JustMarkets
FBS
JustMarkets vs FBS is the rare broker matchup where our methodology scores both sides identically — 7.5/10 each in our review methodology — and yet the two brokers are easy to tell apart once you look at how their bonuses actually work. JustMarkets runs a verified $30 no-deposit bonus and a tiered deposit-bonus system where the bonus itself converts into withdrawable money after a volume target. FBS runs a 100% first-deposit bonus with no volume requirement at all — but its bonus credit never becomes withdrawable cash.
Same headline promise, opposite mechanics. Which one suits you depends on whether you want a bonus you can grind into real money or a margin cushion that costs you nothing to hold. This comparison breaks down both, plus regulation, entry costs, and platforms, using figures from our Broker & Bonus Matrix — the FBS deposit-bonus terms were re-verified against the official T&C PDF on 7 August 2026; JustMarkets offer terms were recorded from official pages in June 2026.
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JustMarkets vs FBS: Side-by-Side Comparison Table
| Category | JustMarkets | FBS |
|---|---|---|
| Our Score | 7.5 / 10 | 7.5 / 10 |
| Founded | 2012 | 2009 |
| Regulation | CySEC (401/21), Seychelles FSA, FSCA South Africa (51114), FSC Mauritius (GB22200881) | CySEC (Tradestone Ltd, 331/17), ASIC (Intelligent Financial Markets Pty Ltd), FSC Belize (000102/460), FSCA South Africa (FSP 50885) |
| Minimum Deposit | $10 (Standard Cent — widely cited; not directly confirmed, site blocked our fetches) | $5 (confirmed from broker’s trading conditions page) |
| Platforms | MT4, MT5 | MT4, MT5, FBS proprietary app |
| No-Deposit Bonus | $30 — active; excludes Nigeria and South Africa | $100 Quick Start (app-only) — recorded June 2026, unverified |
| Deposit Bonus | Tiered 50% / 100% / 120%, max $40,000 combined — active | 100% first deposit, 10%-60% subsequent, max $25,000 total — active, re-verified 7 Aug 2026 |
| Deposit Bonus Volume Requirement | Yes — bonus/2 in lots; bonus converts to withdrawable balance when met | None — bonus is margin credit only and never converts to cash |
| Cashback / Loyalty | Recorded, but conflicting figures — unverified | Up to $15/lot recorded — unverified |
| Bonus Availability | Not in EU, UK, US, CA, JP, AU; NDB also excludes NG, ZA, DZ, AO, BW, VN | Not in EU, UK, AU, US; deposit-bonus country list needs verification |
Both brokers are approved under our vetting standard. For broader comparisons, see the comparison hub and the Bonus Finder.
Regulation Comparison
JustMarkets Regulation
JustMarkets (rebranded from JustForex in 2022 — see JustForex is now JustMarkets) holds four recorded licenses:
- CySEC (Cyprus) — License 401/21, the group’s EU-tier anchor
- FSA (Seychelles) — the entity most emerging-market clients trade under
- FSCA (South Africa) — License 51114, direct local oversight in one of Africa’s biggest trading markets
- FSC (Mauritius) — License GB22200881
FBS Regulation
FBS also carries four recorded licenses, with one meaningful difference at the top:
- CySEC (Cyprus) — Tradestone Limited, License 331/17
- ASIC (Australia) — Intelligent Financial Markets Pty Ltd
- FSC (Belize) — FBS Markets Inc., License 000102/460 — the bonus-serving entity
- FSCA (South Africa) — Trade Stone SA (Pty) Ltd, FSP 50885
Regulation Verdict
Marginal edge to FBS. Both hold CySEC and FSCA licenses. FBS adds ASIC — one of the strictest regulators in the world — where JustMarkets adds Seychelles and Mauritius, which are lighter-touch jurisdictions. In practice, clients claiming bonuses at either broker are onboarded offshore (FSC Belize at FBS, Seychelles FSA at JustMarkets), so the tier-one licenses tell you about group standards rather than your personal protections. FBS has also been operating three years longer and claims 27+ million clients across 150+ countries. Our deeper safety review: Is JustMarkets legit?
