Best Brokerage Account Bonuses for November 2026

A brokerage account bonus is worth what you keep after the conditions are met. The “up to” figure in the headline is a ceiling. The seven offers ranked here pay in different forms: tiered cash, cryptocurrency, a transfer-fee credit, a personalized rate on retirement transfers and an ongoing deposit match. Start by identifying which type of offer fits the money you are actually moving, then compare only offers of that type.

Every offer was checked against the broker’s official offer page on November 9, 2026. Promotions change or end without notice, so the terms in force when you enroll are the ones that bind you.

How to read the order

The ranking sets the order in which the offers are profiled. It does not tell you which bonus pays you the most on your own balance. A $2,000 maximum in bitcoin, a $1,000 maximum in cash and a 1% match on deposits cannot be ranked by headline amount alone. Their value depends on how much you move, whether you qualify for the top tier and, for crypto, what the asset is worth when you could sell it.

Use the order to see the field. Then narrow it down with three questions:

1. What are you moving? New cash, an existing taxable brokerage account, an IRA or a 401(k).
2. How long can the money stay put? Holding periods turn a bonus into a commitment.
3. Do you meet the gate? A referral, a representative, a membership or new-user status.

What kind of bonus each offer is

The offers fall into five groups. Knowing the group tells you what you are paid on and what you have to do.

• Tiered cash on new money (Fidelity, Charles Schwab). Both advertise up to $1,000 in cash. The practical difference is the gate. Fidelity requires you to register with a designated Fidelity representative before funding a new or eligible account. Schwab’s is a referral offer: you need to be referred before opening an eligible retail brokerage account or IRA and making a qualifying deposit, so without a referrer it is not available to you. If you can satisfy either gate, compare the tier you would actually reach and the holding period in each offer’s current terms.
• Crypto rewards (Coinbase, eToro). Coinbase presents a bitcoin reward amount to eligible new U.S. users at signup, up to $2,000, after a first eligible crypto purchase (the offer is framed as “Buy $50 Crypto, Get Bitcoin”). Because the amount is set at signup, the maximum is not a promise. eToro offers up to $300 in cryptocurrency after a first deposit into a new account and notes that availability and requirements may vary. Its $50 account minimum is the only nonzero minimum among these entries. Both pay in an asset whose dollar value moves after you receive it.
• Transfer reimbursement (Ally). Ally’s $75 is a transfer fee credit. It requires an initial ACAT transfer of $2,500 or more from another broker-dealer, plus a submission step described in the offer terms, so a plain cash deposit will not trigger it. It only offsets what your old broker charges to send assets out. If that fee is above $75, you pay the difference.
• Retirement transfer bonus (Robinhood). Robinhood pays a personalized cash bonus rate on an eligible IRA transfer or 401(k) rollover started during the promotion period, and you only learn your rate through the offer itself. It is the only offer with a stated end date: November 13, 2026. A 401(k) rollover involves your plan administrator, so leave time to initiate the transfer before then.
• Ongoing deposit match (SoFi). SoFi pays a 1% match on eligible recurring ACH deposits into a SoFi Invest account. It applies only if you are an active SoFi Plus member when each deposit arrives. It is the only offer that pays on a continuing basis rather than once, so it fits someone who already plans automatic contributions.

The terms that decide whether you get paid

Account-opening promotions tend to share a few mechanics, and terms from brokers outside this ranking show how strict they can be.

New money. Bonuses usually count only funds that come from outside the broker. J.P. Morgan’s Self-Directed Investing offer, for example, excluded assets transferred from JPMorgan Chase or its affiliates. Moving money between accounts at the same firm generally will not count.

Funding window. You get a fixed number of days to deposit. Published examples include 45 days from coupon enrollment (J.P. Morgan) and 60 calendar days from account opening (E*TRADE). Pay attention to the start date, because “from enrollment” and “from account opening” are not always the same day.

Tier determination date. With tiered cash, the bonus level is often fixed on a specific day based on net inflows up to that point. In J.P. Morgan’s terms, that was day 45. Money that arrives after that date can still have to stay in the account while earning nothing toward the tier.

Holding period. This is the term that does the most damage. Requirements seen in published offers range from 90 days (J.P. Morgan) to 270 days (TradeStation) to 12 months after funding (E*TRADE). Some terms state that market losses do not count against you and that only withdrawals do. Others measure the balance itself. Withdrawing early can mean the bonus is never paid or is clawed back.

Account type. Retirement accounts are excluded from some offers. TradeStation’s offer excluded IRAs, and E*TRADE’s excluded retirement accounts. Others include them, and Schwab’s eligible accounts include IRAs. Robinhood’s offer is built specifically around IRA transfers and 401(k) rollovers.

One per customer and lookback limits. Expect one bonus per person, sometimes with a 12-month gap between enrollments, and exclusions for people who already hold an account or have received a past incentive from the same broker.

Account status at payout. If the account is closed or restricted when the bonus is due, it is typically not paid. If the broker ends the promotion before payout, some terms say the bonus will not be paid at all.

Taxes. Cash bonuses can be treated as income. J.P. Morgan’s terms, for instance, noted it may issue Form 1099-MISC (or Form 1042-S where applicable), with any resulting tax owed by you. A bonus inside an IRA follows that account’s rules, and crypto rewards carry their own reporting questions.

Doing the math on a tiered bonus

The headline maximum usually requires a very large deposit. Work out the effective return on your own balance instead.

Hypothetical example, not any broker’s terms: a tier table pays $300 for $25,000 to $49,999 of new money, with a 12-month holding period.

• Bonus as a share of deposit: $300 ÷ $25,000 = 1.2% over 12 months.
• If $300 is taxed as ordinary income at an assumed 22% federal rate, you keep $234, or about 0.94%.
• Depositing $49,999 earns the same $300, which drops the effective rate to roughly 0.6%.

The pattern holds for any tiered offer. Value peaks at the bottom of each tier, because dollars above the threshold earn nothing until the next tier starts. Moving just enough to clear a threshold, rather than everything you have, can raise your effective return. Compare that return with what the same money would earn elsewhere over the holding period.

For SoFi’s 1% match the arithmetic is different. Hypothetical: recurring ACH deposits of $500 a month would produce $5 a month, or $60 over a year, as long as SoFi Plus membership stays active each time a deposit lands.

Costs that last longer than the bonus

A bonus is paid once, but trading costs keep coming. Stock trades are $0 across every entry in the ranking. Options pricing differs:

• Fidelity and Charles Schwab: $0.65 per contract
• Ally: $0.50 per contract
• Robinhood: $0 for stock and ETF options
• SoFi and eToro: $0
• Coinbase: stock options with limit orders only, subject to approval

Hypothetical: an investor trading 1,000 option contracts a year would pay $650 at $0.65 and $500 at $0.50. That is a $150 annual gap that recurs, and it ignores regulatory and exchange fees, which are separate. For an active options trader, a few years of that gap can exceed a mid-tier bonus. For someone buying index funds a few times a year, the bonus matters more than the contract fee.

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