Forex Affiliate Programs: A Complete Guide

Forex Affiliate Programs: A Complete Guide

Written by: PaxForex analytics dept - Wednesday, 02 September 2020 0 comments

When it comes to anything as complex and multi-layered as online currency trading, reading fine print should always be your priority. Sometimes the difference between a trustworthy income source and a total time-waste is hidden in a barely noticeable detail. On the one hand, it makes the job of a trader slightly harder with all the searching and digging around for the right info.  

On the other hand, however, taking a little extra time and really getting to the bottom of every interesting concept will serve as the ultimate guarantee of your success. Today we are zooming in on the idea of making money off Forex aside from the actual currency trading. Specifically: the Forex affiliate programs.

What is a Forex Affiliate Program

In a nutshell, any Forex affiliate program is a way for a broker to attract new clients. By employing traders within their existing network, as well as third-party industry professionals and even entirely independent financial institutions, the brokers are able to keep up the stream of fresh trading participants, and with them — the stream of income. 

The Forex trading affiliate programs come in many shapes and sizes. Some are straightforward and accessible to anyone, others require an advanced level of expertise and effort. But although the mechanisms and the specifications vary, the end result is always the same: the broker gets new traders and the affiliates get compensated for their services. 

Sounds like something you can do? Well, it totally is. However, before you dive into the process of finding the best Forex affiliate program, it’s important to understand what exactly you are looking for. Depending on your knowledge of the foreign exchange market, the resources available to you, and, last but not least, the amount of free time you’ve got on hand, you might be suitable for a very specific kind of affiliate program.

To assist you with getting a better idea of how to fit on the broad scene of the Forex affiliate programs, we are going to spend a few moments discussing each of the related concepts ou will need to keep in mind

Different Types of Forex Affiliate Programs

Most Forex broker affiliate programs differ on two major factors: the target audience and the complexity of affiliation. In order to properly fit yourself into one of the types, you have to be prepared to invest a solid portion of your time and effort. 

There are three major sub-categories of Forex broker affiliate program types. Here are the brief overviews of each type:

  • Forex referral programs work by a very common across all industries ‘bring-a-friend’ model. As you build a mutually trusting relationship with your broker, you might want to introduce your friends or colleagues to the same opportunities you are getting. And the majority of brokers will reward you for every new introduction. 

  • Forex affiliate programs are designed for individuals and companies who offer currency trading related services to their audiences. For example, trading bloggers, influencers, and educators, as well as analysts and signal providers are the first ones who can benefit from affiliating with a broker. 

  • White label partnerships are primarily accessible to financial organizations and institutions, who wish to offer the trading capacities to their clients without establishing a dedicated platform. A good example of white label cooperation is if a bank wanted to introduce their clients to the benefits of investing in foreign currency. 

Now, to get an even better understanding of the mechanics of Forex brokers affiliate programs, let’s take a closer look at how they operate. For the purposes of keeping this to the point, we will exclude the white label partnerships since they’re not relevant to the majority of potential affiliates. 

Forex Referrals

As previously mentioned a referral Forex affiliate program is pretty much the bring-a-friend system from thousands of businesses across the world. Although the people you bring don’t necessarily have to be someone you know. In theory, all three sides are benefitting from the introduction: the broker gets a new client, the inviting trader enjoys the reward, and the person they brought gets access to the high-quality services and information. But for everything to go according to plan, you will need to make sure that each side is up to the task.

The technical side of referring through any of the Forex broker affiliate programs is very basic: let your broker know that you would like to participate and get a unique referral link to share with your friends. Keep in mind, that you will only get rewarded if the person you are inviting clicks the link. 

Of course, to effectively promote the broker you will need a little more than knowledge of Forex. When you are considering starting to refer new clients to a broker, ensure that you’ll have all the necessary tools on hand, such as the links, the brochures, the message examples, and so on. While you are still going to be the one doing the most of the job, it’ll never hurt to have the appropriate tools handy.

In terms of payment, the brokers might have different approaches to compensating for your referring efforts. In the majority of cases, brokers either offer a one-time fixed commission for the verified registration (sometimes it will include the requirement for the initial deposit from the new client) or a recurring reward that will be formed by the successful trading of the person you brought. 

Reputable brokers are usually very transparent about their compensation models and can provide flexible schedules and methods. In other words, you should be able to choose your payouts plan and adjust the way you approach referral Forex affiliate programs throughout the experience. 

Forex Broker Affiliate Programs

The Forex trading affiliate programs are a great solution for those who already have established trading-oriented platforms. Personal and professional blogs, service providing sites, trading instruments, and a lot more others can become broker’s affiliates. Depending on each particular agreement the affiliate can benefit from both the additional income stream and tailored trading conditions offered by the broker. 

