M1 Finance Referral Bonus (2026): $75 Each Side, $10,000 to Unlock It
M1 runs one of the few referral offers in this category that pays both sides exactly the same amount, and one of the very few that asks for five figures to unlock it. Seventy-five dollars each, on a ten thousand dollar deposit. Whether that is generous or insulting depends on a calculation most referral pages never show you, and on a second detail in M1’s pricing that happens to sit at exactly the same threshold.
Terms taken from M1’s own referral offer page and pricing page on 17 October 2026. M1 has run differently sized referral promotions in the past, so confirm the live figure before funding.
What the Offer Actually Says
M1’s referral terms are unusually specific, which makes them easy to summarize and hard to misread.
- The reward: 75 dollars in cash to the referrer and 75 dollars in cash to the friend, paid into each person’s M1 payment account.
- The requirement: the friend must open a new M1 brokerage or retirement account through the referral link and deposit at least 10,000 dollars.
- The deadline: that deposit must be made within 30 calendar days of signing up.
- The hold on the deposit: the initial deposit must stay in place for 30 calendar days after funding.
- The hold on the bonus: the 75 dollars cannot be withdrawn or transferred out for 90 days after it is received.
- The payment timing: bonuses are credited within 14 business days of the friend opening and funding the account.
- The cap: ten referral bonuses per calendar year, so 750 dollars is the annual ceiling for a referrer.
The promotion start date shown on M1’s page is 27 March 2024, and no end date is published. That makes this one of the more stable offers on the market, in contrast with the dated campaigns that brokers like moomoo cycle through every couple of months.
The Ten Thousand Dollar Question
Seventy-five dollars on a ten thousand dollar deposit is a return of 0.75 percent, paid once. Stated that way it sounds thin, and compared with the rest of this category it is.
Betterment pays 150 dollars for a 100 dollar deposit. Public pays 100 dollars for a 1,000 dollar deposit. moomoo pays 100 dollars in shares for 2,000 dollars held two months. M1 asks for ten times what Public asks and pays less than Public does.
So on the raw numbers, M1 has the weakest referral offer of any major brokerage, and anybody choosing a platform purely by sign-up bonus should stop reading here and open a Betterment account instead.
But that is not the whole picture, because of where the threshold sits.
The Threshold Is the Same Number as the Fee Waiver
M1 charges a platform fee of 3 dollars a month, and waives it for clients holding more than 10,000 dollars on the platform.
That is the identical figure the referral demands. Which means the deposit that unlocks the 75 dollar bonus is also the deposit that removes a 36 dollar annual charge, for as long as you stay above it.
Put the two together and the first year looks different. Seventy-five dollars of bonus plus 36 dollars of avoided platform fee is 111 dollars of value on a deposit you were making anyway, and the fee saving repeats every year the balance holds. Nobody should move ten thousand dollars for that. Somebody already planning to consolidate a brokerage account at M1 should certainly not do it without the referral link attached.
There is a mirror image of that logic worth stating plainly. If your intended deposit is 2,000 dollars rather than 10,000, you do not qualify for the bonus and you do pay the 3 dollars a month. Over a year that is 36 dollars against a balance of 2,000, which is 1.8 percent eaten by platform fees alone before a single investment decision. M1 is not the right home for a small account.
What the Uninvested Cash Earns
One more number belongs in this calculation. M1 pays 3.35 percent APY on uninvested cash, subject to a 100 dollar minimum initial deposit, with rates subject to change.
Ten thousand dollars sitting in that cash account for the 30 days the terms require earns roughly 28 dollars. The 75 dollar bonus is therefore worth about two and a half months of interest on the same balance. That is a useful way to size it: real money, not life-changing, and strictly a bonus on top of a decision you had already made.
The Ninety-Day Lock Is the Part People Trip On
Two separate holding periods apply and they are easy to confuse.
The first is on your deposit. The 10,000 dollars must remain for 30 calendar days after funding. Pull it out on day 20 and the bonus does not pay.
The second is on the bonus itself. Once the 75 dollars arrives, it cannot be withdrawn or transferred externally for 90 days. You can see it, it is yours, and you cannot move it off the platform until the three months are up.
Neither rule is unusual and neither is hidden. They matter because the combination means the money is not fully free until roughly four months after you start, and anyone treating this as a quick churn will be disappointed.
Where M1 Earns Its Place, Bonus Aside
The product M1 sells is automation. You build a portfolio of holdings with target percentages, M1 calls it a Pie, and every deposit is split across those targets automatically. Rebalancing happens on instruction rather than on your attention.
That suits one kind of investor extremely well: somebody with a fixed allocation they genuinely intend to keep, who wants deposits handled without thought. It suits an active trader badly, because the order system batches trades into windows rather than executing on demand. If you want to buy something at a specific price this afternoon, M1 is the wrong tool and no referral bonus fixes that.
Self-directed brokerage accounts carry no commission, trading or management fees, which is the baseline across the category now rather than a differentiator.
How to Claim It Step by Step
- Open the referral link above before registering, so the referral attaches to the new account.
- Complete the application for a brokerage or retirement account. Both qualify.
- Fund it with at least 10,000 dollars within 30 calendar days of signing up.
- Leave that deposit in place for a further 30 calendar days.
- Expect the 75 dollars within 14 business days of the account being opened and funded, then leave the bonus alone for 90 days before moving it.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much is the M1 referral bonus?
Seventy-five dollars to the referrer and 75 dollars to the person joining, paid in cash to each M1 payment account.
Does the friend really need to deposit 10,000 dollars?
Yes. M1 calls it the account opening minimum amount, and it applies to brokerage and retirement accounts. There is no reduced tier for smaller deposits.
Can I withdraw the bonus straight away?
No. The bonus cannot be withdrawn or transferred externally during a 90-day holding period after it is received.
How many friends can I refer?
Ten per calendar year, which caps a referrer at 750 dollars.
Does an IRA count?
Retirement accounts are included in the eligible account types, so an IRA funded with 10,000 dollars qualifies on the same terms.
Is the bonus taxable?
Treat it as taxable income. Cash referral bonuses from brokerages are generally reportable, and platforms issue tax forms once annual incentive income passes the reporting threshold.
The Bottom Line
M1’s referral pays 75 dollars to each side and asks for a 10,000 dollar deposit held for a month, which is the highest barrier and one of the lowest payouts in this category. Judged purely as a bonus, it loses to Betterment, Public and moomoo without much argument. Judged as part of the decision to move a real portfolio onto a platform whose 3 dollar monthly fee disappears at exactly the same 10,000 dollar mark, it is 111 dollars of first-year value for clicking a link you would otherwise have skipped. Use it if M1’s automation is what you want. Do not move five figures to chase it.
