Every no deposit bonus comes with a terms and conditions page. Most traders skim it or skip it entirely. That is a mistake — the T&Cs are where the real offer lives. A “$100 no deposit bonus” headline means nothing if the terms require 20 standard lots in 7 days with a $50 profit cap. The terms determine whether the bonus has genuine value or is functionally uncollectable.
This guide decodes every common clause you will find in NDB terms and conditions. We explain what each term means, why brokers include it, and how it affects your ability to trade profitably and withdraw. No jargon, no legalese — just practical explanations of the fine print that governs whether you will ever see real money from a bonus.
All examples reference conditions tracked in our Broker & Bonus Matrix. Specific broker figures are verified against their official terms pages.
Updated June 2026. forex-bonus.com may earn a commission through broker links. This never influences our ratings or recommendations. Full disclosure. Trading forex and CFDs carries significant risk — most retail traders lose money.
Availability note: Forex bonuses are banned for retail clients in the EU (ESMA), UK (FCA), Australia (ASIC), and the US (CFTC/NFA). NDB offers are available to eligible emerging-market traders only. See our No Deposit Bonus page for offers in your country.
Why Terms and Conditions Exist
Brokers are businesses. A no deposit bonus is a customer acquisition cost — the broker gives you trading credit expecting that a percentage of recipients will eventually become depositing, active traders. The T&Cs exist to:
- Prevent abuse. Without conditions, traders would claim bonuses, withdraw immediately, and move on. Volume requirements ensure the broker gets value (trading commissions, spreads) in return for the free credit.
- Limit financial exposure. Profit caps and time limits put a ceiling on how much the broker can lose on any individual bonus account.
- Comply with regulations. Anti-money laundering rules require identity verification and withdrawal restrictions to prevent bonus programs from being used for illicit purposes.
- Filter serious traders. Traders willing to meet reasonable conditions are more likely to become long-term clients — the broker’s actual goal.
Understanding this dynamic helps you read terms objectively: the broker needs conditions to make the math work, and your job is to evaluate whether those conditions are fair and achievable.
The 12 Most Common NDB Terms, Decoded
1. Bonus Amount
What the terms say: “Receive $30 in free trading credit.”
What it means: This is the amount added to your trading account as credit. It determines your available margin for opening positions. The bonus amount itself is never withdrawable — it is removed from your account when you make a withdrawal.
What to watch for: Some brokers state a range (“up to $100”) rather than a fixed amount. The actual amount you receive may depend on your country, the account type you choose, or the promotion running at the time. Always verify the exact amount credited after registration.
2. Volume Requirement (Lot Requirement)
What the terms say: “Trade a minimum of 5 standard lots before withdrawal.”
What it means: You must open and close enough trades so that the total traded volume reaches the specified number of lots. One standard lot equals 100,000 units of the base currency. If the requirement is 5 lots, your trades must sum to $500,000 in notional volume.
The math: On a micro lot (0.01 lots) per trade, 5 standard lots equals 500 trades. On a mini lot (0.1 lots) per trade, it equals 50 trades. On a standard lot (1.0 lots) per trade, it equals 5 trades. The lot size you trade determines how many trades you need.
What to watch for: Some brokers express this as “round-turn lots” (opening and closing count as one), while others count each side separately (opening counts as 0.5, closing counts as 0.5). The difference is a factor of two. Also check whether the requirement applies to all instruments or only specific pairs.
For help calculating whether a volume requirement is realistic for your trading style, see our forex bonus guide.
3. Time Limit
What the terms say: “The bonus must be traded within 30 days of account opening.”
What it means: You have a fixed window to meet all conditions. If the timer runs out, the bonus and all associated profits are removed from your account. There are typically two time components:
- Claim window: How long after registration you must activate or claim the bonus (e.g., “claim within 7 days of opening your account”).
- Trading window: How long after the bonus is credited you must complete the volume requirement (e.g., “30 days from bonus activation”).
What to watch for: Some brokers start the clock at registration, not at bonus activation. If you register today but claim the bonus in 5 days, you may have already used a third of your trading window.
4. Profit Cap (Maximum Withdrawable Profit)
What the terms say: “Maximum withdrawable profit from the bonus is $100.”
What it means: No matter how well you trade, the most you can withdraw is the capped amount. If you turn $30 into $500, you keep $100 and the rest disappears when the bonus is removed.
What to watch for: Not all brokers impose a profit cap. Those that do not give you unlimited upside potential (within the constraints of your margin and time limit). A missing profit cap is one of the most favorable terms you can find. Our Broker & Bonus Matrix flags which offers are capped and which are not.
