Exness IB commission: how revenue share is actually calculated

What "IB commission" means in practice

An Introducing Broker is paid for introducing clients who go on to trade. The commission is funded from the revenue the broker earns on that trading activity — the spread charged when a position is opened, the per-lot commission on commission-based accounts, and in some cases overnight swap. Your revenue share is the slice of that revenue allocated to you.

This distinction matters more than any other detail on this page. A client who funds an account with a large deposit and never places a trade generates zero commissionable revenue, therefore zero IB commission. A client who funds a small amount and trades actively can generate far more. IB income is a function of activity, not of account size.

The formula, in three parts

Commission is calculated per referred client, per instrument, per period. In plain terms, three numbers are multiplied together:

Each part behaves differently:

• Trading volume is measured in lots. It grows with the number of active clients, how frequently they trade, and how large their positions are.
• Revenue per lot is decided by the account type and instrument. A spread-based account earns revenue through a wider spread; a commission-based account charges a fixed commission per lot with a tighter spread. The total revenue can land in a similar range, but it is generated differently.
• Revenue share percentage is agreed per partner, per region, and can reach 40%. It is not a universal rate and should be confirmed in your own partner agreement.

A worked example

The table below uses illustrative figures to show how the three parts interact. The revenue-per-lot values are examples, not published rates.

Referred client	Monthly volume	Revenue per lot (illustrative)	Client revenue	Your share (40%)
Client A — active scalper	80 lots	$9.00	$720	$288
Client B — swing trader	22 lots	$9.00	$198	$79
Client C — dormant after deposit	0 lots	$9.00	$0	$0
Total	102 lots	—	$918	$367

Illustrative example for explanation only. Actual revenue per lot and revenue share depend on instrument, account type, and your agreement.

Client C is the important row. That client contributed a funded account and no income. Any partner judging a channel by sign-up count alone will overestimate what it earns — the metric that matters is the volume the referred cohort produces and how long it keeps producing it.

Why your percentage is not your payout

A common misunderstanding is treating the revenue share percentage as a percentage of trading volume. It is not. A client trading one standard lot of a major currency pair does not generate "one lot of commission"; it generates whatever revenue that lot produces on that specific account type. Two consequences follow:

• A client moved from a spread-based account to a commission-based account can change your payout materially, even with identical volume.
• Instrument mix matters. Gold, indices, and crypto CFDs typically carry different revenue per lot than major currency pairs, which is why a partner sending traders to a single instrument may earn less than one with a diversified referral base.

Revenue share versus CPA: the real difference

The IB program pays continuously. The affiliate program pays a CPA amount per qualified client, once. Neither is strictly better — they solve different problems:

	IB revenue share	CPA affiliate
Paid when	Continuously, as clients trade	Once per qualified client
Cash flow	Starts slow, compounds	Immediate
Ceiling	Grows with retention and volume	Grows with sign-up volume
Main risk	Churn — inactive clients earn nothing	Client quality rules on qualification
Best fit	Communities, educators, signal groups	Media buyers, publishers, broad traffic

For a deeper comparison of the two structures, see Exness Affiliate vs IB.

The four variables that move your number

1. Active client count and retention

Revenue share is a retention business. Ten clients trading for a year usually outperform a hundred clients trading for a week. Onboarding quality — teaching new referrals how to place their first trade — is the highest-leverage activity an IB has.

2. Instrument mix

Different instruments generate different revenue per lot. Partners whose audience concentrates in one market inherit that market's economics, including its quieter periods.

3. Account type

Spread-based and commission-based accounts structure the same revenue differently. If your audience is cost-sensitive, pointing them at the right account type keeps them trading longer, which usually beats a marginally higher per-lot figure.

4. Network depth

The IB structure supports multiple levels. If you recruit other partners as sub-IBs, you participate in the volume they generate. The depth of the structure and the split per level are defined in your agreement, so confirm them before building a recruitment plan around them.

How to verify your commission in the dashboard

1. Check volume first, not earnings. If volume dropped, the cause is audience activity, not the commission rate.
2. Compare revenue per lot across instruments. This reveals whether your referral base is concentrated in a low-revenue market.
3. Segment by cohort. Compare clients referred three months ago with last month's referrals — a falling ratio means onboarding, not traffic, is the bottleneck.
4. Reconcile against your agreement. Confirm the percentage applied matches the rate and region on your contract.

Frequently asked questions