Also known as: Active Trader, Active Client, Qualified Trader
An active user, in forex affiliate and IB terms, is a referred client who meets the broker's specific criteria for generating revenue inside a defined window — typically by depositing and then executing a minimum number of trades or a minimum traded volume. It is the threshold that separates a mere sign-up from a client the broker will actually pay you for.
The distinction matters because most CPA (Cost Per Action) agreements pay on qualification, not registration. A broker's definition might read: deposit at least $250 and trade at least 2 standard lots within 30 days. A client who registers and even deposits but never trades usually earns the partner nothing — the deposit alone does not prove the lead is genuine or engaged.
Active-user rules exist mainly to filter fraud and low-quality traffic. Brokers have been burned by affiliates sending incentivised or fake sign-ups that deposit the minimum, claim the CPA, and withdraw. Requiring real trading volume forces the client to behave like a real trader before any commission is released. For the partner, this means conversion is measured not at the click or the deposit, but at genuine activity.
The number that governs your income is your active-user rate — active users divided by total referrals. Send 100 registrations, have 10 qualify, and you are converting at 10%. Lifting that rate through better onboarding is often more profitable than buying more traffic: at a $500 CPA, moving from 10 to 15 active users out of 100 is an extra $2,500 from the exact same ad spend.
The broker's tracking system tags each referred account and monitors it against the active-user criteria — deposit size, trade count, or lot volume — over a set qualification window, often 30 to 90 days. The moment a client crosses the threshold, the CRM flags the account as active and releases the partner's CPA or unlocks revenue-share accrual.
For the partner, the lever is the gap between deposit and activity. Many funded clients hesitate to place a first trade, so a structured onboarding — a welcome email sequence, a short course, a first-trade walkthrough — nudges them across the activity threshold. That converts otherwise-dead deposits into paid active users and lifts the overall active-user rate that drives your economics.
The prospect signs up under your tracking link and the broker tags the account to you.
The referral makes at least the minimum deposit the CPA deal specifies, e.g. $250.
Within the qualification window, the client trades the required volume — say 2 standard lots — to meet the activity bar.
The CRM confirms all criteria are met and marks the account as an active user.
The CPA is released or revenue-share accrual begins, and only qualified clients count toward your payout.
Why it matters for partnership: Most CPA deals only pay once a referred client becomes an active user — deposits alone rarely count. Improving your active-user rate through onboarding earns more from the same traffic than buying more clicks.
You send 100 registrations to a broker whose CPA deal defines an active user as depositing $250 and trading 2 standard lots within 30 days. Only 10 clients meet both conditions, so you receive 10 CPA payouts. After adding a five-email onboarding sequence that walks new clients through their first trade, the next 100 referrals produce 16 active users — six extra payouts from the same ad spend.
| Stage | What it means | Does it pay CPA? |
|---|---|---|
| Registration | Account created via your link | No |
| Deposit (FTD) | First minimum deposit made | Sometimes |
| Active user | Deposit + required trading volume | Yes |
Build an onboarding sequence — a welcome drip or a short first-trade course — that walks funded clients through their first qualifying trades, because raising your active-user rate is cheaper than buying more traffic.
Misreading the broker's exact active-user definition — the deposit size, lot count, and time window — leads to disputes over unpaid CPA commissions you assumed you had earned.
It varies by broker, but typically a minimum deposit plus a minimum number of trades or traded lots within a set window, such as $250 and 2 standard lots in 30 days. Always confirm the exact terms in your agreement.
Usually not. Most CPA deals require genuine trading activity, so a deposit alone rarely qualifies. This is deliberate — it filters out fraudulent and incentivised sign-ups.
Improve onboarding: welcome sequences, first-trade tutorials, and responsive support help hesitant funded clients place their first qualifying trades. Never push random trades just to trigger the CPA — brokers detect and ban that.
Most brokers set a qualification window of 30 to 90 days from registration or first deposit. If the criteria are not met inside that window, the client typically does not count toward your CPA.
No. An FTD has only made a first deposit, while an active user has also traded the required volume. Some deals pay partly on FTD and fully on active status, so read which metric your payout uses.
Some agreements claw back CPA if the client withdraws quickly, is flagged for fraud, or fails to sustain activity. Check the clawback and hold-period terms before scaling traffic to that offer.