Is a rebate a bonus, or your own money coming back?
Traders who hear about rebates for the first time usually sort them into a box they already have: deposit bonus, promotion, cashback offer. All three come with strings, and the instinct to be suspicious is a good one. A rebate belongs in a different box.
What a bonus actually is
A deposit bonus is money the broker adds to your account that was never yours. Because it was never yours, the broker sets conditions on it: a volume requirement before you can withdraw, an expiry date, a cap, and often a clause that removes the bonus and any profit made with it if you break a rule.
That is not dishonest. It is a marketing spend with terms attached, and the terms are the point. The broker is buying activity, and the conditions make sure it gets what it paid for.
What a rebate is instead
A rebate moves in the opposite direction. Nothing is added to your account that was not already yours. A portion of the spread and commission you already paid is routed back.
The distinction is not wordplay. It changes what anyone is allowed to demand of you.
| Deposit bonus | Rebate | |
|---|---|---|
| Where the money starts | Broker's marketing budget | Your own trading costs |
| Whose money it was | The broker's | Yours |
| Volume conditions to withdraw | Usually | No |
| Can be revoked | Yes, under the terms | No, it is a settled payment |
| Changes your cost per trade | No | Lowers it after the fact |
Because the money was yours to begin with, there is nothing to unlock and nothing to forfeit. A rebate that has been paid is simply paid.
Why this matters more than it sounds
Two practical consequences follow.
You cannot be trapped by it. A bonus can make you trade more than you meant to, because the money only becomes real after a volume threshold. A rebate creates no such pull. If you trade less this month, you get less back, and nothing else happens.
It survives a bad month. Bonus terms often disappear along with your balance. A rebate is calculated on volume, not on profit, so it arrives on losing trades exactly as it does on winning ones. That is uncomfortable to say out loud, but it is the truth of the mechanism, and it is why a rebate reduces cost rather than manufacturing profit.
The honest limit
A rebate is not free money and it will not turn a losing strategy into a winning one. It lowers the cost of trading you were going to do anyway. If the trading itself is bad, a smaller cost on it is still a loss.
Anyone selling a rebate as an income stream is selling the wrong thing. The correct claim is narrower and still worth having: you were paying a cost, and part of it comes back.
If you want the size of that part on the pairs you trade, the [published rates per broker](/brokers) and the [trading calculator](/tools/calculator) give the figure for your own volume rather than a headline.
Next
- [Who is the IB in forex, and where does their money come from](/bai-viet/who-is-the-ib-in-forex)
- [Does taking a rebate change your trading conditions](/bai-viet/does-a-rebate-change-conditions)