Revenue share

Revenue share, often shortened to "rev share", is one of the two main ways brokers pay affiliates: websites, educators and other partners who refer new clients. Under revenue share, the affiliate receives a percentage of what the broker earns from each referred client, typically from spreads, commissions and other trading charges, for as long as the client keeps trading.

The other main model is CPA, a one-off payment when a referred client opens and funds an account. Some deals combine the two ("hybrid").

How it works

Illustrative figures: a referred client trades 20 standard lots of EUR/USD in a month, and the broker earns the equivalent of 1 pip of spread per lot, about 10 dollars each, or 200 dollars in total. Under a 25% revenue share, the affiliate would be paid 50 dollars for that month. If the client stops trading, payments stop.

Some brokers calculate revenue share on net client losses rather than on trading charges. That variant ties the affiliate's income directly to clients losing money, which is a clear conflict of interest.

Why readers should know about it

Any site that earns money when you open an account has a reason to send you somewhere. Revenue share adds a further incentive: the more a referred client trades, the more the affiliate earns. That does not make every affiliate site untrustworthy, but it is worth knowing how a site is paid, whether it says so openly, and whether it ranks brokers using published criteria.

We explain exactly how The Pip Report is paid on our How we are paid page, and how we score brokers in How we rank. For the broker side of the economics, see how forex brokers make money.