How do forex affiliate programs work?

Did you know trading isn’t the only way to make money from the markets? In fact, there’s something you can do without having to know lot about trading at all. Thanks to referrals, it’s possible to earn money just by helping other people get started on their own trading journey.

What is a Forex affiliate?

In very simple terms, an affiliate partners with a broker and refers people to them. When the referred person becomes a client with the broker, the broker pays a commission to the affiliate. Easy!

In essence, it’s a form of marketing, where you will be using your communication channels (for example putting an ad on your website) to help the broker reach more potential clients. To say thank you for introducing some new business, the broker rewards you with a commission payment.

How much money can you make as an affiliate?

The amount of money you’re able to make as an affiliate is the first thing most will people think of, so let’s tackle that straight away.

In short, the amount you can earn depends on the number of referrals you can convert. Now, there’s an important difference between simply getting someone to click an ad on your website which sends them to the broker, versus someone who clicks your ad then actually becomes a qualified client with the broker. You’ll need to check the terms of any referral agreement, but chances are you won’t get any commission just from getting clicks – it’s only when the person signs up with the broker that you’ll get paid your fee.

So, with that basic understanding, how much can you actually earn? Well, that’s going to depend on the terms the broker is offering. At Axi, we use a tiered structure where you receive a basic fee of $300 when a referral becomes a qualified client (essentially someone who opens a trading account and starts trading), but this goes up quickly as you refer more clients; our top tier affiliates (those referring 50+ clients a month) earn somewhere around $700 per client!

In addition to this, you also have the option of becoming what’s known as a Master Affiliate. This is a situation where someone who you’ve referred, subsequently starts referring their own clients, thereby becoming a “Sub-Affiliate” of yours. An Axi Master Affiliate (in this case, you) will receive a 10% commission on whatever the Sub-Affiliate earns, which can make for a nice bonus!

What makes a good affiliate program?

Apart from paying out high commission rates, there are several key things to look out for when you’re considering becoming an affiliate. Here are some of areas worth your consideration:

• Is it legit? – Before signing up to anything, you’ll want to check that the partner you’re dealing with is legitimate; key things to look for include financial trading licenses, regulatory certification and even how they come across in online reviews. If the partner is legitimate and trustworthy, this kind of information should be very easy to find. And they should always be easy to contact! This is directly related to how your own brand is perceived by your connections so it's always better to be cautious! 

• Promotional materials – In an online referral model, a critical question to ask yourself is how you’re actually going to get people to the broker site and start making those conversions. If you have a website, what resources will you need? If you’ve never been an affiliate before, what help is available? For our affiliate program, Axi offers a full suite of professionally designed creative assets – including things like digital ad banners! These are regularly updated to keep campaigns fresh and potential referrals interested. To make it easy, we make everything available online through our partner portal.

• Payment terms – There’s nothing worse than expecting to see money in your account and it not being there. So, before you even get started as an affiliate, make sure you understand the qualifying criteria and when payments should be made – and always check the fine print! Better yet, choose an affiliate program with a simple structure, transparent online tracking, and a regular payment schedule so you’ll always know where you stand.

• Service (and self-service) – A top affiliate program should provide end to end transparency, self-service to manage your referrals and a point of contact if something goes wrong. For our program, Axi has a dedicated affiliate portal where you can view key stats around your referrals/conversions. The portal also allows you to download marketing assets to help drive more referrals, and we have an award-winning client services team if you need any help! Once you’re established, a well-run affiliate program should more or less run by itself, but it’s always good to know that help is there if you need it!

Who can be an affiliate?

Because affiliate marketing is based around referral numbers, there’s no strict requirement for you to know the intricacies of trading itself – all you’re really doing is sending people to the broker where they can pick up the conversation with the potential client. In that regard, anyone can be an affiliate. That said, not all affiliates are created equal.

For example, if you’re running a blog dedicated to Forex trading, we could reasonably assume that your readers would be engaged in the subject, therefore trust your knowledge. As an affiliate, this would give you a degree of influence and advantage when it comes to recommending which broker you refer your readers to.

If, however, you ran an online business in an unrelated field – let’s say delivering flowers – and started referring your traffic to a Forex broker, your existing audience is likely to be less engaged from the outset. That doesn’t necessarily mean you can’t get referrals (people who trade FX can also like flowers!), but it might limit the number of referrals you would reasonably convert due to different target audiences.

Regardless of your core business, it’s important to consider how you would make the most effective use of the referral methods you have at your disposal. Some affiliates might only have one potential channel with which to make referrals (e.g. a website displaying static ads), while others may have multiple communication channels and contact points (e.g. website, email newsletter, social media, etc).

Whatever channels you use, it’s important to remember that affiliate marketing is a numbers game; the more conversions you can make, the more you will earn. So, choose the affiliate partner that has a message that resonates with your audience and gives you the resources to help you succeed.

Learn more about becoming an Axi Affiliate at www.axiaffiliates.com, or contact us at service@axi.com.