5. Minimum Profit / Minimum Withdrawal
What the terms say: “Minimum withdrawal amount is $10” or “Profits must exceed $50 before withdrawal is permitted.”
What it means: You cannot withdraw tiny amounts. If the minimum is $50 and you have earned $30 in profit, you must keep trading until you cross the threshold — or forfeit if the time limit expires first.
What to watch for: This clause interacts with the profit cap. If the minimum withdrawal is $50 and the profit cap is $100, your actual profit range is $50 to $100. Earning $49 means you get nothing.
6. Minimum Trade Count
What the terms say: “Complete at least 10 round-turn trades.”
What it means: Beyond the volume requirement, some brokers require a minimum number of separate trades. This prevents traders from opening one massive position to meet the volume requirement in a single trade.
What to watch for: Combined with a volume requirement, this sets a floor for both total volume and trade count. A requirement of “5 lots and at least 10 trades” means you need at least 10 trades averaging 0.5 lots each.
7. Eligible Instruments
What the terms say: “Bonus can be used to trade forex pairs only” or “All instruments available on the platform.”
What it means: Some bonuses restrict which assets count toward the volume requirement. Forex-only restrictions are common. Others allow gold, indices, or crypto. Trades on ineligible instruments may not count toward your volume requirement even though the platform lets you open them.
What to watch for: If you primarily trade gold or indices, confirm that those instruments count before claiming.
8. Hedging / Arbitrage Prohibition
What the terms say: “Hedging, arbitrage, and opposing positions across accounts are prohibited.”
What it means: You cannot open a buy and a sell on the same pair simultaneously (internal hedging) to rack up volume with minimal risk. You also cannot open opposing positions at two different brokers using NDB funds to guarantee a profit on one side.
Why brokers include this: Hedging with bonus funds is one of the most common abuse strategies. If you open 1 lot long and 1 lot short on the same pair, one position profits while the other loses, but you have generated 2 lots of volume toward your requirement with near-zero market risk. Brokers detect this and will void the bonus.
What to watch for: Some brokers define “hedging” broadly enough to include holding correlated positions (e.g., long EUR/USD and long GBP/USD). If you naturally trade correlated pairs, check whether the broker’s terms could be interpreted to flag your trading style.
9. Expert Advisor (EA) / Automated Trading Restriction
What the terms say: “Expert advisors and automated trading systems are not permitted on bonus accounts.”
What it means: You must trade manually. Automated scripts, robots, or copy-trading services cannot be used to meet the volume requirement.
Why brokers include this: EAs can generate volume very efficiently, which would make the volume requirement trivially easy to meet. Brokers want the volume requirement to represent genuine market engagement, not algorithmic churn.
What to watch for: Some brokers allow EAs but exclude the volume generated by EAs from counting toward the bonus requirement. Others ban EAs outright on bonus accounts. The distinction matters if you use any form of automation.
10. One Bonus Per Person / Per Household / Per IP
What the terms say: “One bonus per person, per IP address, per household.”
What it means: You cannot claim the bonus multiple times using different email addresses, different devices, or different members of your household. Brokers enforce this through IP tracking, device fingerprinting, and document matching.
What to watch for: If multiple family members at the same address want to claim bonuses from the same broker, the “per household” or “per IP” clause may prevent all but the first. Some brokers investigate during verification and close duplicate accounts, forfeiting all funds.
For more on how brokers detect and respond to abuse, see our article on bonus abuse rules explained.
11. Proportional Bonus Removal on Withdrawal
What the terms say: “Withdrawing any deposited funds will result in proportional removal of the bonus.”
What it means: If you later deposit your own money into a bonus account and then withdraw some of it, the broker removes a proportional share of the bonus. For example, if you have $100 in deposits and $30 in bonus, withdrawing $50 (50% of your deposit) removes $15 (50% of the bonus).
What to watch for: This clause primarily applies if you make a deposit on top of the NDB. For pure NDB accounts with no deposit, it is less relevant — but understand it if you plan to deposit later to continue trading with the same account.
12. Country Restrictions
What the terms say: “This promotion is not available to residents of [list of countries].”
What it means: Traders from the listed countries cannot participate. This typically includes EU, UK, Australia, and the US (where bonuses are banned by regulation), plus specific countries the broker chooses to exclude for business or compliance reasons.
What to watch for: Some brokers exclude specific emerging-market countries even though bonuses are legal there. Always check the country list before registering. If you are from an excluded country and claim the bonus using inaccurate information, the broker will revoke everything during verification.