Minimum Deposit and Accessibility
FBS wins on confirmed entry cost. Its $5 minimum is confirmed directly from the broker’s trading conditions page. JustMarkets’ $10 Standard Cent minimum is widely cited, but justmarkets.com returned HTTP 403 on every fetch during our research, so we could not confirm it from the primary source — an honest caveat rather than a criticism.
Both brokers offer cent accounts, which matter more than the raw minimum: trading 0.01 lots on a cent account keeps per-pip risk in fractions of a cent while you learn. FBS’s proprietary app also bundles education and promotions in one place, which suits phone-first beginners; JustMarkets keeps everything on MetaTrader.
No-Deposit Bonus: Verified vs Unverified
Important: forex bonuses are banned for retail clients in the EU, UK, Australia, and the US (ESMA, FCA, ASIC, CFTC). The offers below apply only to clients of offshore entities in eligible countries. Background: why forex bonuses are banned in the EU and UK.
JustMarkets $30 No-Deposit Bonus — Active
Recorded terms from the official promotion page (June 2026):
- $30 credited to a special Welcome Account opened in the client BackOffice; phone verification required
- Trade 5 lots within 30 days, and cumulative profit/loss across all trades must exceed 60 pips
- Profit cap: $30 — the maximum you can transfer out
- After the trading period, you get another 30 days to transfer profit, and you must deposit at least $100 into a live account before the transfer is allowed
- Position limits: maximum 0.01 lots per position, maximum 5 concurrent positions; forex and precious metals only; EA/robot trading prohibited
- Country exclusions that matter to our readers: Nigeria and South Africa are excluded, alongside Algeria, Angola, Botswana, Vietnam, and the standard EU/UK/US/CA/JP/AU bans
That last line is the single most important fact in this section. Two of the largest African trading markets cannot claim this offer. If you are in Nigeria or South Africa, the JustMarkets NDB is not for you — see our JustMarkets no deposit bonus guide for eligible alternatives.
FBS $100 Quick Start Bonus — Unverified
Our Matrix records a $100 no-deposit bonus available through the FBS Trader app: complete a 7-step educational program, 30 days to finish and claim, profit withdrawal capped at $100. But the promo page redirected to the FBS homepage on every research pass, and FBS’s own blog has published a post explaining why it does not offer a welcome bonus — so the program’s current status is genuinely unclear. We keep it recorded as unverified and recommend checking inside the FBS app before counting on it. Details: FBS no deposit bonus guide.
No-Deposit Verdict
JustMarkets wins — with a geographic asterisk. Its $30 offer is active with clear recorded terms; the FBS $100 offer is unverified and app-gated. But if you trade from Nigeria or South Africa, neither works: JustMarkets excludes you and FBS’s offer is unconfirmed. Compare verified alternatives on the no-deposit bonus pillar.
Deposit Bonus: Two Opposite Designs
This is the heart of the comparison, and the mechanics deserve close reading because the same word — “bonus” — means two different things.
JustMarkets: Convertible Bonus, Volume-Gated
JustMarkets runs a tiered system (all tiers active per June 2026 records; maximum $40,000 combined bonus across deposits):
| Tier | Minimum Deposit | Accounts | Time Limit |
|---|---|---|---|
| 50% | $10 ($100+ for Cent accounts) | Standard Cent, Standard, Pro | 30 days |
| 100% | $100 single deposit | Standard, Pro | 90 days (Double Benefit variant) or 30 days (120% campaign variant) |
| 120% | $500 single deposit | Standard, Pro only — Cent not eligible | 30 days |
The defining mechanic: the bonus sits in the Credit field as non-withdrawable margin until you trade bonus / 2 in lots — then it auto-transfers to your Balance as withdrawable money within 2 hours. Orders generating less than 5.9 pips of price movement do not count toward the volume, which blocks the classic quick-open-quick-close grinding tactic. The 100% Double Benefit variant caps at $10,000 per account and $20,000 across accounts, with a 90-day window.
Do the math before you chase the big tiers. A $500 deposit on the 120% tier earns a $600 bonus — which requires 300 lots inside 30 days to convert. That is 10 standard lots every single day. For most retail deposit sizes, the realistic outcome is trading with the extra margin, not converting the bonus — so treat conversion as an upside scenario, not the plan. Full turnover math in our bonus turnover guide.
