Hub · Promotions
Sign-up bonuses and the conditions nobody reads
Every large exchange runs a welcome offer and almost none of them are free money. They are conditional, time-limited and sequence-dependent — and the one mistake that voids them permanently is made before you have deposited anything.
Last reviewed
- Bonus model in 2026
- Task-based
- Most common void
- Late referral
- Typical window
- 15–90 days
Register, verify, then deposit or trade a qualifying amount inside a window.
A code added after the account exists is almost never applied retroactively.
Varies by exchange. Miss it and the offer lapses with no extension.
What an exchange is paying for
An exchange welcome offer is a customer acquisition cost, paid to somebody who is likely to become a trading customer. Understanding it that way explains every condition attached to it.
The exchange does not want somebody who claims $30 and leaves. It wants somebody who verifies identity, funds an account, makes a trade, and keeps the account open. So the bonus is structured to pay only when those things have happened, which is why the model across the industry has converged on task-based rather than automatic rewards.
The typical shapes are consistent. A bonus paid after a first fiat purchase within a window of around 90 days. A flat amount for trading a threshold, often $100 or $200, within 15 to 30 days. A tiered structure that scales with volume. And referral programmes that pay the existing customer when a new one completes the same steps.
There is also a separate category worth distinguishing: learn-and-earn. Several exchanges pay small amounts of a specific token for watching a short lesson and passing a quiz, funded by the project being featured. These rotate every few weeks and expire. They are real, they are small, and they are covered on our free crypto page.
The sequencing mistake
Of everything on this page, this is the one that costs people money, and it costs them the entire bonus rather than part of it.
The referral must exist before the account does
Open the referral link, then register in that same session. If the account is created first and you try to attach a code afterwards, most exchanges will not apply it retroactively. The bonus is permanently lost and support cannot help, because the attribution was never recorded.
This is not a policy anyone announces prominently. It is buried in terms, and it is the single most common reason a claimed bonus never arrives.
The second most common failure is the window. Offers specify a period, frequently 15, 30 or 90 days from verification — within which the qualifying action must complete. There is no grace period and no extension. If you verify in January intending to fund in March, the offer has usually gone.
Locked bonuses
A bonus that appears as a balance but cannot be withdrawn is the source of most complaints in this area, and the mechanism is worth understanding because it is not fraud.
The exchange credits the bonus so you can see it, but attaches a release condition: a trading volume to reach, a period to hold, a product to use. Until then the balance exists and is not yours to move. People reasonably interpret a visible balance as money received, and the terms say otherwise.
Two defences. Read what unlocks the bonus before claiming it, and treat any bonus as unearned until it has been successfully withdrawn once. A balance on a screen is a claim, not a payment.
By country
Where you live changes what you can claim
Promotional rules are set by financial regulators, not by exchanges. The same offer can be available, restricted or banned outright depending on the jurisdiction.
United States
State-by-state money transmitter licensing decides which offers you can even see, and which states are excluded entirely.
United Kingdom
FCA financial promotion rules, mandatory risk warnings and the 24-hour cooling-off period that changed how offers work.
Nigeria
ISA 2025, SEC licensing, the CBN reversal, and the gift-card economy that runs alongside the exchange market.
Australia
AUSTRAC registration, the 50% CGT discount people mistake for a promotion, and ASIC oversight.
India
FIU-IND registration, a flat 30% tax on gains and the 1% TDS that quietly changes the arithmetic on any bonus.
How to evaluate an offer in sixty seconds
Four questions, in order. If any answer is unsatisfactory, the rest do not matter.
- Is the venue licensed where I live? Check the regulator’s own register, not the exchange’s claims page.
- What exactly must I do, and by when? The qualifying action and the window, in days.
- What unlocks withdrawal? If this is not stated clearly, assume it is restrictive.
- What would this exchange cost me anyway? Spreads and withdrawal fees recover a small bonus quickly.
That last question is the one people skip and it is the most important. A $30 welcome bonus on a venue with a 1% wider spread is repaid to them on your first $3,000 of trading. The bonus is marketing; the spread is the price.
What we would actually do
Choose the exchange on licensing, asset coverage, spreads and withdrawal costs. Then, and only then, check whether a welcome offer exists and follow the sequencing properly to claim it.
Every time we have seen somebody pick a platform for the bonus, the bonus was the smallest number in the eventual total.
Bonus questions, answered
Are crypto sign-up bonuses real?
The ones from large licensed exchanges are real, but in 2026 essentially all of them are task-based rather than free money. The pattern is consistent: register through a referral, complete identity verification, then deposit or trade a qualifying amount within a fixed window.
Typical structures include a bonus after a first fiat purchase within 90 days, a flat amount for trading a threshold within 30 days, or a tiered reward scaling with volume.
What is the single mistake that voids a bonus?
Sequencing. The referral must be attached before the account exists. Sign up first and try to add a code afterwards and most exchanges will not apply it retroactively — the bonus is gone permanently, with no support route back.
Open the referral link, complete registration in that same session, and do not create the account by any other path first.
What does a "locked" bonus mean?
A bonus that credits to your account but cannot be withdrawn until a separate condition is met — a trading volume, a holding period, a staking commitment. It shows as a balance, which is why people assume it is theirs.
This generated years of complaints across the industry. The condition is always in the terms; it is rarely in the headline. Read the terms before the balance appears, not after.
Do I have to complete KYC to get a bonus?
On any licensed exchange, yes. Identity verification is a regulatory requirement, not a marketing gate, and bonus eligibility is almost always tied to a completed verification.
Offers advertised as requiring no verification at all are either from unlicensed venues or are not what they appear. That is a reason for caution rather than enthusiasm.
Is a sign-up bonus worth choosing an exchange for?
Rarely. A $30 bonus is recovered quickly by a venue with wider spreads or higher withdrawal fees, and you are then tied to it. Pick on licensing, fees and the assets you want, then take whatever bonus exists as a secondary benefit.
Choosing an exchange for a one-off promotion is how people end up on platforms they cannot withdraw from conveniently.