The IB Partner Scorecard: How to Objectively Rate Any Broker, Exchange, or Prop Firm

You have three broker programs open in three tabs, each promising better commissions than the last, and no consistent way to tell which one actually deserves your traffic. Most IBs end up choosing on gut feel: a slick landing page, a slightly higher headline CPA (cost-per-acquisition, a one-time payout per qualifying trader), or a recommendation from someone in a Telegram group. That approach works until it doesn't, usually right when a broker delays payouts or a prop firm quietly changes its payout rules on you.

This article gives you a repeatable scorecard: a fixed set of weighted criteria you score every prospective partner against, so the decision comes from evidence instead of mood. Use it before you sign with a broker, exchange, or prop firm, and re-run it annually on partners you already work with.

Why "gut feel" fails IBs

A partner that looks good on day one can still hurt you a year later. Commission rates are the easiest thing to compare and the least predictive of long-term outcomes — they tell you what you're paid, not whether you'll get paid, whether your traders will have a fair experience, or whether the brand will still exist in eighteen months. The real cost of a wrong partner usually shows up as churn, chargebacks, or reputational damage to your audience, not as a bad line in a spreadsheet.

A scorecard fixes this by forcing you to look at the same categories every time, in the same order, before commission rate ever enters the picture.

The five scoring categories

Score every prospective partner from 0-5 in each category below, then apply the suggested weight. The result is a single number you can compare across offers, and — just as valuable — a paper trail of why you passed on a partner that looked attractive on the surface.

1. Regulation & trust (30%)

Start here every time, before you look at rates. A regulated broker operates under real capital, conduct, and client-money rules; an unregulated broker operates under none of that, which shifts every downstream risk onto the trader — and by extension, onto your reputation.

Check, in this order:

1. License verification. Search the regulator's public register directly (FCA, ASIC, CySEC, and similar bodies each publish one) using the entity name on the broker's terms of service, not the brand name on the homepage. Confirm the registered domain matches the domain your traffic will actually land on.
2. Regulatory jurisdiction fit. A license from a strict regulatory jurisdiction (FCA, ASIC, CySEC under MiFID II) carries materially more weight than an offshore registration used mainly for marketing.
3. Segregated accounts. Confirm client funds sit in segregated accounts at a tier-one bank, separate from the firm's operating capital. This is what protects trader deposits (and your credibility) if the firm runs into financial trouble.
4. Negative balance protection. For leveraged products, negative balance protection caps a trader's loss at their deposit. Its absence is a real red flag in retail-facing jurisdictions that require it.

2. Commercial terms (20%)

Once trust clears the bar, compare the actual deal. Commission structure alone won't tell you the full story — see the full commission-model comparison for how CPA, revenue share, and hybrid deals actually differ in practice. For this category, score:

• Whether the baseline CPA or fixed commission is disclosed in writing, not just quoted verbally.
• Whether the CPA trigger (the minimum deposit or trading volume that qualifies a referral as "converted") is realistic for your traffic.
• Whether the agreement includes a tiered commission structure that rewards volume without punishing a slow month.
• Whether lifetime commission on a revenue-share deal is genuinely lifetime, or silently expires after an inactivity window buried in the terms.

3. Execution & product quality (20%)

Your commission is irrelevant if the traders you refer have a bad experience and churn in month one. Test this yourself with a small live account before committing serious traffic:

• Open a demo or small live account and place representative trades across normal and volatile market conditions.
• Measure realistic slippage on entries and exits — some is normal in fast markets, but consistent adverse slippage against the trader is a signal of a conflicted execution model.
• If the broker offers a raw-spread account, confirm the commission-plus-spread total is competitive, not just the headline spread number.
• Ask directly whether the desk operates A-Book, B-Book, or a hybrid execution model — this shapes whether the broker's incentives are aligned with the trader winning or losing.

4. Payout reliability (20%)

This is the category most IBs under-check until it's too late. Payout problems rarely announce themselves — they show up as a delayed invoice, then a "processing" ticket that never closes.

