What's Available Right Now: March 2026 Brokerage Bonuses

More simultaneous brokerage transfer bonuses are active right now than at any prior point in this category's history. Several expire before April 1. This is the quantitative breakdown of what's available, who each offer makes sense for mathematically, and how to think about stacking them.

Annualized ROI Table (All Current Offers)

Before diving into individual offers, here's the key metric most coverage ignores: annualized return. A 4% bonus over 5 years is only 0.8%/year. A flat $1,000 on $50,000 for 90 days is 8%/year. Hold period makes an enormous difference.

*After $49.99/year Kraken+ fee on $100k transfer. **Capped at $20k transferred, so max $600 regardless of portfolio size. ***3% requires Gold ($50/year) + $10k margin debit transferred; 2% with Gold only; 1% without Gold.

Key insight from this table: The short-hold offers (90 days) have dramatically higher annualized returns than the long-hold ones, even when the gross rate is lower. Citi PWM at $500 on $50k sounds modest — but that's 4% annualized, which beats most money market funds and matches or beats the best 1-year CD rates.

WeBull's 4% headline number is compelling but the annualized rate (0.8%) is modest. WeBull makes sense when you're holding for 5 years anyway; it makes no sense as a capital allocation decision on its own.

Quick Reference

The 90-Day Options

For most people, the 90-day offers are where to start. You're not committing capital for years. The annualized returns are competitive with short-term fixed income. And you can cycle capital through multiple offers in sequence.

Citi PWM wins on annualized return for the 90-day category, especially at smaller amounts. The $50,000 tier earns $500 for 90 days — 4% annualized. The $100k–$200k range earns $1,000–$2,000 (2–3% annualized). Expires March 31. The only non-obvious requirement: sign up for eDelivery. Done in under a minute.

The one thing to know about Citi: the "up to $5,000" bonus requires $2M+ in assets. For most people the relevant tiers are $500 at $50k or $1,000–$2,000 at $100k–$200k. Those are the competitive ones.

J.P. Morgan Self-Directed at $250k earns $1,000 for 90 days — 1.6% annualized. Lower than Citi, but the platform is solid and the offer is churnable: you can re-qualify after a few months. If you're cycling $250k through 90-day offers, J.P. Morgan is a reliable entry in the rotation. Expires April 21, so less urgency.

Wells Fargo Premier requires going to a branch, which is why the offer is still generous. $2,500 at $250k (4% annualized), $3,500 at $500k (2.8% annualized). The branch screening eliminates most applicants. If you live near a Wells Fargo branch and have $250k+ in qualifying assets, this is the single best 90-day return available — but it's a bank bonus that requires a Premier Checking account and a $49.95 ACATS-out fee when you leave. Build that into your math.

Merrill Edge at $750 max is the evergreen option. No expiration date, roughly churnable quarterly, no unusual requirements. The annualized return at $200k is 1.5% — not the best, but consistent. Part of most active bonus hunters' rotation because it's always there.

The 1-Year Tier

Kraken at 2% is the cleanest 1-year percentage offer. $100,000 earns $2,000 gross, or ~$1,950 net of the $49.99 Kraken+ membership. Expires March 31.

Two things to understand clearly before you do this:

Stock lending. Kraken requires enrollment in Fully Paid Stock Lending. When your shares are lent, they're not SIPC-covered while out on loan. You receive lending income (typically 1–8% annualized on lent shares — variable, unpredictable) as partial compensation. If Kraken fails while your shares are lent, your recovery is less certain than for unlent shares. Most people do this and it's fine. But it's a real risk, not a boilerplate disclosure.

Bonus paid in USDG stablecoin. You can sell immediately for USD, then buy back your preferred assets. Minor friction, no meaningful risk.

Not available in New York, Maine, or Washington.

Moomoo is primarily interesting as a stacking play. The ACATS bonus caps at $600 (3% on up to $20k). For a large portfolio, $600 is not the main event. But stacked with the deposit bonus — up to $1,000 in NVDA stock for $100k+ deposited via ACH — you can get $1,600 on a $120k deployment. That's 1.33% for a year, which is decent without the complexity of a percentage bonus on a large amount. Good for the moderate-sized transfer portion of your portfolio.

Zacks Trade flat bonuses are most rational at very large deposits ($500k–$2M) where the $1,000–$3,000 flat amounts represent a known quantity. For $100k–$200k, the $500 bonus at 0.25–0.5% annualized is not competitive with Kraken or Citi. Also: $0.01/share trading commissions and a $15/month inactivity fee for accounts under $25k. Be aware of those before depositing.

The 5-Year Offers

WeBull at 4% is the headline offer in the current market — and it's genuinely remarkable by historical standards. No prior cycle in this category has had a percentage offer this large from a legitimate regulated broker. The catch is the 5-year installment schedule.

