Update 6/4/25: Extended through 8/31/25. There’s also now an IRA version with all the same bonuses, and also 3 shares of SGOV (around $300) on top. (ht catcat) However, note, there is a 5 year hold on the IRA bonus (versus 90 days with the regular brokerage bonus).
Update 3/30/25: The free stock deals are extended through 6/30/25. The 2% and 1% offers are valid through 5/31/25. (ht Tikky)
Update 3/6/25: Here’s another link (it’s apparently someone’s affiliate link, not ours) which adds a share of NVDA (current value $113) to the signup bonus as well. That’s on top of the 5 stocks and the 2%+1% promos.
Update 1/16/25: Extended through 3/31/25 (ht Jimmy J)
The Offer
TradeUp bonus offers – Use link above for a NVDA
TradeUp brokerage is offering the following three bonuses which stack together:
- New TradeUp brokerage who make an ACATS transfer from another brokerage into TradeUp by December 31, 2024 are eligible for 2% cashback on the transferred amount. Max $1,000 bonus (transfer $50k or more to get the max $1,000 bonus).
- Clients who transfer $100,000 or more to their TradeUP account and maintain their transferred assets for a year will receive an additional 1% match ($1,000 capped match).
- Those who signup with TradeUp also get some free stocks: 2 for $100 deposit, 3 for $2,500 deposit, 4 for $10,000 deposit, 5 for $100,000 deposit.
- Some affiliate links also add a share of Nvidia as well (current value $113).
Offer valid August 5 – December 31, 2024. You can find this offer on the TradeUp homepage scroll and mentioned on this page; find the terms on this page. You can find the 5 stock offer on this page and the terms on this page.
Important Notes
- There is a $50 fee for doing a full account ACAT-out, so keep that in mind if you aren’t sure that you’ll be staying with the brokerage forever.
- It appears these bonuses are all for new customers (“new clients“).
- Clients who transfer assets from a brokerage account that was originally opened through TradeUP Securities, Inc. and now clears exclusively through Interactive Brokers are not eligible for this campaign.
- This promotion applies exclusively to an account’s first ACAT transfer that qualifies for this promotion. Subsequent ACAT transfers will not qualify for this promotion.
- An account is said to have “maintained the value of the transferred assets” if it does not initiate any withdrawals or outgoing account transfers during the specified period. Transactions involving securities purchases and changes in asset valuation do not affect reward eligibility. However, withdrawals or account transfers will result in forfeiture of the reward.
- Cashback Distribution: Cashback will be distributed quarterly, with payments made on the last business day of each fiscal quarter. The maximum cashback amount per quarter is $350. The distribution schedule follows below: After the first 90 calendar days: Clients must maintain their account assets for a full 90 calendar days from the settlement date. The first cashback installment will be distributed at the end of the first full fiscal quarter after the 90 calendar day period. For example, if the settlement date is August 15, 2024, the first cashback installment will be distributed on December 31, 2024. Subsequent Quarters: Cashback will be distributed on the last business day of each subsequent fiscal quarter. For example, if a user completes an ACAT transfer of $50,000 and qualifies for a 2% cashback bonus, they will receive a total of $1,000. This amount will be distributed in installments of $350 for the first quarter, $350 for the second quarter, and $300 for the third quarter. If the transfer date is August 15, 2024, the first $350 installment will be distributed on December 31, 2024, with subsequent installments of $350 and $300 distributed on March 31, 2025 and June 30, 2025, respectively. By participating in this campaign and receiving the cashback bonus, you agree that the cashback bonus will not be issued until the end of the first full fiscal quarter after the 90 calendar day holding period is complete. The cashback bonus is subject to forfeiture if the account is transferred out within 90 calendar days of the cashback issuance. Certain restrictions may apply when you request withdrawal of the cashback bonus.
- Where required by applicable rules and regulations, the value of all TradeUP Securities Inc. offers received may be reported as Other Income on Form 1099-MISC. TradeUP Securities Inc. is not responsible for individual tax reporting related to this reward program.
Our Verdict
If you transfer in $50k you’ll get $1k bonus and around $40/$80 in free stock. If you transfer in $100k you’ll get $2k bonus and around $50/$100 in free stocks. And you can get up to $300 to cover any fees from your old brokerage company.
Overall this offer is from the better brokerage bonuses we’ve seen. We’ll add this to the list of Best Brokerage Bonuses.
Though the long hold times are a pain, I’m still thinking of hitting this one. I’ll signup on the offer landing page in the coming weeks and transfer $100k from my current brokerage account in a single ACAT transfer to TradeUp. I’ll get 5 free stocks right away which will be worth $50 or more. Then I’ll get $350 on March 31, 2025 and another $350 on June 30, 2025 and another $300 on September 30, 2025 to complete the $1k bonus for the 2% part. I’ll also get another $1,000 bonus for the 1% $100k match (it’s not clear in the fine print when that $1k bonus will payout; update: it’s possible the second $1k will pay out at $350 quarterly, in that case you’ll have to leave the $100k funds there for about two years total to get the max $2k bonus). I’ll then leave my funds there until at least the end of 2025 since the fine print mentions leaving funds until 90 days after bonus payout.
If anyone has used TradeUp in the past, kindly share your experiences with them in the comments below. Specifically I’d be interested in knowing whether cost-basis transfers over properly when transferring stocks from another brokerage.
Hat tip to reader Lrdx
$350 bonus posted last night and then another $350 bonus posted this morning for a total of $700. I wonder if it’s a mistake? I do have a $100k deposit I wonder if it’s part of the extra $1000 bonus.
