Partner Federation Glossary — last updated September 2026
The spread is the difference between a currency pair’s bid price (what you can sell at) and ask price (what you can buy at), usually measured in pips. It’s one of the two main ways brokers make money: the broker marks up the raw spread from their liquidity provider and keeps the difference, whether or not a client’s trade ends up profitable.
Why It Matters for Partners
Spread markup is literally where spread share payouts come from — a broker passes a slice of that markup back to the partner as a percentage of the spread, rather than a flat per-lot fee (that’s lot rebate) or a share of overall net revenue (that’s revenue share). It’s worth knowing this before comparing rate tables: a broker with a wider raw spread has more markup to share, so a lower-sounding spread-share percentage can still pay out more in absolute terms than a higher percentage on a tighter-spread account.
Related Terms
Pip · Lot · Spread Share · Revenue Share