Brokerages are aggressively competing for your money. One way they do so is by offering competitive bonuses that you can add right to your brokerage account. It’s important to know the best offers so that you can decide whether it’s a good time to open a brokerage account and take advantage of what is often risk-free cash.

Bankrate tracks the best brokerage account bonuses here to help you compare active offers.

Best brokerage account bonuses in May 2024

  • Charles Schwab: $100 to $1,000 (personally referred friend offer)
  • J.P. Morgan Self-Directed Investing: $50 to $700
  • M1 Finance: $75 to $500
  • Tastytrade: $50 to $5,000
  • SoFi Invest: $100 to $10,000
  • Merrill Edge: $100 to $600
  • E-Trade: $100 to $4,000

Charles Schwab: $100, $300, $500 or $1,000 (if you’re referred by a friend)

Schwab is offering personally referred friends the opportunity to earn up to $1,000 when they use a referral code, given to you by a current Schwab customer, and open an eligible account at Schwab.

To receive the bonus award, you must:

  • Receive a referral code from a friend or family member.
  • Be a new Schwab client and make a qualifying net deposit within 45 days of both becoming a Schwab customer and opening an eligible retail brokerage account.

You’re limited to one per account and only one account per client when you receive a referral.

Schwab retail brokerage accounts and IRAs are eligible for this offer. This includes accounts that are enrolled in Schwab-sponsored investment advisory programs, such as Schwab Intelligent Portfolios, Schwab Managed Portfolios, Schwab Managed Account Select and Connection, as well as Schwab Wealth Advisory.

You’ll receive your bonus approximately a week or two after the 45-day period ends if you made a qualifying deposit when becoming a new Schwab customer and enrolling in the referral offer.

Schwab may charge back its bonus award if taxable accounts aren’t kept at Schwab for at least one year.

Here are the bonus tiers for this offer:

  • To receive a $100 bonus, deposit $25,000-$49,999.
  • To receive a $300 bonus, deposit $50,000-$99,999.
  • To receive a $500 bonus, deposit $100,000-$499,999.
  • To receive a $1,000 bonus, deposit $500,000 or more.

Read Bankrate’s Charles Schwab review to learn more.

J.P. Morgan Self-Directed Investing: $50, $150, $325 or $700

You can earn a cash bonus if you open a brokerage or retirement (traditional IRA or Roth IRA) account and fund it with $10,000 or more. Your account must be opened by July 19, 2024 to qualify.

To receive a cash bonus, you must:

  • Open a J.P. Morgan Self-Directed Investing account through the official offer page.
  • Fund the account with at least $5,000 in cash or securities from a non-J.P. Morgan or Chase account within 45 days of opening.
  • Maintain the new funds in the account for at least 90 days. The bonus will be deposited within 15 days.

You can participate in this bonus offer only once in a 12-month period from the last enrollment date.

Here are the cash bonus tiers for this offer:

  • To receive a $50 bonus, transfer $5,000-$24,999.
  • To receive a $150 bonus, transfer $25,000-$99,999.
  • To receive a $325 bonus, transfer $100,000-$249,999.
  • To receive a $700 bonus, transfer $250,000 or more.

Read Bankrate’s review of J.P. Morgan Self-Directed Investing to learn more.

M1 Finance: $75, $150, $250 or $500 bonus

You can earn a cash bonus at M1 Finance if you open a retirement account or taxable brokerage account. Your account must be opened by Dec. 31, 2024.

To receive the bonus award, you must:

  • Make a direct transfer of at least $10,000 from your broker to M1 via the ACH transfer system.
  • Open your new account with funds from accounts outside of M1 and never have registered for an account before.
  • Make a qualifying transfer within 14 days of opening an eligible retail brokerage account.
  • Have an individual or joint taxable account to receive the bonus payment.

The bonus will be paid on the last day of the month that is six months after the sign-up date. To keep the bonus cash, you’ll need to maintain the new account balance through the payout date.

Here are the bonus tiers for this offer:

  • To receive a $75 bonus, deposit $10,000-$29,999.
  • To receive a $150 bonus, deposit $30,000-$49,999.
  • To receive a $300 bonus, deposit $50,000-$99,999.
  • To receive a $500 bonus, deposit $100,000 or more.

Read Bankrate’s M1 Finance review for more.

Tastytrade: $50, $100, $500, $2,000, $3,000, $4,000 or $5,000 bonus

Tastytrade is offering new clients cash for funding an account with at least $2,000 in cash or securities.

To receive the bonus award, you must:

  • Be a new Tastytrade client and open a taxable account and select “MYNEWBONUS” in the referral code section.
  • Open and fund the account with at least $2,000 in cash or securities by Dec. 31, 2024.

Here are the cash bonus tiers for this offer:

  • To receive a $50 bonus, transfer $2,000-$4,999.
  • To receive a $100 bonus, transfer $5,000-$24,999.
  • To receive a $500 bonus, transfer $25,000-$99,999.
  • To receive a $2,000 bonus, transfer $100,000-$249,999.
  • To receive a $3,000 bonus, transfer $250,000-$499,999.
  • To receive a $4,000 bonus, transfer $500,000-$999,999.
  • To receive a $5,000 bonus, transfer $1,000,000 or more.

