Cost per acquisition · CPA
Definition
Cost per acquisition: A one-off payment a broker makes to an IB for each referred client who meets set qualifying conditions, such as a minimum first deposit and minimum lots traded.
What it means
A CPA plan pays for arrivals, not activity. The IB is paid once for each new client who qualifies, and nothing further on that client's trading. The qualifying conditions define the plan: typically a minimum first deposit, a minimum number of lots, a minimum number of trades and a minimum trade duration, often to be met within a set window after the account opens.
CPA amounts are often tiered by the client's country, and many plans add a bonus when the number of qualified clients in a period crosses set thresholds. A client who deposits but misses any one condition earns the IB nothing.
Example
An illustrative month: 20 clients open accounts through an IB's link and 12 meet every condition within the window. At an illustrative $300 CPA, the IB is paid $3,600, once. The eight who did not qualify earn the IB nothing, whatever they trade afterwards.
Why it matters to an IB
CPA tends to suit an IB whose audience is large and turns over fast, because the payment does not depend on how long clients stay. Its risk is qualification: an audience that signs up but trades little produces many accounts and few payments. Read the conditions before promoting anything.