- Category: Brokerage Business
Affiliate brokerage: FX rebates, CPA and clawbacks
An FX or CFD affiliate brokerage programme pays partners for qualified acquisitions, eligible trading volume or an agreed share of revenue. The rate alone does not determine the payment. Qualification rules, reserves and withdrawal conditions determine when commission becomes payable; later corrections need a separate record from cash already settled.
Scope: this guide compares specified international partner programmes for brokerage operators, not offers available to every client market. Published terms were accessed on 14 October 2026. The record design and calculator are illustrative, not legal advice or a prescribed accounting treatment.
Partner roles and network hierarchy are covered in the introducing-broker and multi-tier guide. The narrower concern here is how an earned amount becomes a payment and how a later reversal affects the next statement. Partner recruitment sits within the broader client-acquisition programme.
What five published partner programmes actually specify
According to Axi’s partner agreement, clauses 5.4(c)–(d), affiliate qualification combines funding, spread and trade conditions. AMarkets publishes a per-lot performance ladder, while Pepperstone’s affiliate page uses country-linked acquisition amounts. Those figures have different denominators: a CPA amount cannot be compared directly with a rebate per lot. The linked documents and pages are identified in each row below.
In the table, “not published” means not stated in the linked source inspected, not absent from every negotiated agreement. IB and affiliate terms remain separate where the broker distinguishes them. Undated pages describe the information served on the access date.
- Rebate bases differ: Axi uses per-lot revenue or spread share; AMarkets publishes per-lot ceilings; IC Markets Global distinguishes USD and pip rates.
- CPA needs qualification: Pepperstone publishes USD300–800 by country group, subject to client milestones; deposit and trading-volume thresholds are not published there.
- Holds differ: Axi allows up to 180 days for suspicious-activity verification; IC Markets Global permits 180 days or longer for investigations.
- Axi’s schedules conflict: its affiliate page says fortnightly; its agreement specifies monthly affiliate payments. The applicable contract determines the schedule.
How each programme pays
Published FX/CFD partner terms: five broker programmes compared, accessed 14 October 2026
| Broker | Rebate basis | CPA conditions | Tiers |
|---|---|---|---|
| Axi | IB: per-lot revenue or symbol-specific spread share; §5.1(d). | USD50 deposit; USD40 spread; trade closed within 60 days; §5.4. | 10% sub-affiliate override; no published performance ladder; affiliate page. |
| AMarkets | FX and metals: Standard up to USD6, 7.50 or 9; ECN and Zero USD2, 2.50 or 3 per lot; schedule. | Not published; programme pays on volume; §7. | Silver ≤100 lots; Gold 100–300; Platinum ≥300; new-client conditions below. |
| Exness | CPA per qualified trader, not IB rebate; definitions 1(h), 1(u). | Accepted, attributable client; deposit and country conditions; definitions 1(o), 1(v). | Numerical ladder not published; rates specified separately; definition 1(u). |
| Pepperstone | Affiliate CPA; separate IB volume-linked revenue share; FAQ. | Client milestones and country group; numeric thresholds not published; CPA FAQ. | USD300–800 by country; custom deals, no quantified performance ladder; CPA FAQ. |
| IC Markets Global | Raw Spread: USD2; Standard: 0.4 pips per standard lot; Appendix 1(a). | One-off CPA not published; §5.5, Appendix 1. | No named ladder; schedules differ by account, platform or instrument; §5.5, Appendix 1. |
Rate qualifications: Axi’s §5.4 also imposes withdrawal and other eligibility restrictions; the override comes from its undated affiliate page. AMarkets’ undated remuneration schedule lists Silver/Gold/Platinum rates respectively; Gold also needs three new clients and Platinum five, with published overlapping volume boundaries retained. Exness publishes no numeric deposit minimum in this agreement. Pepperstone’s source is its global programme page, not an agreement; regional restrictions apply. IC Markets Global’s rates shown cover FX/metals on MT4/MT5, with USD-base accounts for Raw Spread; its USD200 qualified-trader deposit requirement (§4.1(a)(ii)) is not a CPA tariff.