The process of attracting new clients through Forex brokers affiliate programs is somewhat similar to referrals: the promoting party spreads the word about the broker on their platform and provides a link to the site. Now, the promotional methods may vary from simple banner ads and backlinks to elaborate reviews, articles, and tutorials. The same as with the referrals, it’s best to find a broker who will simplify the affiliation by giving access to a set of marketing tools.

Just like the Forex broker affiliate programs differ in conditions and terms, the payment will also depend on a number of factors. In general, the affiliates are generously rewarded for their services, sometimes as much as $1,000 for every new qualified client. 

Of course, the reward will be proportional to the amount of work that needs to be done, so the affiliates that benefit from such partnership the most are the ones that have teams running established platforms. This way, the newly added workload won’t significantly affect the operation, but at the same time bring a visible profit. 

Forex Trading Affiliate Programs Dictionary

Navigating in the vast sea of Forex broker affiliate program opportunities might be challenging. Partially due to the number of available options, and partially because of the unfamiliar concepts and terms. Below is some of the most common terminology of Forex brokers affiliate programs:

  • Rebates are ongoing commissions that occur every time the client you brought trades. For as long as they keep coming back to the broker you introduced you’ll be getting a specific amount credited into your account.

  • CPL stands for Cost Per Lead. It is the payment issued when a client you brought registered with a broker or opened a free demo account. Since there is no guarantee that the fresh trader will deposit money eventually, the CPL’s do not pay a lot. However, it can still be a nice little incentive for those who are committed to promoting their broker. 

  • CPA is an abbreviation of Cost Per Action. Now, that ‘action’ part is the one that requires your most attention. Some brokers will pay as soon as the new client deposits, others will wait for them to make a specific level of profit. Make sure you understand the rules going in, to avoid the unpleasant confusion.

  • Revenue share works sort of like owning stock in someone’s trading process. In theory, the revenue shareholder will benefit from victories and get income cuts from the losses of the trader they introduced. Due to the unpredictability of each trader’s journey on the market, the concept of revenue sharing isn’t very common across the modern Forex scene. 

  • Sub-affiliate or second-tier commission is essentially compensation for your client bringing new clients to the network. This type of commission worked well in the past when the number of traders and brokers was easier to monitor. However, under the current conditions of rapidly-evolving Forex trading, tracking sub-affiliates became extremely challenging, and most brokers discontinued this approach. 

5 Tips to Choose the Best Forex Affiliate Program

If you feel inspired to participate in one of the Forex trading affiliate programs, you’ll first have to settle on the one that fits you specifically. And you already know that this selection process can be rather challenging due to the sheer amount of opportunities out there. To help you out, here are five tips on how to choose the best Forex affiliate program:

  1. Don’t rush. It can be tempting to simultaneously earn income from trading and get a commission for every new trader you bring. However, it is very important to get to an appropriate level of knowledge and experience before you proceed. Mainly, to be able to use your expertise as a selling point: people tend to trust professionals. And partially so you can answer all the related questions along the way. 

  2. Evaluate your time capabilities. For a lot of modern traders, Forex is a second and sometimes third source of income. This means that in some cases traders barely get to analyze and profit from the market themselves, let alone introduce new people. That’s why you should clearly evaluate how much time you have available for Forex broker affiliate programs before you engage in any of them. 

  3. Test your broker. Taking some time before you start inviting new traders is not only useful for learning and polishing off your skills. The longer you stay with the same broker the more certain you become of their trustworthiness and professionalism. As long as you keep advocating for a high-quality product, people in your audience network will support and gladly accept your advice. 

  4. Explore marketing. Any Forex affiliate program is first and foremost a marketing tool. That’s why it would make a lot of sense to gain at least a very basic understanding of how the promotion of goods and services works. You don’t have to become a professional salesperson, of course, but having a few tricks up your sleeve can definitely be an asset. 

  5. Keep evolving. Continuous learning and skill perfecting is always great on Forex. The same goes for the Forex brokers affiliate programs: as you become more knowledgeable and resourceful, you will be always growing your income by getting effective leads and at the same time by providing those leads with the right info. 

How Much Can You Make From Forex Brokers Affiliate Programs

Perhaps the best thing about Forex affiliate programs is that, just like in trading itself, there is no limit to how much money you can make. Your income directly depends on the rate of your knowledge, experience, and involvement. Luckily, as long as you dedicate yourself to constantly learning and evolving, whatever profit goal you have in mind will be relatively easy to achieve.