Rebate vs CPA: Which Broker Deal Should You Take?
The CPA deal is the one-off payment, the rebate deal is the IB model, and everything else
Every broker partner programme offers you two ways to be paid for the traders you refer. They will not always tell you which one is better for you, because the answer depends on whether you want a cheque this month or an income next year. Here is the difference, and how to choose.
- A CPA deal pays you once per client, a fixed amount when the client funds and trades. Then nothing.
- A rebate deal, the Introducing Broker model, pays you on every lot the client trades, for as long as they trade.
- CPA wins in month one. The rebate wins from about month three onwards and keeps winning.
- If you have a community, a channel or any audience that trusts you, take the rebate. If you only have paid traffic, CPA can make sense.
Same job, different pay slip
Both deals pay you for one thing: sending traders to a broker through your tracking link. Everything that matters is in how that payment is calculated.
| CPA deal | Rebate deal (IB) | |
|---|---|---|
| How you are paid | One fixed payment per qualified client | Per lot the client trades, from the spread |
| When | Once, after the client funds and hits a trading threshold | Every time the client closes a trade, for the life of the account |
| Typical amount | A few hundred dollars per client, depending on deposit size and region | Around $30 per standard lot on gold and majors, up to around $2 per lot on ECN |
| Best for | Paid ads, one off promotions, audiences you will not see again | Communities, channels, educators, anyone with a relationship |
| What you are optimising | Sign ups | Traders who stay active |
| Where the money comes from | Broker marketing budget | The spread the broker already charges |
Note what is missing from the rebate column: commission and swap. On raw and ECN accounts the broker earns from commission, and that stays with the broker. The IB only sees the spread. It is why account type matters so much on a rebate deal and barely matters on CPA.
The worked comparison
Take one client. Say they deposit $1,000, trade gold on a standard account, and average 4 lots a month. Assume a CPA deal of $300 for that client and an IB rebate of $30 a lot.
Rebate: $120. CPA is well ahead. This is the month brokers show you when they pitch it.
Rebate: $360 cumulative. Crossed over. The CPA figure has not moved and never will.
Rebate: $1,440 cumulative. Nearly five times the CPA, from one client who was never asked to do anything differently.
Rebate: another $1,440 if the client is still trading. On CPA you have to find a new client to earn anything at all.
Now multiply by every client you have ever referred. CPA income resets to zero every month and has to be rebuilt. Rebate income is the sum of everyone still trading. That is the whole argument in one sentence.
When CPA actually makes sense
It is not always the wrong choice. CPA is the right structure when:
- You are buying traffic. If you run ads to a landing page and never speak to the person, you have no relationship to earn on. Take the cheque.
- Your audience is in a region with low trading volume. Some markets fund accounts but trade little. A fixed payment can beat a rebate there.
- You need cash flow now. A new IB's first months are thin. Some people run CPA on cold traffic to fund the IB build. That is legitimate, as long as you know which one you are building.
What you should not do is take CPA for a community you actually talk to. You are giving away years of rebate for one payment, on the people most likely to keep trading.
When to take the rebate
If any of these are true, the rebate structure is the one for you:
- People already ask you which broker you use.
- You run a Telegram, Discord, WhatsApp group, YouTube channel or course where the same people come back.
- You offer signals, education, analysis or copy trading, so your members trade regularly.
- You plan to be doing this in two years.
Across a sample of eleven real client accounts on our own book, the typical client generates about $629 a month in rebates at $30 a lot. Quiet ones do $30 to $100, active ones do $1,500 to $4,000. No CPA deal pays that every month, and it does not need to, because CPA was never designed to.
The question to ask yourself
Not "which pays more" but "which one am I actually set up to earn". If you have an audience that trusts you, you have already done the hard part of the rebate model, and CPA would be paying you a fraction of what that trust is worth. If you have traffic and no relationship, CPA is honest money for an honest job.
Most people reading this have the first thing and have been offered the second. That is the mistake this post exists to stop.
Want the rebate side set up properly?
We set partners up on the rebate structure, with the onboarding and retention systems we use on our own book. Start with the free IB Starter Guide, or apply if you already know this is you.
Apply to become an IBRisk warning: Trading forex, CFDs and other leveraged products carries a high level of risk and may not be suitable for everyone. You can lose more than your initial deposit. This article is for education only and is not financial advice. The worked comparison uses stated assumptions and is an illustration, not a record of results. Rebate and CPA figures vary by broker, region, instrument and account type. Earnings as an Introducing Broker are not guaranteed and depend on client activity.