Affiliate program

An affiliate program is an exchange's formal system for paying partners a commission on the trading fees of users they refer. Rebate platforms, influencers, and comparison sites all operate inside these programs.

Nearly every major exchange runs one, with a common structure: partners receive referral codes and links, the exchange tracks attributed sign-ups, and commission is paid as a percentage of referred users' fees. Programs are tiered — larger partners negotiate higher shares — and governed by terms covering self-referral bans, prohibited marketing, and regional restrictions.

The program defines what is economically possible downstream. A partner cannot return more than the program pays, which is why rebate offers cluster within a realistic band and why an offer far above it deserves suspicion — it is either subsidized temporarily or not real.

loweef participates as an independent affiliate: partnered for commission purposes, but not owned by, endorsed by, or speaking for any exchange. That independence is why partner pages can state plainly what each program allows — including the inconvenient parts, like attribution being unchangeable — instead of marketing around them.

How affiliate money flows to traders →

Related terms