There are dozens of crypto sign-up bonuses available for those willing to register for a new exchange. Often, they require making a small deposit.
In this article, we’ll compare the crypto promotions available from various exchanges, which you can use as a way to build your crypto portfolio or sell quickly for easy cash.
Our Criteria For Determining the Best Crypto Sign-Up Bonus Offers
Free money often seems too good to be true. What might look like a good bonus on a landing page sometimes isn’t such a good deal upon reading the fine print.
To determine the best free crypto promotional offers, we looked at the following factors:
- The amount of the bonus. We compared the amount earned to the minimum deposit required to qualify for the bonus.
- Whether the funds you get can be moved to an external wallet. For many reasons, it’s important to own your digital assets and to have the ability to transfer them to an external crypto wallet.
- The specific cryptocurrency of the bonus offer. While a bonus in the native token of a platform does have value, we prioritized free bitcoin, stablecoin and ethereum offers.
- The required holding period. Often you must hold, or in some cases stake, your assets for a certain period of time. We prioritized offers with shorter holding periods, which allow you to withdraw funds sooner.
The Best Crypto Sign-Up Bonus Offers
Here’s a quick rundown of the best crypto bonuses available right now.
| Platform | Bonus and Criteria to Earn |
| TradeStation | $150 in BTC after funding an account with $500. |
| Okcoin | $50 in BTC after making a trade of $100 or more. |
| Gemini | $15 in BTC after $100 of trading activity within the first 30 days. |
| Strike | OKCoin |
| KuCoin | A “mystery box” worth up to $500. |
| eToro | $10 in cash after purchasing $100 worth of crypto. |
| Phemex | $5 in BTC or USD after opening an account and following on Twitter. |
| Lolli | $5 in BTC after making a qualifying purchase. |
| Choice IRA | $50 in BTC upon opening an IRA (must fund with a minimum of $1). |
| Webull | $5 of crypto after making an initial trade of $1 or more. |
Note: Many of these offers are based on referral codes where we both earn the bonus. Others are affiliate links, where The Ways To Wealth has a formal partnership with the exchange and may earn a commission if you sign up.
#1. TradeStation
| Bonus: | $150 in BTC after funding an account with $500. (Must use promo code FNMZAGAN during the sign-up process.) |
| Holding period: | Bonus is paid in two installments: one after your first full month, and one after your second full month. |
TradeStation — a popular stock brokerage for active investors — now allows you to trade a limited number of cryptocurrencies. Their current sign-up promotion gives you $150 in Bitcoin.
It’s a solid low-fee crypto exchange with a comprehensive suite of tools for traders, and it offers the ability to withdraw your crypto to an external wallet. You can learn about the platform in our TradeStation review.
This bonus is available to new TradeStation customers who fund their account with at least $500 within 45 days of signing up. You’ll be paid $75 in BTC after your first full month, then another $75 after your second full month. (Your first “full month” starts after meeting the $500 funding requirement.)
While this is TradeStation’s top Bitcoin bonus, there are several TradeStation promotional offers that give you discounts on trading fees.
#2. Okcoin
| Bonus: | $50 in BTC after making a trade of $100 or more. |
| Holding period: | 180 days. |
Okcoin is an international crypto exchange that offers 20 different assets, including BTC and ETH.
The $50 BTC bonus is awarded instantly upon purchasing $100 or more of any crypto asset on the platform. Users must deposit their local currency to the platform.
Note that transfers of existing crypto assets into your Okcoin wallet do not qualify for the promotion. Also, keep in mind that you must hold your bitcoin for 180 days before you’re allowed to withdraw it.
#3. Gemini
| Bonus: | $15 in BTC after $100 of trading activity within the first 30 days. |
| Holding period: | None. |
The popular Gemini exchange allows you to buy, sell, and store digital assets on their platform. New users get a $15 bonus for buying or selling $100 worth of crypto within 30 days of opening an account.
The bonus will hit your account within two business days after the qualifications are met. Note that Gemini requires you to link a bank account to make a deposit — credit cards, debit cards and PayPal/Venmo accounts are not accepted.
Gemini $15 Bonus or refer to our detailed Gemini promo codes page for full details and a list of all current offers.
#4. Strike
| Bonus: | $5 in USD after opening an account and making a $1 deposit |
| Holding period: | None. |
Strike is available as an iOS and Android app, and as a Chrome browser extension. Once you’ve signed up, you’ll have to verify your identity, which may include ID submission for U.S. residents (and may take a day or two) and link a bank account.
To earn the $5 bonus, you must make a deposit of at least $1 into your Strike account.
Strike then immediately admits all users into their “Give $5/Get $5” referral program, enabling you to earn $5 for every user registering an account and completing required activities to earn a bonus. You can earn up to $400 a year.
#5. KuCoin
| Bonus: | Random prizes awarded worth up to 500 USDT. |
| Holding period: | Not applicable. The bonus comes in the form of trading coupons, which reduce the amount of money needed for trading. For example, a $100 purchase of BTC with a 10 USDT trading coupon would cost $90. |
KuCoin is a popular cryptocurrency exchange for trading altcoins. In total, there are over 700 coins listed on the platform.
New users can get a bonus (given in the form of a trading coupon) worth up to 10 USDT by completing registration and verification.
An initial deposit or crypto purchase worth more than $50 USD can earn another random prize of up to 50 USDT.
Finally, trading with more than $50 USD can win up to 500 USDT in mystery prizes.