When money is held, paid or recovered
Holding conditions and payment timing for the five programmes
| Broker | Minimum trade holding time | Hold or clawback | Payment timing |
|---|---|---|---|
| Axi | Affiliate: trades closed within three minutes excluded; §5.4(d)(ii). | Verification: up to 180 days; first-cycle deferral also applies; §6(e). | IB daily accrual; affiliate monthly, usually month-end +15 days; §§5.1, 6(d). |
| AMarkets | Over two minutes; additional five-minute and price-movement exclusions; §§7.5–7.6, 7.11–7.12. | Initial reserve; inactivity holds or cancellation; per-client share and net-deposit restrictions; §§7.6–7.9. | Wallet: each business day; withdrawal conditions apply; §§7.2, 7.6–7.9, 7.16. |
| Exness | Not published; qualifying conditions remain; definition 1(v), §8.4. | Delay, cancellation or suspension; no fixed expiry; later fraud claims preserved; §§8.2–8.4. | Default: monthly, by following month’s 31st day; §§8.3–8.4. |
| Pepperstone | Not published on this page. | Duration not published on this page. | Settlement calendar not published on this page. |
| IC Markets Global | Not published; rebate-abuse exclusions still apply; §6.7. | Investigation: 180 days or longer; withdrawal conditions below; §6.6(a)(ii). | IB Wallet; no published settlement calendar; §5.3(b). |
Entities and document dates (accessed 14 October 2026): Axi — AxiTrader LLC, Partner Agreement effective 18 December 2025; AMarkets — AMarkets LLC, Agent agreement revision 02/09/2026; Exness — Exness (SC) Ltd, Digital Affiliate Agreement v027, 6 October 2026; Pepperstone — entity not specified on global page, undated; IC Markets Global — Raw Trading Ltd, Seychelles, Introducer and Affiliate Terms v1.0, undated.
Payment qualifications: Axi’s first monthly cycle above 20 qualified traders adds one month’s deferral (§6(e)(ii)); affiliate payment requires USD1,000 (§6(d)); requested IB withdrawals usually take three working days (§6(c)). AMarkets’ initial reserve requires three verified funded clients, each trading an eligible lot (§7.6); §7.12 combines five-minute and price-movement exclusions, so exceeding two minutes alone is insufficient. IC Markets Global requires five qualified traders for wallet withdrawal and may apply further checks (§§5.3(c)–(d)).
The comparison separates three events that can otherwise disappear into one “commission” balance: accrual, permission to withdraw and cash settlement. AMarkets’ daily wallet credit under clause 7.2 coexists with the reserves in clauses 7.6–7.9. Axi’s fortnightly affiliate-page description differs from the monthly schedule in clauses 5.1(b) and 6(d) of its agreement; the applicable contract needs to settle the schedule. IC Markets Global’s clause 6.6(a)(ii) expressly permits a longer investigation hold, so the stated 180 days is not an absolute payment-delay limit.
Six decisions for the COO before a programme goes live
- Calculation base — finance: specify eligible closed lots, spread revenue or another monetary base, including account type, currency and one-sided versus round-turn treatment.
- CPA qualification — partner team: define the eligible customer, funding threshold, qualifying activity and verification decision with compliance. Record the exact event that satisfies each condition.
- Hold period — compliance: state the start event, release test, review owner, possible extension and notification. A daily accrual schedule is not a release rule.
- Offset or carryforward — finance: state whether recoveries may reduce later commission and how an unrecovered balance is handled when the relationship ends.
- Idempotent payout — finance: assign one entitlement and one payment instruction to each approved amount. A retry must reuse the payment identity.
- Contracting entity — compliance: identify the payer, approved client markets, partner activities and applicable promotion restrictions before recruitment starts.
A referral-to-recovery record design to adapt
The following template can be adapted to a brokerage’s contracts and systems. It separates customer context from payment entitlement. The surrounding customer and back-office workflows remain a separate consideration.
Template records for tracing a partner payment
| Record | Linkage to retain | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Referral | Partner, campaign, attribution time and contract version. | Identify the credited introduction. |
| Customer | Identity, related accounts and verification history. | Distinguish a new account from a new acquisition. |
| Qualifying event | Deposit reference or trade ticket, symbol, account type and eligibility result. | Explain which activity earned commission. |
| Commission | Event, calculation inputs, rate version, currency and hold status. | Separate accrued, held and approved amounts. |
| Payout | Approved entries, instruction identifier, provider reference and settlement status. | Record cash actually paid. |
| Correction or recovery | Original entry, reason, approval, effective period and remaining recoverable. | Append a correction without rewriting settled cash. |
For this template, suspected abuse opens a review of the affected payment. The agreement supplies the eligibility or recovery basis; the linked records identify the amount and decision.
Suggested handling of qualification and recovery exceptions
| Exception | Records and proposed action |
|---|---|
| Self-referral or duplicate customer | Connect partner identity, customer and existing CPA entries. Record the applicable contractual exclusion and the affected acquisition. |
| CPA farming or commission churning | Connect the referral cohort, funding and trade tickets. Test the specific eligibility conditions before approving or cancelling remuneration. |
| Deposit chargeback | Connect the deposit dispute to qualification and payout. Record any cancellation or recovery permitted by the applicable contract as a separate decision. |
| Withdrawal or later verification rejection | Link the withdrawal or verification outcome to the relevant retention or qualification clause. Record the affected commission and the decision. |
| Hold expiry during review | Keep the review decision separate from the calendar. Record any contractually permitted extension and the eventual release or cancellation. |
Keep settled cash separate from later corrections
In the fictional example, FX Standard pays USD5 per eligible lot and Metals Pro pays USD3. Period A has 80 FX lots and 20 metals lots, creating USD460. After that amount settles, a permitted reversal removes commission on ten FX lots: USD50. Cash already paid remains USD460; the correction creates a USD50 recoverable.