FBS: Non-Convertible Bonus, No Volume Gate
FBS’s program — re-verified verbatim against the official T&C PDF on 7 August 2026 — takes the opposite trade-off:
- 100% on your first deposit, then tiered on subsequent deposits by size: 10% ($100-250), 20% ($250-500), 30% ($500-1,000), 40% ($1,000-2,500), 50% ($2,500-5,000), 60% ($5,000+)
- Maximum $10,000 bonus per deposit; $25,000 total across accounts — and the total limit can be reached more than once
- No volume requirement. There is nothing to unlock, because the bonus never becomes withdrawable. It is margin credit: your own funds are used first, bonus funds second
- Profits made while the bonus is active are withdrawable freely, with no cap
- Withdrawing deposited funds deducts an equivalent amount of bonus; the bonus is removed entirely if equity falls to or below the bonus amount, and it expires after 28 days without a deposit or new position
- Available on all account types including Standard and Cent; granted automatically during the promo period (running since 14 July 2025, no stated end date)
One provenance note in the spirit of honesty: the current official PDF contains no eligible-country clause. Our Matrix carries a recorded country list (South Africa, Cameroon, Argentina, Kenya, Brazil, Malaysia, Philippines, Nigeria, Thailand, Turkey) whose source predates the current PDF revision, so treat per-country availability as needing verification — FBS grants the bonus automatically if your account qualifies, which is itself the practical test.
Deposit Bonus Verdict
It depends on what you want a bonus to be — and this is genuinely a matter of trader profile, not one broker being better.
- Want bonus money you can eventually withdraw? JustMarkets is the only option here. The bonus/2 volume target is steep but finite, the 5.9-pip rule is disclosed upfront, and conversion is automatic once met.
- Want extra margin with zero strings while keeping profits? FBS wins. No volume tracking, no deadline pressure on trading (only the 28-day activity rule), profits withdrawable at any time. The cost: the bonus itself is never yours.
Claim whichever fits: open a JustMarkets account or open an FBS account — and read the T&C on the broker’s page before depositing, because terms change.
Cashback and Other Programs
Neither broker’s cashback program passes our verification bar right now, and we would rather say so than publish shaky numbers:
- JustMarkets loyalty cashback: our Matrix holds conflicting recorded figures — one field records 10% of spreads and commissions paid in JM USD reward currency, another note records 50% of trading costs returned next day — and the program page returned 403 on fetch. Not available for Standard Cent or copy-trading accounts per records. Treat the rate as unverified: JustMarkets cashback guide.
- FBS cashback: recorded at up to $15 per lot, but the promo page redirects to the homepage and it is unclear whether a permanent program exists separate from expired seasonal promotions: FBS cashback guide.
- Smaller JustMarkets extras (recorded, unverified): periodic $10/$30 promo-code bonuses (deposit $30+ or $100+ respectively; 20-day completion window) and a referral program recorded at up to $25 per lot traded by referred friends. Its Great Anniversary Contest ended 31 July 2026.
For brokers with verified rebate programs, start from the cashback pillar.
Platforms and Withdrawals
- JustMarkets: MT4 and MT5, full stop. Clean, standard, EA-friendly. Withdrawal process covered in our JustMarkets withdrawal guide.
- FBS: MT4, MT5, plus the FBS proprietary app — which is also where the unverified Quick Start bonus lives and where promotions are managed. Withdrawal process: FBS withdrawal guide.
Slight edge to FBS for the app ecosystem if you run your trading from a phone, which most of our readers do. Pure MetaTrader traders will notice no difference.
Who Should Choose JustMarkets?
- You want a no-deposit bonus and are outside the exclusion list. The $30 NDB is active and its terms are clearly recorded — just remember Nigeria and South Africa are excluded.
- You want a deposit bonus that can become real money. No other mechanic in this comparison offers that.
- You prefer disclosed, rule-based bonus terms. The 5.9-pip rule and bonus/2 formula are unusually specific — you know exactly what you signed up for.