After completing each activity, coupons are awarded within 21 days.
KuCoin doesn’t provide information regarding the odds of receiving the maximum bonus.
#6. eToro
| Bonus: | $10 in cash credited to your account balance after purchasing $100 worth of crypto. |
| Holding period: | The crypto you purchase must be held for 30 days to qualify for the bonus. |
While eToro is a well-known worldwide brokerage, they’re offering U.S. residents a $10 bonus after purchasing $100 worth of crypto. You can reach the $100 minimum with either a single $100 trade or with multiple trades that total $100 in value.
You’ll get the $10 reward within 30 days after reaching the minimum purchase amount. The crypto you buy must then be held for 30 days before it can be sold or transferred to your private wallet.
Learn more about the platform in our in-depth eToro crypto review.
Visit eToro to get the bonus.
#7. Phemex
| Bonus: | Multiple bonuses are available. |
| Holding period: | None. |
Phemex has multiple sign-up bonuses available, allowing you to earn anywhere between $5 to $6,000.
In order of easiest to hardest, these are
- $5 spot voucher for following Phemex on Twitter and retweeting their pinned tweet.
- $5 contract voucher for following any trader via their copy trading platform.
- $10 spot voucher for making a deposit greater than $50.
- Deposit bonuses ranging from $100 to $6,000.
Vouchers can be used for contract trading on the platform (not directly withdrawn). Bonuses come in two forms: USD trading bonuses (used for contracts settled in USD) and BTC trading bonuses (used for contracts settled in BTC).
To obtain the deposit bonus (which are awarded in USD) you must complete both the required minimum deposit and trading actions:
| Deposit | Minimum Contract Trade | Bonus |
| ≥ 3000 | ≥ $500,000 | $100 |
| ≥ 10000 | ≥ $1,000,000 | $300 |
| ≥ $20,000 | ≥ $5,000,000 | $1,000 |
| ≥ $100,000 | ≥ $12,000,000 | $4,000 |
| ≥ $125,000 | ≥ $15,000,000 | $5,000 |
| ≥ $150,000 | ≥ $20,000,000 | $6,000 |
Visit the Phemex promotions page.
Learn more about how the platform works in our Phemex review.
#8. Lolli
| Bonus: | $5 in BTC after making a qualifying purchase. |
| Holding period: | Reach the minimum withdrawal threshold of $15. |
Loli isn’t a crypto exchange but rather a crypto-back shopping portal. If you’re new to the concept, you can use a site like Loli to earn extra cash-back (in the form of crypto) on your online purchases.
To earn the $5 crypto bonus, just open an account and make a qualifying purchase at any participating retailer, which includes Nike, Lowes, eBay and Priceline — as well as 1,000 other top brands.
Once your account balance reaches $15, you can transfer your bitcoin to an external wallet.
#9. Choice IRA
| Bonus: | $50 in BTC upon opening an IRA (must fund with a minimum of $1). |
| Holding period: | Retirement account withdrawal rules apply. |
Choice IRA is a self-directed IRA platform that makes it easy and affordable to hold crypto assets inside of your retirement account. You can learn more about the platform in our in-depth Choice IRA review.
Their current sign-up bonus rewards you with $50 in BTC for opening a self-directed IRA with Choice and depositing at least $1.
Keep in mind that this is a retirement account, which means:
- You must meet the qualifications for utilizing an IRA.
- You must hold the assets in your account (or you’ll pay a penalty).
Related Reading: There’s a lot to like about Choice; however, if you’re considering investing a more significant sum into an IRA, check our rankings of best crypto IRA accounts.
#10. Webull
| Bonus: | $5 of ADA, BTC, DOGE, ETH or SHIB after making an initial trade of $1 or more. |
| Holding period: | None. |
Webull is known for its commission-free stock trading platform, which you can learn more about in our Webull review. However, they also allow you to trade a limited number of cryptocurrencies on the platform.
Webull gives you $5 in your choice of a variety of coins upon completing a trade of at least $1. You can combine that bonus with Webull’s free stock offer, which allows you to earn free shares upon making an initial deposit into a brokerage account.
With both the crypto and free stock bonus, you can sell immediately and withdraw from your account.
Important Note: You cannot transfer your crypto from Webull to an external wallet.
Check out this list of ways to get free shares of stock.
Frequently Asked Questions
No. Know Your Customer (also referred to as KYC) is a method of verifying your identity to protect crypto exchanges from fraud and money laundering, and to help prevent the financing of crime. All crypto exchanges operating within the United States require customers to go through a KYC process before opening an account.
The specific method varies by platform, but when testing out offers, the most common one I experienced was being required to upload a picture of the front and back of a government-issued photo ID.
Just as there are ways to get free money, there are plenty of ways to get free crypto. Sign-up bonuses are among the easiest methods. However, as we detail in our guide on how to get free bitcoin, other ways include Coinbase Learn opportunities, crypto-back credit cards, airdrops and more.
Our top crypto app sign-up bonus is TradeStation’s $150 BTC bonus awarded after depositing over $500.
Best Crypto Sign-Up Bonuses: Final Thoughts
Crypto sign-up bonuses are an ideal low-risk onramp to all things crypto. They allow you to get an immediate return on your money and get a sense of how an exchange works.
Offers do change constantly. We’ll refresh this page once a month. If you see an offer that’s out of date or are aware of a better offer, please leave a comment and let us know.
