Last updated: September 2026
Everything else on this site assumes you already know what a CPA deal or a revenue share is. This page doesn’t. It’s for someone starting from zero — you’ve got an audience, a client base, a following, a product, or just curiosity, and you want to know concretely what a forex or CFD partner program actually is and what it takes to become one. No jargon up front, no assumed background. Follow the eight steps in order and you’ll end up exactly where the rest of this site can take over.
On this page
- Step 1 — Understand what you’d actually be doing
- Step 2 — Work out what you’re bringing to the table
- Step 3 — Learn the two or three payment models that matter to you
- Step 4 — Vet the broker before you sign anything
- Step 5 — Apply and get onboarded
- Step 6 — Get your tracking set up correctly, from day one
- Step 7 — Market compliantly from the first post
- Step 8 — Track performance and get paid
- Common beginner mistakes
- FAQ
Step 1 — Understand what you’d actually be doing
A broker or trading platform pays you commission for referring people who go on to trade with them. You’re not selling anything upfront, you’re not handling anyone’s money, and you’re not giving financial advice — you’re pointing people toward a broker and getting paid when they deposit, trade, or both, depending on the program. The industry uses a handful of different labels for this (affiliate, introducing broker, IB, partner) that mostly describe the same underlying relationship with different emphasis. For the full breakdown of every model and how they differ, see the Partnership Types hub — you don’t need to read all of it yet, just know it’s there once you’ve worked through the steps below.
Step 2 — Work out what you’re bringing to the table
The right payment model depends almost entirely on what you actually have to offer, not on which model sounds like it pays the most. Match yourself to the closest description:
- You already have trading clients or a trading community (a signal service, a copy-trading following, a trading course, a Discord or Telegram group of active traders) — models tied to ongoing trading activity, like revenue share, lot rebate, or spread share, usually suit you best, because your audience is already going to keep trading regardless of what you do.
- You run content, SEO, or paid traffic that reaches people who aren’t trading yet (a comparison site, a YouTube channel, paid ads) — a one-time CPA payout per qualified client is often easier to plan around, since you’re paid for the acquisition itself rather than depending on how much that person trades afterward.
- You have an app, a product, or a large following with no trading focus — this usually points toward an app/ad partnership or an influencer-style program rather than a pure trading-community model.
- You’re not sure yet — that’s normal. The most popular model and the CPA vs. revenue share decision framework are both built for exactly this — read them before step 3, not after.
Want a shortcut through this step? The Partnership Finder asks three quick questions and points you straight to the model that fits. Once you know the model, the Marketing-Channels Playbook breaks down which channel to actually build on to reach it.
Step 3 — Learn the two or three payment models that matter to you
Once step 2 has narrowed things down, you don’t need to study every partnership model on the site — just the two or three that actually apply to you. The core split to understand first:
- CPA (cost-per-acquisition): a fixed, one-time payout per client who meets a qualifying action (usually a deposit). Simple to plan around, but you’re paid once regardless of how long that client keeps trading.
- Revenue share, lot rebate, and spread share: ongoing payouts tied to your referred clients’ actual trading activity — revenue share as a cut of the broker’s overall revenue from that client, lot rebate as a fixed amount per lot traded, spread share as a percentage of the spread markup. These can pay far more over time than CPA, but only if your clients keep trading.
Read the CPA vs. Revenue Share page for the full trade-off and a worked comparison, and the Revenue Share vs. Lot Rebate vs. Spread Share page if you’ve landed on the ongoing-payout side and need to pick between those three specifically. If you’d rather just see the numbers, the Lot Rebate and Spread Share pages each have a live calculator you can plug your own volume assumptions into.
Step 4 — Vet the broker before you sign anything
This is the step beginners skip most often, and it’s the one that causes the most regret later. Before you apply anywhere:
- Confirm the broker’s regulation directly on the regulator’s own public register — not just the badge or claim on the broker’s website. See How to Verify a Broker’s IB Program Is Legitimate for the exact steps.
- Read the partnership contract itself before signing, watching specifically for the clauses that let a broker change your rate, delay or void payouts, or end the relationship unfairly. See Red Flags in a Partnership Contract.
- Check whether your own jurisdiction requires you personally to hold any kind of license or registration to do this — it depends on what you’ll actually be doing, not just on where the broker is based. See Partner Licensing Requirements.