How to Evaluate Whether an NDB’s Terms Are Fair
Not all conditions are created equal. Here is a framework for assessing whether a specific NDB is worth your time:
Green Flags (Favorable Terms)
- Volume requirement under 3 standard lots for a $30+ bonus
- Time limit of 30 days or more
- No profit cap, or a cap of 3x or more the bonus amount
- Major forex pairs count toward volume
- Clear, specific terms with exact numbers (not vague language)
Yellow Flags (Proceed with Caution)
- Volume requirement of 5 to 10 lots for a $30-$50 bonus
- Time limit of 14 to 21 days
- Profit cap equal to or less than the bonus amount
- EA trading banned (matters only if you use automation)
- Minimum withdrawal threshold above $30
Red Flags (Consider Skipping)
- Volume requirement above 10 lots for any bonus under $100
- Time limit under 7 days
- Profit cap below the bonus amount
- Vague terms (“management reserves the right to modify conditions at any time”)
- No specific lot count — just “sufficient trading activity” (this gives the broker total discretion)
- Terms page is missing, only available in a non-English language, or contradicts the promotional page
The Clause Brokers Hope You Miss
Every bonus T&C page contains a version of this clause:
“The company reserves the right to change, modify, or cancel this promotion at any time without prior notice.”
This is standard boilerplate, and it gives the broker legal flexibility. In practice, reputable brokers do not retroactively change terms on active bonuses. But it means you have no contractual guarantee. If a broker modifies the terms after you have started trading, your only recourse is their complaint process — or walking away.
This is why broker reputation matters as much as bonus terms. A fair set of conditions from a broker with a track record of honoring them is worth more than an incredible-looking offer from a broker with a history of complaints.
Our broker reviews include withdrawal reliability and user complaint tracking for this reason.
Reading the Fine Print: A Practical Example
To illustrate how all these terms interact, here is a hypothetical NDB offer and what it would mean in practice:
Hypothetical offer: $50 no deposit bonus, 5 lot volume requirement, 30-day time limit, $100 profit cap, forex pairs only, no EAs, minimum 10 trades.
Breaking it down:
- You receive $50 in trading credit.
- You need to trade 5 standard lots (500,000 units) within 30 days.
- At 0.1 lots per trade, that is 50 trades. At 0.05 lots per trade, that is 100 trades.
- You must make at least 10 separate trades (easily met if you need 50+ trades for volume).
- Maximum withdrawable profit is $100, regardless of how much you earn.
- Only forex pair trades count. Gold, indices, or crypto trades do not contribute to the volume.
- You must trade manually — no automated systems.
Is this fair? Moderately. The volume requirement (5 lots on $50) is achievable in 30 days with regular trading. The $100 profit cap limits upside but is 2x the bonus amount. The 30-day window is reasonable. The EA restriction and forex-only limitation are common. Overall, this is a mid-tier offer — not exceptionally generous, but not predatory either.
Frequently Asked Questions
What happens if I do not meet the volume requirement in time?
The broker removes the bonus credit and any profits generated from it. Your account balance reverts to $0 (or to your deposited funds if you made a deposit). You do not owe the broker anything — there is no penalty beyond losing the bonus and its profits. The account typically remains open, and you can use it for regular trading with deposited funds.
Can a broker change the bonus terms after I have already claimed it?
Most T&C pages include a clause allowing the broker to modify or cancel the promotion at any time. In practice, reputable brokers apply changes to new claims only, not retroactively. However, there is no legal guarantee. If you believe a broker changed terms unfairly after you claimed, document everything and file a complaint through the broker’s dispute process and, if applicable, their regulator.
Why do some brokers have much easier terms than others?
The terms reflect the broker’s acquisition strategy and risk tolerance. Brokers in competitive markets with many alternatives may offer easier terms to attract more traders. Brokers with fewer competitors or higher acquisition costs may impose stricter conditions to ensure each bonus recipient generates enough trading revenue to justify the cost. There is no universal “fair” standard — it depends on the broker’s business model. Our No Deposit Bonus page lets you compare terms across all active offers.
Do bonus terms apply to my own deposited funds too?
Generally, no. The volume requirement, time limit, and profit cap apply to the bonus portion of your account only. If you deposit your own funds, those are subject to the broker’s standard withdrawal terms (which are usually much simpler). However, some brokers link the bonus to your account in ways that affect overall withdrawals — the “proportional removal” clause described above is the most common example. Always check whether making a deposit changes the bonus terms.
⚠️ Risk Warning: Forex and CFD trading carries significant risk. Most retail traders lose money. Never trade with funds you cannot afford to lose.
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Written by Tim Morris · Forex industry analyst · About Tim