Where can you see it if posted? Is there a bonus activity section? Edit: I see it. Under Funds, funds detail.
I enrolled in their cash+ program so the cash I transferred in could earn 4.0% over the promotion. I didn’t realize the rate was only good for 90 days. Keeping 50k in cash with them is now much less attractive since it now earns 0.25%.
Trying to understand the terms of the promotion. If my initial deposit settled in March, the first payout for the $1k bonus will be $350 on June 30th (I understand there’s been issues). Is it possible to pull out most of the cash and keep the $350 while forgoing the rest of the bonus?
The T&C does say that the cashback bonus is subject to forfeiture if the account is transferred out within 90 days of the cashback issuance. But if you’re only withdrawing some funds, and not transferring the account via ACATS does that still apply?
You can just buy SGOV ETF
Looks like they changed the terms and its 1 share of SGOV for the Money Ninja link. Now I can’t find any reference to 3 shares and I completed the ACATS transfer last week. Reached out to their business development team but I have a feeling they’re going to give me a hard time
You’re fine. I signed up this weekend before the changeover and they confirmed with me that I’ll still get the 3 SGOV shares. I haven’t even submitted my transfer yet.
Did anyone receive their 6/30/25 bonus payout?
Jay
I sent them an email and they replied “The tech team informed us that there is an issue with the automatic cashback bonus disbursement system and that the issue is estimated to be resolved later today or tomorrow. Once resolved, you will receive your first bonus payment. Thank you for your understanding and patience!”
blergh. of COURSE they can’t be bothered to do it right.
also, don’t bother trying to use the chat feature. I’ve been sitting with the window open for 10+ minutes and it only ever says “Waiting for a teammate”. Best to call in (though no one who actually knows what’s going on answers – they just pawned me off with a callback promise)
EDIT: okay. chat rep finally responded. “Please kindly wait for another 2 – 3 business days, as our system is processing the rewards distribution. We apologize for the delay, this is not the usual case, your understanding is much appreciated!”
My recollection was it took a day or 2 after month end last quarter also. But the transaction was back dated to 3/30.
I assume it will showup after overnight processing and tradable tomorrow… 7/2
I signed up 2 weeks ago and transferred assets last week. Did not receive NVDA or free draws. I contact chat support today to check that my bonuses are coded correctly, which they confirm, and what do you know, my NVDA share appears in account the same day after market close. Coincidence? Maybe, but after reading all the comments, I press X to doubt.
As far as partial transfer from Fidelity, luckily cost basis for my VTI position transferred over. That was my biggest fear. Now to track the bonuses… First time for me with questionable broker like this. I’ve always done big brokerages exclusively (E-Trade, TD Ameritrade, Schwab, Merrill, WellsTrade). We’ll see.
Got the $350 now. Just before noon eastern?
$350 posted today as marsco_gifted_cash and is reflected in the available cash
are we sure its extended?
t+c still says Campaign Period: Feb 2, 2024 00:00:00 – June 30, 2025 23:59:59 (EST)
Wouldn’t the best play for this be to transfer $50k, so you’d get the full $1,000 in the first year, and then $500 after the 1 year holding period, for a true 3%?
Why would you get $500 in year 2?
You’re right. I read it wrong.
I am pleasantly surprised by how good the TradeUp platform is. I had initially created the account just to get the bonus, but, I have started doing some day trading becuase of how good the platform is. Thanks to DoC for informing me that a brokerage named TradeUp exists. I was very hesistant to even do the bonus signup because I somehow assumed it would be some shady broker. However, I am glad to find out that it is a top notch broker for day trading. As far as the bonus is concerned, I did a partial ACAT transfer for $100K+ of stocks, and have received a NVDA share so far. They are in the process of crediting me the 5 random lucky draw stocks manually as I had made the mistake of doing an ACH transfer of $1 while opening the account. Apparently, only the first transfer, whether ACH or ACAT counts towards the bonus. I was able to easily correct this mistake and have the bonus granted by chatting with the customer care reps. Also, remember that they don’t have any phone support, however, the chat support is quite good.
How do you see tax lots for position you hold in this “awesome” platform?
You cant? And you can’t do any sort of tax min disposition. All these day trading oriented brokerages don’t ever seem to bother with tax-oriented product features.
Yes, and they should be avoided like a Plague for anything but casual day trading. When I first started trading as a total novice, 10+ years ago, lack of cost basis tracking in Robinhood made me lose so much money and indirectly caused to make so many trading mistakes.
You can’t see tax lots, nor can you trade specific tax lots. It’s a day trading platform, not an investing platform, and they make it very clear about that throughout their UI. I was worried about the tax basis of my transferred shares as I had transferred some very high gain very low and varied cost basis shares which I absolutely don’t intend to sell for 2+ years and would ideally want to get back to my much bigger Fidelity brokerage without any cost basis tampering after 2 years. Need to see if that happens, but while chatting with the customer care rep, they assured me that the cost basis would be preserved during an ACAT out. I wonder what the fee for partial ACAT out would be, though that’s not an immediate worry!
…
the t&c doesn’t seem to be working for the non IRA offer. Are we sure it doesn’t have a five year hold as well
https://www.tradeup.com/transfer-terms
Does not have 5 year hold.
Can you help on the Brokerage promotion? Do we need to have USD or assets/stocks worth $50K would work for the 2-5 stocks bonus?
What a nice name 😀
does this promo work if its a Roth IRA transfer or does it have to be traditional IRA?
Either type of IRA should be fine
Are we able to withdraw dividends and the quarterly cash bonus without risking clawback of the bonus?