No-Deposit Offers: Which Brokers Support Them and How the Math Works

A prospect messages you: "I don't have money to fund an account yet, can I try the broker's platform with real conditions first?" If you work the no-deposit bonus angle, you already know this is the single hardest offer type to place with a serious partner, and the easiest to get wrong. Regulators have squeezed it in the retail EU/UK/AU markets, most reputable brokers restrict it to specific entities, and the ones who still run it attach withdrawal conditions that can quietly erase the value for your referral. This article maps which broker types actually support no-deposit offers today, how the math behind them works, and how to vet a program before you promote it.

What a No-Deposit Bonus Actually Is

A no-deposit bonus is broker-funded trading credit given to a new client who has not funded their own account. It differs from a deposit bonus, which matches a percentage of a client's own deposit, in one critical way: the broker is putting capital at risk before the client has committed any of their own. That changes the broker's incentives and, in turn, the terms you'll see attached to the offer.

Most no-deposit credit is a tradable bonus — usable for opening positions and generating profit or loss, but not withdrawable as cash on its own. The client can typically withdraw profits generated using the bonus, subject to conditions covered below, but not the bonus principal itself.

Which Broker Types Still Support No-Deposit Offers

Availability splits sharply by regulatory jurisdiction, and this is the first filter you need before building any campaign around the offer.

• EU (ESMA), UK (FCA), and Australia (ASIC)-regulated retail entities generally cannot offer bonuses to retail clients at all. Trading incentives of this kind are treated as a tool that pushes under-informed clients into more risk than they can afford, and they've been restricted since the 2018 ESMA product-intervention measures, with the UK (FCA) and Australia (ASIC) adopting equivalent rules after leaving or mirroring that framework.
• Offshore-regulated entities — commonly licensed in Belize (FSC), Vanuatu (VFSC), Mauritius (FSC), Seychelles (FSA), or Saint Vincent and the Grenadines — routinely run no-deposit and deposit bonuses, because those regimes don't carry the same retail-protection product bans.
• Crypto exchanges sit outside CFD/forex bonus rules entirely in most jurisdictions and frequently run "sign-up credit" or "trading fee rebate" campaigns that function like a no-deposit offer, though the mechanics (fee credit vs. tradable balance) differ from forex bonuses.
• Prop firms don't use no-deposit bonuses in the forex sense — their entire funded-account model is built around free simulated capital after a paid evaluation, which is a different economic structure covered in the prop-firm affiliate guide.
• Binary options brokers offering no-deposit credit are almost always in a legal gray zone or outright offshore, since binary options are banned for retail clients in the EU, UK, and several other major markets.

The Math Behind a No-Deposit Offer

Before you promote a no-deposit program, work through the arithmetic the way the broker's risk desk does, because it explains every restrictive term you'll encounter.

1. The broker fronts real credit with no client capital behind it. A $30 no-deposit bonus across 10,000 sign-ups is $300,000 of exposure with zero deposits collected against it.
2. Most of that exposure never converts. Industry pattern (illustrative, not a guarantee) is that a large majority of no-deposit accounts trade out the credit, hit a withdrawal condition they can't meet, or simply churn without ever funding. The broker is pricing the offer against that expected low conversion rate, not against every sign-up becoming a funded client.
3. The broker recovers cost through volume-based withdrawal gates. A common structure requires the client to trade a multiple of the bonus amount in lots — for example, 5 standard lots traded before any profit becomes withdrawable — which generates spread or commission revenue for the broker regardless of whether the client's position was profitable.
4. A withdrawal cap limits the broker's downside on a lucky client. Some programs cap withdrawable profit at a fixed dollar figure (e.g., up to $100), even if the account generated more. This isn't disclosed prominently, which is exactly why you should read it before you promote the offer.
5. Your CPA or first time deposit payout usually only triggers once the lead converts to a funded account, not at bonus claim. A no-deposit lead is a mid-funnel conversion event for you, not a payable one, unless the broker's terms explicitly say otherwise.

Comparing No-Deposit Offer Structures

Terms vary widely across the brokers who still run this offer. Use a table like this to evaluate any program before you commit marketing spend to it.

How to Vet a No-Deposit Program Before You Promote It

• Read the bonus terms document yourself, not just the marketing page. The withdrawal conditions live in the fine print, and they're what determines whether your referral gets any real value.
• Confirm the entity, not just the brand. Check the specific regulated entity the client will be onboarded under, using the regulator's own register (for example the FCA's Financial Services Register or CySEC's regulated entities list) rather than the broker's own claims; a brand can hold a license for one entity and run bonuses through an unrelated offshore entity under the same name. This is the core diligence step covered in the IB due-diligence checklist.
• Ask how your commission is calculated for no-deposit leads. Get it in writing whether you're paid on bonus claim, on first funded deposit, or not at all until a volume threshold is hit.
• Check the deposit-to-withdrawal ratio policy. Some brokers apply stricter scrutiny to accounts that never deposited real funds, which can delay or complicate a client's eventual withdrawal.
• Look for bonus abuse language in the terms. Brokers reserve the right to void profits if they detect multiple accounts, VPN use, or coordinated claiming from the same IP or device cluster — behavior that any organized no-deposit promotion can accidentally trigger.
• Watch for clawback clauses. If a client's withdrawn profit gets reversed after the fact for a terms violation, that reversal can also affect your commission on the same lead.