You’re limited to one award per person, and must open an individual, joint, business, trust or autotrade-enabled account. IRAs accounts are not eligible for this offer.

The cash will be deposited into your account about a week after you make the qualifying deposit. You’ll need to hold your minimum deposit (minus any trading losses) as well as any proceeds from the promotion for at least a year. Otherwise, the broker may charge back your promotion.

Read Bankrate’s Tastytrade review to learn more.

SoFi Invest: $100, $200, $500, $750, $1,000, $2,500 or $10,000 bonus

SoFi Invest is offering a bonus to customers who transfer investments from another brokerage to SoFi.

To receive the bonus award, you must:

  • Be a SoFi investing client with either a taxable Invest Active or Active retirement account.
  • Transfer assets from another brokerage of at least $1,000 via ACATS.

Here are the cash bonus tiers for this offer:

  • To receive a $100 bonus, transfer $5,000-$24,999.
  • To receive a $200 bonus, transfer $25,000-$99,999.
  • To receive a $500 bonus, transfer $100,000-$249,999.
  • To receive a $750 bonus, transfer $250,000-$499,999.
  • To receive a $1,000 bonus, transfer $500,000-$999,999.
  • To receive a $2,500 bonus, transfer $1,000,000-$4,999,999.
  • To receive a $10,000 bonus, transfer $5,000,000 or more.

Bonuses are paid based on the one-time amount that you transfer, and the assets must remain in your account for 180 days. The bonus will be paid within 14 days of the last day of the month in which the transfer cleared to SoFi.

SoFi does not accept mutual funds, cryptocurrency, OTC and pink sheet stocks and other low-priced stocks.

If you transfer more than $5,000 in assets through ACATS, SoFi will reimburse you up to $75 for fees from your outgoing brokerage.

Read Bankrate’s SoFi review to learn more.

Merrill Edge: $100, $150, $250 or $600 bonus

When you open a Merrill Edge IRA or cash management account and make a qualifying deposit within 45 days of opening, you can earn up to a $600 bonus. You need to use the offer code 600ME during the account opening. This can be done while applying online or using it when speaking to a Merrill Edge financial adviser on the phone or at select Bank of America branches.

To receive a cash reward, you must:

  • Enroll for the offer at the time of account opening.
  • Deposit net new assets of at least $20,000 into your Merrill Edge account within 45 days of opening the account.
  • Maintain that balance for at least 90 days.

The offer limits you to one IRA — rollover, traditional, Roth and sole-proprietor SEP only — and one cash management account. Each account holder can’t have more than two enrolled accounts.

Assets from Bank of America, Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated (MLPF&S), U.S. Trust, or 401(k) accounts administered by MLPF&S aren’t qualifying net new assets.

You’ll receive your cash reward two weeks after the initial 90-day period, assuming you meet eligibility requirements.

Business/corporate accounts, investment club accounts, partnership accounts and certain types of fiduciary accounts held at Merrill Edge aren’t eligible for this offer. The offer also doesn’t apply to accounts, which include IRAs or CMAs, held with other business units of MLPF&S.

Here are the bonus tiers:

  • To receive the $100 cash reward, deposit $20,000 to $49,999.
  • To receive the $150 cash reward, deposit $50,000 to $99,999.
  • To receive the $250 cash reward, deposit $100,000 to $199,999.
  • To receive the $600 cash reward, deposit $200,000 or more.

Read Bankrate’s Merrill Edge review to learn more.

E-Trade: $100, $150, $200, $300, $600, $1,000, $2,500 or $4,000 bonus

You can earn a cash bonus if you open a retirement or brokerage account and fund it with $10,000 or more within 60 days of account opening. Your account must be opened by May 31, 2024.

To receive a cash bonus, you must:

  • Use promo code PROMO24 when opening the account.
  • Open your new account with funds or securities from accounts outside of E-Trade. You need to also keep the new account (minus any trading losses) for at least 12 months to keep the cash bonus.

Here are the cash bonus tiers for this offer:

  • To receive a $100 bonus, deposit or transfer $50-$999.
  • To receive a $150 bonus, deposit or transfer $1,000-$49,999.
  • To receive a $200 bonus, deposit or transfer $50,000-$99,999.
  • To receive a $300 bonus, deposit or transfer $100,000-$199,999.
  • To receive a $600 bonus, deposit or transfer $200,000-$499,999.
  • To receive a $1,000 bonus, deposit or transfer $500,000-$999,999.
  • To receive a $2,500 bonus, deposit or transfer $1 million – $1,499,999.
  • To receive a $4,000 bonus, deposit or transfer $1.5 million or more.

Read Bankrate’s E-Trade review to learn more.

How to choose a brokerage account

The best online stock trading websites offer investor-friendly features and fees traders can easily justify. When it comes to choosing which brokerage account is best for you, consider the following features:

  • Price: When it comes to fees, you’re in luck — fees have been dropping swiftly and most online brokers charge no trading commissions on stocks and ETFs.
  • Broker resources: You’ll also want to consider factors such as research tools, the quality of the digital trading app, and the ability to place trades quickly and reliably, among other details.
  • Strategy: The account you really want will ultimately come down to your personal investment strategy — including how frequently you plan to trade and whether you’re a beginner or are more experienced.

If other features are especially important to you, such as customer support, then be sure to factor those into your decision.