Period B adds 40 FX lots and ten metals lots, producing USD230. Where the agreement permits an offset, applying the USD50 recovery leaves USD180 payable. In this example, if recovery exceeds the new commission, the excess remains a carryforward. The original payment, correction and offset occupy separate statement lines.
Follow a rebate across two periods
Move from accrual to settlement, append a correction, then apply it against the next period without erasing paid cash. Model scope: fictional account labels and rates; assumes next-period offset is permitted and any unrecovered balance carries forward.
Model inputs · USD
A reversal cannot run before settlement. Changing any input returns the model to Accrue so the ledger remains internally consistent.
Ledger reading
Period A
80 FX lots × $5 + 20 metals lots × $3 = $460 gross. The original entry remains in the ledger even after a correction.
Period B
40 FX lots × $5 + 10 metals lots × $3 = $230 new. Apply the recoverable amount once; do not subtract it twice.
Prevent duplicate partner payouts
For partner payouts, finance can keep one approved payment instruction through every retry so the same entitlement is not paid twice. Stripe’s idempotent-request guidance describes safe retries, while PayPal’s Payouts documentation describes duplicate-payment protection. The template applies that principle by retaining the original payment identity and checking settlement before issuing a replacement.
Match partner activity to the entity and market
Jurisdiction checks and suggested operating records
| Jurisdiction | What to check | Records to keep |
|---|---|---|
| EU client markets, including Cyprus | ESMA statement, 24 February 2026: applicable national CFD measures and restrictions on monetary and non-monetary benefits to retail clients. | Applicable national measure, client-market scope, offer terms and the decision on any trader-facing benefit. |
| United Kingdom | FCA FG24/1, 3.16 and 3.18–3.23: affiliate promotion approval, monitoring, records and authorisation; COBS 4.10.2R; SYSC 9. | Approved creative, versions, approval dates, monitoring results and escalation history. Retain copies independently of the social platform. |
| Australia | ASIC CS 64: current CFD inducement restrictions; order expires 23 May 2027; extension and amendments remain proposals. | Current instrument, offer and discount terms, recipient of each benefit, and a dated review of whether a proposal has become law. |
| United States | NFA IB guidance: futures or forex introducing activity, registration and FCM or RFED carrying relationships; assess separately from international CFD affiliate contracts. | Activity description, registration checks, carrying relationship, client agreements and permitted-market decision. |
The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) statement concerns qualifying CFDs under existing national measures: trader-facing benefits need a separate check before partner remuneration reaches a trader. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) guidance includes referral-link communications and firms’ responsibility for affiliate promotions. The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) consultation does not make its proposed changes current law. The National Futures Association (NFA) guidance concerns accounts carried with a futures commission merchant (FCM) or retail foreign exchange dealer (RFED), not automatic permission to market international CFD programmes.
Before increasing partner volume, finance can test whether the first affiliate brokerage statement reproduces the contractual calculation and preserves each later adjustment. A payment that cannot be traced back to its qualifying event is a design problem to resolve before another payout cycle.
Frequently asked questions
What’s the difference between a broker and an affiliate broker?
In the programmes compared here, the affiliate relationship and the trading-service relationship are separate. Exness’ definitions 1(e), 1(f) and 1(p), together with clause 3.2 of its Digital Affiliate Agreement, distinguish the referring publisher from the entity contracting with the client. Axi’s Partner Agreement clauses 3.2(c)(ii)–(iv) and 4.5(b)–(c) separately restrict handling client property and acting on client instructions. “Affiliate broker” therefore needs a definition tied to the actual contracted activity, not an assumption of trading authority.
How much should an ECN broker pay an IB per lot?
An illustrative ceiling starts with USD12 retained revenue per eligible lot before the IB rebate, subtracts USD4 in direct execution and servicing costs, then reserves USD3 for overhead and profit: USD12 − USD4 − USD3 = USD5 per lot available for the IB. These are hypothetical inputs, not a market benchmark or a broker’s published margin. Finance can apply the same calculation to each account group and test lower-revenue periods before agreeing a rate. A temporary promotional rate needs its own budget and end date.
What are the IB tier structures that scale for ECN brokers?
A brokerage can choose marginal tiers, where a higher rate applies only to volume above a threshold, or retroactive tiers, where reaching the threshold reprices the defined period. These are proposed contract-design alternatives. The agreement needs to state which applies, when the tier is assessed and whether a later trade cancellation changes the tier. A recruitment override should have a separate cap so several partner levels do not consume the same margin twice.
How do brokers track referrals?
A unique partner link identifies the referring publisher under definition 1(bb) of Exness’ digital-affiliate agreement. Its clause 3.4 also permits a client to be unlinked or reassigned, with commission to the former publisher ceasing. For a brokerage adapting that approach, attribution history needs effective dates and a recorded reassignment decision; overwriting the current partner field would otherwise obscure who was entitled during an earlier period.