Score:

• Payout frequency — weekly and monthly are both normal; anything less frequent needs a clear reason.
• Minimum payout threshold — a high threshold effectively delays smaller IBs' income indefinitely.
• Deposit-to-withdrawal ratio requirements imposed on your referred traders, which can trigger client complaints that land on you.
• A documented history (via IB forums, review boards, or your own network) of on-time payment, not just a "guaranteed" claim on the partner page — a promise of guaranteed payout with no verifiable history is itself worth discounting.

5. Support & partner relationship (10%)

The smallest weight, but the category that determines how painful year two is. Look for a named affiliate manager (not a shared inbox), a response time you can test before signing by asking a real question during onboarding, and access to reporting/API data rather than manual monthly spreadsheets.

Worked example: scoring two hypothetical brokers

The table below illustrates how the scorecard resolves a decision that "compare the commission rates" alone would get wrong. Both brokers are illustrative composites, not real entities.

Broker B's headline CPA is higher, and it would win a rate-only comparison. The scorecard shows why that's the wrong basis for the decision: the weighted regulation and payout gaps outweigh the commission advantage, because those two categories are where undisclosed risk to your income and reputation actually lives.

Mistakes to avoid when scoring

• Scoring from the broker's own marketing page. Verify regulation, payout terms, and execution independently — marketing copy is written to convert you, not inform you.
• Letting one strong category override a weak one. A 5/5 commercial deal does not offset a 1/5 regulation score; that's exactly what the weighting is designed to prevent.
• Treating "regulated" as binary. A license exists on a spectrum of strictness — confirm which regulator, and whether the entity handling your traffic is the licensed one.
• Skipping re-scoring after signing. Terms, ownership, and regulatory status change. Re-run the scorecard annually, especially before scaling traffic to a partner.
• Ignoring the green flags and red flags checklist as a sanity check alongside the numeric score — some disqualifiers (like an unverifiable license) should override the math entirely.

Adapting the scorecard to your business model

The weights above are a sensible default, not a fixed rule. If you run a rebate or cashback business, payout reliability may deserve more than 20% since your entire model depends on cash actually landing on schedule. If you're evaluating a prop firm rather than a broker, add a category for challenge-pass reliability and payout-split transparency, since prop-firm economics work differently from spread- or commission-based broker deals. See matching audience type to broker type for how your traffic source should influence which categories matter most to you.

Bridging to your own evaluation

Once you've scored a shortlist, cross-reference each candidate against Revenika's Partner Glossary to confirm you're using the same definitions the broker or firm is using in its own terms — a surprising number of disputes trace back to two parties meaning different things by "lifetime commission" or "CPA trigger." The glossary won't score a partner for you, but it removes the ambiguity that lets a bad partner hide behind vague language.

Frequently Asked Questions

How often should I re-score an existing partner?

Annually at minimum, and immediately after any material change: a new regulatory notice, a payout delay, a change in ownership, or a sudden shift in commercial terms. A partner that scored well two years ago is not guaranteed to score well today.

Should I disqualify a partner automatically for a low regulation score?

Treat a very low regulation score (unverifiable license, no segregated-funds disclosure) as a near-automatic disqualifier regardless of the weighted total. The scorecard's weighting handles moderate risk well; it isn't designed to override a genuine trust failure.

Can I use this scorecard for prop firms and exchanges, not just forex brokers?

Yes, with adjustments. Keep the same five categories, but swap execution-quality checks for payout-split and challenge-rule transparency when scoring a prop firm, or for liquidity and custody practices when scoring a crypto exchange.

What if two partners score almost identically?

Use a qualitative tiebreaker: which partner's audience and product genuinely fit your traffic best. See how to choose a financial partner for the broader framework this scorecard sits inside.

Where can I read more about verifying a broker's license directly?

Regulators publish public registers you can search directly — for example the FCA register at fca.org.uk and ASIC's register at asic.gov.au. Cross-check the registered entity name against the domain your traffic will land on.

Conclusion

A scorecard turns partner selection from a gut call into a documented, repeatable process — one you can defend to yourself, to your audience, and to any partner who asks why you passed on their program. Weight regulation and payout reliability heavily, verify everything independently rather than trusting a landing page, and re-run the score at least once a year. The partners that keep scoring well over time are the ones worth building your business around.