- If you’re specifically weighing an IB program, run through the Choosing an IB Broker quick checklist before you commit any traffic to it.
- Deciding whether to commit to one broker exclusively or spread your traffic across several is its own strategic call — see Running Multiple Broker Relationships for the trade-offs.
Step 5 — Apply and get onboarded
Once you know which model fits you and you’ve vetted the broker, applying happens directly with that broker or platform — Partner Federation is an independent educational resource, not a broker itself, so there’s no unified sign-up through this site. See the Apply page for where things stand on that. In practice, onboarding as a partner usually looks like: a sign-up form for the partner program itself, an identity/verification step for you as the partner (a separate thing from the KYC checks your referred clients will go through as traders), a partnership agreement to actually read rather than skim past (refer back to step 4), and — once approved — a unique tracking link or partner ID that’s yours alone.
Step 6 — Get your tracking set up correctly, from day one
Tracking mistakes are one of the most common ways beginners lose commission they actually earned — a broken link, the wrong sub-ID, or a cookie window that expired before a client came back to deposit. Before you send any real traffic, understand at least the basics of how postback (server-to-server) tracking differs from cookie-based tracking, what sub-IDs are for, and how cookie windows vary by broker. The full mechanics are in Tracking & Attribution: How Postback URLs, Sub-IDs, and Cookie Windows Actually Work — worth reading in full before your first campaign, not after something goes wrong.
Step 7 — Market compliantly from the first post
Whatever you post — a video, an ad, a comparison article, a social caption — you’re personally responsible for what it claims, even if the broker supplied the material. Guaranteed-return language, missing risk disclosure, and cherry-picked results are the fastest way to get a program terminated or worse. Run every piece of promotional content past the Compliant Marketing pre-publish checklist before it goes live, not after.
Step 8 — Track performance and get paid
Once you’re live, use the Rebate Calculator to model what a given rate and volume actually translates to in monthly income, and check How Partners Actually Get Paid for what to expect on payout methods, minimum thresholds, and timing — so a normal net-30 payout schedule doesn’t look like something’s wrong when it’s actually just how the industry works. Once numbers start coming in, Metrics That Matter walks through how to actually read them — conversion rate, EPC, CAC, LTV, and churn — instead of just watching the top-line commission figure. Once those numbers are trending well, Negotiating Your Rate covers how to actually use them to ask for a better deal.
Common beginner mistakes
- Picking a payment model before understanding your own traffic. The model should follow from what you’re bringing to the table (step 2), not the headline rate that sounds biggest.
- Skipping broker verification entirely. A regulation badge on a website isn’t the same as being confirmed on the regulator’s own register.
- Not reading the contract’s clawback and rate-change clauses. The rate you’re quoted verbally isn’t binding if the contract says otherwise.
- Ignoring the cookie window until a client “disappears.” A referred client who comes back to deposit after the tracking window has closed won’t be attributed to you, even though you sent them.
- Publishing broker-supplied marketing material without checking it yourself. You’re responsible for what you publish, regardless of who wrote it first.
FAQ
Do I need money to become a partner?
No. Becoming a partner is generally free — you’re referring clients, not depositing trading capital yourself. That’s a separate thing from opening your own trading account, which isn’t required to run a partner program.
Do I need a license to do this?
It depends on your jurisdiction and exactly what you’ll be doing — simply publishing content or running ads is treated differently from actively advising clients in some regions. See Partner Licensing Requirements for the specifics.
How long does it take to earn my first commission?
There’s no fixed timeline, and it depends heavily on which model you’re in. A CPA payout can land as soon as one referred client meets the qualifying action; revenue share, lot rebate, and spread share depend on that client’s ongoing trading activity, so there’s no guaranteed schedule. Be wary of anyone promising a specific number here.
Can I partner with more than one broker at once?
Usually, yes — most partner programs aren’t exclusive by default. Check your specific agreement for an exclusivity clause before assuming, since this is exactly the kind of term covered in Red Flags in a Partnership Contract.
Do I need my own website to get started?
No — a website helps, but what actually matters is having an audience, client base, or following in the first place, in whatever form that takes. A Telegram group, a YouTube channel, or an existing trading community can all work just as well.
Is Partner Federation the company I actually sign up with?
No. Partner Federation is an independent educational resource, not a broker, exchange, or prop firm — see About. When you’re ready to apply, you do so directly with the specific broker or platform whose program fits, as explained on the Apply page.