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 September 2023

  • Charles Schwab: $100 to $1,000 (personally referred friend offer)
  • Fidelity Investments: $100
  • J.P. Morgan Self-Directed Investing: $50 to $700
  • M1 Finance: $75 to $500
  • Tastytrade: $100 to $3,000
  • SoFi Invest: $25 to $5,000

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.

Fidelity Investments: $100

Fidelity Investments is offering clients $100 for funding an account with at least $50.

To receive the award, you must:

  • Open a Fidelity account (including the Fidelity Starter Pack, the Fidelity Account, a Fidelity Cash Management Account, or an IRA) through the official offer page.
  • Use promo code Fidelity100 when opening the account.
  • Fund the account with at least $50 from a non-Fidelity account within 15 days of opening.

You’re limited to one award per person, and cannot have taken advantage of this offer when it was previously available. Existing customers are also eligible for this bonus.

The cash will be deposited into your account within 10 days of the qualification period. You must maintain the $100 award in the account for at least 90 days after receiving it.

Read Bankrate’s Fidelity 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 October 12, 2023 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 taxable brokerage account. Your account must be opened by Dec. 31, 2023 to qualify.

To receive the bonus award, you must:

  • Make a direct transfer of at least $10,000 via ACH within the first 14 days of account opening.
  • Open your new account with funds from accounts outside of M1.
  • 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 day. 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 $250 bonus, deposit $50,000-$99,999.
  • To receive a $500 bonus, deposit $100,000+.

Tastytrade: $100, $500, $2,000 or $3,000 bonus

Tastytrade is offering new clients cash for funding an account with at least $5,000 in cash or securities.

To receive the bonus award, you must:

  • Be a new Tastytrade client and open a taxable account and select “NEWBONUS23” in the referral code section.
  • Open and fund the account with at least $5,000 in cash or securities by Sept. 30, 2023.

Here are the cash bonus tiers for this offer:

  • 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 or more.

You’re limited to one award per person, and must open either an individual, joint or business account. IRAs and trust 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: $25, $50, $125, $250, $500, $1,000, $2,500, $5,000 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 $25 bonus, transfer $1,000-$4,999.
  • To receive a $50 bonus, transfer $5,000-$19,999.
  • To receive a $125 bonus, transfer $20,000-$99,999.
  • To receive a $250 bonus, transfer $100,000-$249,999.
  • To receive a $500 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-$1,999,999.
  • To receive a $5,000 bonus, transfer $2,000,000 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.