Open a JustMarkets account here.
Who Should Choose FBS?
- You are starting with $5-$100. The confirmed $5 minimum plus a 100% first-deposit match is the gentlest verified on-ramp in this pair.
- You want bonus margin without homework. No lots to count, no conversion deadline — just a bigger cushion and freely withdrawable profits.
- You are in South Africa or Nigeria. JustMarkets’ NDB excludes both; FBS’s deposit bonus is the workable verified offer here (per recorded availability — confirm in your account area).
- You value the extra ASIC license and longer track record.
The Verdict: JustMarkets vs FBS in 2026
We score them identically at 7.5/10, and this comparison shows why: each broker’s strength is the other’s gap. JustMarkets offers the only verified no-deposit bonus and the only convertible deposit bonus — gated by real volume requirements and notable country exclusions. FBS offers the lower confirmed entry cost, the simpler bonus with no volume gate, an extra tier-one license, and availability in the two big African markets JustMarkets’ NDB excludes.
Choose JustMarkets to maximize extractable bonus value and you accept grinding for it. Choose FBS for simplicity, small-capital accessibility, and margin support that never asks anything of you. If you genuinely cannot decide, both allow small first deposits — test each broker’s execution and withdrawal speed with money you can afford to risk, and let experience settle it.
Full reviews: JustMarkets review | FBS review. Related matchups: XM vs JustMarkets | Exness vs FBS | HFM vs FBS.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which has the better deposit bonus: JustMarkets or FBS?
They are different products. JustMarkets’ tiered bonus (50%/100%/120%, max $40,000 combined) converts into withdrawable balance after you trade bonus/2 in lots — so a $600 bonus needs 300 lots, and orders moving less than 5.9 pips do not count. FBS’s bonus (100% first deposit, 10%-60% on subsequent deposits, max $25,000 total) has no volume requirement, but the credit itself is never withdrawable — only profits are. High-volume traders who want to extract the bonus should look at JustMarkets; everyone else usually gets more practical value from FBS’s no-strings margin cushion.
Can I claim the JustMarkets $30 no-deposit bonus from Nigeria or South Africa?
No. The recorded terms explicitly exclude Nigeria and South Africa, along with Algeria, Angola, Botswana, Vietnam, and the standard banned regions (EU, UK, US, Canada, Japan, Australia). Traders in those countries should compare alternatives on our no-deposit bonus pillar — several approved brokers run NDB offers with different country lists.
Is the FBS $100 Quick Start bonus still available?
Unverified. Our June 2026 research recorded it ($100 via the FBS Trader app, 7-step educational program, 30-day window, $100 profit cap), but the promo page redirects to the homepage and FBS has publicly written about not offering a welcome bonus as policy. The only reliable check is inside the FBS Trader app itself. Do not open an account solely for this offer without confirming it exists in your region first.
Do I need to trade a specific volume to withdraw profits at FBS?
Under the deposit-bonus terms re-verified 7 August 2026: no. Profits are withdrawable freely with no volume gate and no cap. The catches are different: withdrawing your deposited funds deducts an equivalent amount of bonus credit, the bonus is removed if your equity falls to or below the bonus amount, and it expires after 28 days without activity. The bonus credit itself can never be withdrawn.
Which broker is safer?
Both are approved under our vetting standard at 7.5/10. FBS holds a slightly stronger license set (CySEC plus ASIC, alongside FSC Belize and FSCA) and has operated since 2009; JustMarkets holds CySEC, Seychelles FSA, FSCA, and FSC Mauritius and has operated since 2012 (as JustForex before the 2022 rebrand). In both cases, bonus-eligible clients trade under the offshore entity, so apply the same rule you should apply everywhere: deposit only what you can afford to lose, and test the withdrawal process early. See Is JustMarkets legit? for our full safety review.
This comparison was researched and written by Tim Morris, founder of forex-bonus.com. All figures come from our Broker & Bonus Matrix: FBS deposit-bonus terms re-verified against the official T&C PDF on 7 August 2026; JustMarkets offer terms recorded from official pages June 2026; items marked unverified are flagged as such. Always confirm current terms on the broker’s own site before claiming any offer.