How the payout actually works: approximately 2% of your bonus posts immediately after transfer. The remaining ~80% pays out each November 1 over 5 years. On a $250,000 transfer earning $10,000:

• ~$2,000 posts within weeks of transfer
• ~$1,600/year each November 1 for 5 years

So it's not $10,000 today — it's $2,000 now, then $1,600/year. If you need to calculate NPV, the net present value at a 5% discount rate is roughly $8,200, not $10,000.

Individual taxable accounts only. WeBull excludes IRAs, joint accounts, and crypto accounts from this offer. Plan accordingly.

Cost basis issue: real, not hypothetical. WeBull has documented problems with cost basis not transferring correctly from source brokers. If this goes unnoticed for 2 years and you then sell a position, you might owe taxes on a larger gain than you should. Check cost basis immediately after transfer. If it's wrong, dispute it immediately — it gets much harder to fix retroactively.

For someone holding VTI or a similar index ETF for 20+ years, the 5-year WeBull lock is essentially irrelevant. The bonus is free money on capital you were holding anyway. That's the use case: genuine long-term holdings that you'd never have moved anyway.

Robinhood ACATS expires March 25 — the most urgent deadline on the list. The headline rate is 3% (Gold + $10k margin debit), achievable by buying ~$15k of SGOV on margin at your source broker before initiating the ACATS. The margin debit transfers with the account; you sell the SGOV and pay it off after the transfer settles. Net cost: a week of margin interest. Without margin: 2% with Gold, 1% without. At $100k, Robinhood at 3% pays $3,000; WeBull at 4% pays $4,000. Same 5-year hold. WeBull still wins on the math, but if you're already a Gold subscriber the Robinhood bonus is straightforward to stack.

IRA Bonuses

Firstrade vs. Robinhood IRA: functionally identical offers (2% transfer, 3% contribution, 5-year hold), different fee structures.

At $100,000 IRA transfer:

• Firstrade: $2,000 bonus, $0 annual fee → $2,000 net (before any taxes, which are deferred in an IRA)
• Robinhood Gold: $2,000 bonus, −$50/year fee → $1,950 net in year one

For most people: Firstrade. No subscription required. Same terms. Same 5-year hold.

IRA contribution matching (2026): The annual IRA contribution limit is $7,000 (or $8,000 if 55+). At 3% match, that's $210 per year at Firstrade or $210 at Robinhood Gold. Not dramatic, but it's a 3% guaranteed return on dollars you were contributing anyway — better than any CD or T-bill on that portion.

The IRA-specific tax angle: bonuses inside an IRA aren't ordinary income when you receive them. Tax is deferred until withdrawal. For someone in the 32% bracket doing a $100,000 IRA transfer, the after-tax equivalent value is higher than in a taxable account.

The Merrill Secret Bonus (For Large Accounts)

If you have $200k+ and haven't asked about this: the Merrill Lynch "secret" bonus goes up to $7,500 and you access it by asking your advisor directly. No public promo page. Doctor of Credit covers the approach, including exactly what to say.

The offer is churnable roughly annually, 9-month hold. At $300k, the bonus is $1,000. At the maximum tiers, it's $3,000–$7,500. The churnable nature means this can be a recurring source of annual income for people with large accounts who have a relationship with Merrill.

Running Multiple Offers Simultaneously

There's no rule against having money at multiple brokerages simultaneously, each doing their own bonus. Different account types are entirely separate.

Example allocation for a $500k portfolio:

Year one total before tax: ~$12,325.

The Citi and J.P. Morgan capital (total $200k) recycles every 90 days into the next available short-hold offer. If you run them 3–4 times per year, that $200k generates $2,000–$8,000 annually in additions to the long-hold bonus income.

The critical rule for stacking: track everything. Broker, account opened date, transfer amount, hold end date, bonus expected/received, expiration of any fee windows. Without a spreadsheet, you'll lose track of when you're free to move capital and either pay clawback fees or miss new bonus windows.

Bottom Line Rankings (March 2026)

Best annualized return, 90-day hold: Citi PWM (especially $50k–$100k tiers). Wells Fargo if you're near a branch with $250k+.

Best 1-year percentage return: Kraken 2% — if stock lending is acceptable to you.

Best long-hold return: WeBull 4% for genuine long-term equity holders.

Best IRA offer: Firstrade — same terms as Robinhood Gold without the subscription fee.

Most urgent: Robinhood ACATS (March 25), then WeBull + Kraken + Citi (March 31).

Most overlooked: Merrill Secret Bonus for large accounts ($200k+). Nobody knows to ask.

All offers verified from official sources and Doctor of Credit as of March 2026. Terms change — always verify current terms before initiating a transfer. Full current offer table with links →