyalty Bonuses – These are offers designed to reward clients who stay loyal to the forex broker.
- Forex Rebates – The FX broker credits to clients’ accounts a part of the commission or spread after they close positions. While some brokers credit rebates instantly, others do it on a weekly or monthly basis.
Why Forex Brokers Offer Bonuses
Forex bonuses serve multiple purposes, and here is a brief list of their benefits:
- Forex bonuses give clients the feeling that the broker is interested in their welfare.
- No deposit forex bonuses and welcome bonuses serve to attract new clients to online forex brokers, thus expanding their customer base.
- Loyalty bonuses give existing clients an incentive to make deposits and continue trading.
- Bonuses help minimize the risks of trading as you are trading with the broker’s money, not your own.
- Bonuses are marketing tools that not only attract new clients to the brokering business, but also makes them feel special and welcome. In addition, they serve the purpose of client retention.
- Bonuses serve the purpose of popularizing the online Forex broker and help it to compete effectively with its rivals.
How Forex Bonuses Work
To receive a forex bonus, traders have to either open a trading account or make a qualifying deposit or both. Once you have qualified for a bonus, you may have to wait for a few hours or days for the broker to credit the bonus to your account.
At this point, you should remember that the bonus you have just received is not yours to withdraw. It is still the Forex broker’s money, given away as an incentive for you to trade. So you have to “work” for your bonus by completing the required volume of trade.
Top 3 Forex Brokers Offering No Deposit Bonuses
There are several top-rated Forex brokers that welcome South African traders with no deposit bonuses. If you are a bonus-hunting South African investor or trader, we recommend the following top 3 no-deposit Forex bonus offers:
#1 Get $100 at FBS
FBS offers a Trade 100 Bonus, which is extremely beneficial for beginners as well as experienced traders. When you claim your Trade 100 Bonus at FBS, you get the following three benefits:
- A real account with real money so that you can start trading instantly
- Complete set of educational material so that you can learn everything you need to know about Forex trading
- Start trading and make profits without making any deposit
The best thing about this bonus is that you can withdraw $100 of profit. All you have to do is register a bonus account and get your $100 no deposit bonus. Spend the next 30 days as an active trader at FBS. The broker wants you to trade five lots. If you succeed, you can withdraw up to $100 as profits.
The bonus offer comes with a few conditions, as follows:
- This bonus is available on MT5 platforms.
- The order volume is 0.01 lot.
- You can open a maximum of five positions simultaneously.
#2 Instaforex.com’s $500 Startup
Instaforex.com encourages newly registered traders to start trading without making any investments or taking any risks. New customers only have to claim the FX broker’s $500 Startup Bonus. The steps are quite simple:
- You have to open a new trading account at Instaforex.com. They don’t have to verify their details.
- They don’t have to make any qualifying first deposit.
- The Forex broker instantly credits the bonus to their accounts.
You can trade seven classes of assets at Instaforex—energy, indices, commodities, equities, currencies, metals, and cryptocurrencies. The Instaforex trading environment is quite comfortable, featuring the following:
- Community of over seven million traders and investors
- Fast and secure deposits and withdrawals
- Over 400 trading instruments
- Order execution speed starts from 0.05 seconds
- Fixed spreads without hidden commissions
- 24/7 customer support
- Leverage of up to 1:1000
#3 $30 Welcome Account at Tickmill
Tickmill offers a world class trading environment and gives customers the opportunity to use it risk-free with its $30 welcome account. New clients do not have to make any qualifying first deposits to claim these free funds. They can easily open a welcome account and get their $30 bonus. This gives customers not only a risk-free opportunity to trade, but also to withdraw their profits.
The FX broker disables trading on the welcome account at the end of 90 days after opening it.
However, traders can continue to access their welcome account for 30 more days to transfer their profit from their welcome account to a live MT4 account, which they need to create.
The welcome account is available only in USD, and the broker automatically credits $30 into the welcome account as soon as it is opened.
Forex Bonus Terms & Conditions
As attractive as forex bonus offers sound and look, traders must understand that there is a lot of fine print involved. Before claiming a bonus or even showing any interest in it, traders have to read all this fine print, which they will find on the terms & conditions page.
Here are some of the common bonus terms & conditions:
- To become eligible for a bonus, you must be a registered client of the Forex broker.
- Most bonus offers require a qualifying deposit.
- A single bonus offer cannot be claimed multiple times.
- Usually, online brokers credit bonuses in separate accounts called “bonus accounts.”
- Customers can withdraw their bonus only after meeting the “minimal trading requirements,” which indicates that they should trade the required lots within a given time frame.
- Bonuses have expiry dates.
- Forex brokers can cancel the bonus under certain conditions.
Conclusion – Should You Claim a Forex Bonus?
Making the most of your Forex bonus is not as easy as eating cake. In the first place, you should never claim a bonus without first reading the terms and conditions.
You should also remember that you cannot make any withdrawal request until and unless you meet the “minimum trading requirements” of the bonus. You have to trade a lot, depending on the bonus terms and conditions, before you can be allowed to make a withdrawal.
You should also satisfy these requires before the bonus expires. That means a lot of trading, which may not be possible for new traders who either don’t know much about trading or just don’t want to take too many risks.
So, we strongly recommend reading the bonus terms and conditions and clearing all your doubts with the customer support team before claiming a Forex bonus. Accept the bonus only if you feel that it will be of any use to you.