A Worked Example

Say a broker offers a $25 no-deposit bonus with a 40x volume requirement (1 standard lot = 100,000 units) and a $100 profit withdrawal cap. The client needs to trade roughly $1,000,000 in notional volume before any profit is withdrawable. At typical retail spreads, that volume alone generates meaningful revenue for the broker independent of whether the client's trades are profitable. If the client clears the gate and is in profit, they can withdraw up to $100 — a modest but real outcome that took genuine trading effort to reach. This is illustrative math to show the mechanics, not a claim about any specific broker's current terms, which change often and should always be confirmed directly.

Mistakes IBs Make With No-Deposit Offers

• Promoting the headline amount without the withdrawal conditions. A "$50 free" headline next to a 50x volume gate and a $100 cap is a materially different offer than the number implies.
• Sending the same no-deposit creative to a jurisdiction where the broker can't legally run it. If you don't check entity and region, you can drive traffic straight into a mismatch that either gets rejected at KYC or exposes the client to an unregulated entity they didn't expect.
• Treating no-deposit leads as funded conversions in your own reporting. This inflates your funnel numbers and misleads any downstream partner (a sub-IB network, for example) relying on your data.
• Ignoring hedging restrictions. Some no-deposit terms prohibit hedged positions or use of the credit specifically to lock in guaranteed outcomes; violating this is a common trigger for a full clawback of the account.
• Assuming every broker's no-deposit terms are static. These programs get tightened, paused, or discontinued as regulators and risk teams react to abuse patterns — recheck terms before every new campaign, not once at onboarding.

Where This Fits in Your Partner Strategy

No-deposit offers are a narrow acquisition tool, not a strategy on their own. If your audience responds well to low-risk trial mechanics — common among content creators and educators building trust with a first-time audience — the offer can lower the barrier to that first click. But it needs a partner whose terms are transparent and whose payout to you doesn't depend on an unfunded lead converting on its own. For the broader economics, see the bonus-provider IB model, brokers that allow IB-funded bonuses, structuring a bonus a broker will actually approve, and bonus abuse, hedging, and clawbacks. For partner economics beyond bonus offers, see the CPA vs RevShare vs Hybrid guide.

Once you understand which broker types actually support no-deposit offers and how the withdrawal math works, the next step is comparing live programs side by side rather than taking any single broker's marketing page at face value. Revenika's partner glossary is a good place to cross-reference the terms and mechanics covered here against a broker's actual published bonus schedule before you commit a campaign to it.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I get paid as an IB for a no-deposit bonus lead?

Usually not directly. Most CPA and hybrid deal structures pay on a funded first deposit, not on bonus claim, since the broker hasn't recovered any acquisition cost from an unfunded account. Some brokers offer a smaller "lead" or "registration" payout for no-deposit sign-ups specifically — ask your affiliate manager whether this applies to your deal.

Are no-deposit bonuses legal everywhere?

No. They're generally prohibited for retail clients under EU (ESMA), UK (FCA), and Australian (ASIC) rules. They remain available through offshore-regulated entities and in jurisdictions without equivalent retail-protection product bans. Always confirm the specific regulated entity a client will onboard under, not just the brand name.

Why do brokers cap the amount clients can withdraw from a no-deposit bonus?

The cap limits the broker's downside from statistical outliers. Because the broker funded the credit with no client deposit behind it, an uncapped payout on a lucky trading run would be pure broker loss with no offsetting revenue.

Does a no-deposit bonus count toward my volume or CPA targets?

Typically no, because the account isn't funded. Confirm this with your specific broker before assuming no-deposit traffic contributes to a volume tier or bonus threshold in your own IB agreement.

What's the difference between a no-deposit bonus and a free trial account?

A demo or free trial account uses simulated funds with no real payout possible. A no-deposit bonus uses real broker capital that can, subject to conditions, produce a real cash withdrawal — which is why it carries far stricter terms and regulatory scrutiny than a demo account.

Conclusion

No-deposit bonuses are still live in the market, but almost entirely through offshore-regulated entities, and always wrapped in volume and withdrawal conditions that determine whether the offer has any real value to your referral. Before you build a campaign around one, verify the entity, read the actual terms document, confirm how (or whether) you get paid on an unfunded lead, and set your audience's expectations around effort, not free money. Treat the offer as a trial mechanic that earns trust for a broker relationship — not as the headline of your pitch.