Introducers who skim your rebate: 5 signs and how to reconcile it yourself

The broker knows exactly how much it paid the person who introduced you. You are not allowed to see that number.

The entire risk of a rebate sits inside that information gap. The broker pays the IB commission based on the volume you trade and records every payment in full. What the IB then passes back to you is audited by nobody except the IB.

This is not an accusation aimed at anyone. It describes a structure: money passing through an intermediary while the final recipient has no access to the books. A structure like that always creates a gap, and you can close it yourself.

Why a rebate is easier to trim than any other payment

Three features stacked together:

• You do not know the denominator. How much the broker pays the IB is an agreement between the broker and the IB. You are told “your rate is X USD per lot” but not what percentage X is of what the broker actually paid.
• No third party reconciles it. No regulator supervises how much an IB passes back. It is a civil relationship between you and the IB, usually with no written contract.
• Small, repeated, hard to notice. Trimming 15% from a rebate of a few tens of dollars a month is not enough for anyone to complain about, but across hundreds of accounts it adds up considerably.

Not clear what an IB is, or why they have money to share? Read what a forex IB is first; it explains the commission flow and four questions to ask anyone who recommends a broker to you.

This article handles a narrower situation only: when the rebate that should have reached you is withheld.

“A scam IB” and “an IB keeping its own share” are different things

The phrase scam IB gets used for both situations, but they are fundamentally different.

The article on whether a rebate is a scam separates the three things that get conflated using one question: where does your money go. Keeping part of a commission that was disclosed clearly from the start is the price of the service, lawful and normal.

Publishing one rate and paying another, or adding conditions after you have deposited, is what deserves the name. The five signs below let you tell them apart with numbers rather than feelings.

Five signs you can judge by numbers, not by feel

1. No rate published per pair and per account type

Rebate rates must differ between pairs and between account types, because the underlying cost differs.

A provider offering only “up to 90%” or a single figure for everything is hiding the structure, or does not understand the product they sell. A correct table looks like the Vietnamese table by pair × account type, with an update date.

2. Advertising in percentages instead of money per lot

“90% rebate” sounds better than “3.20 USD per lot”, but 90% of what is something nobody can verify; the denominator sits in an agreement you never see.

An absolute figure per lot is something you can multiply out and reconcile. A provider that only talks in percentages is choosing a unit you cannot check.

3. No detailed rebate history per trade

You need to be able to see the date, the pair, the volume and the corresponding rebate. If all you get is one monthly total, you have no way to reconcile. This is the most practical of the five signs, because you can test it on day one.

4. The payout cycle stretches, or conditions change after you deposit

Daily at first, then weekly, then “the system is under maintenance this month”. Or a condition appears that was never mentioned: a minimum volume, a minimum holding time, an exclusion for quickly closed trades.

Conditions can be legitimate, but they have to be stated before you open the account, not after.

5. The rebate is bundled into an invitation to deposit more

“Deposit more to reach a higher rebate tier”, “hit the monthly volume for an extra reward”. This is where a rebate stops being a discount and starts being a deposit-driving tool.

Every volume-based reward structure pushes you to trade beyond your plan, and trading beyond plan is the most common reason accounts blow up, not a shortage of rebates.

How to reconcile it yourself, in 15 minutes a month

1. Export the period's trade history from the platform itself (not from a report the IB sends you). Total the lots per pair separately; rates differ, so a combined total produces a wrong figure.
2. Multiply by the published rate for the exact account type you use. Cross-broker rates: rebate rates compared.
3. Compare with what actually arrived. A gap of a few percent is normal, from rounding and different cut-off times. A large gap, or a consistent one-way gap across several periods, is worth asking about directly, with a request for a per-trade reconciliation.
4. Keep a screenshot of the published rate at the time you opened the account. If the rate changes later without notice, that is the only thing you will have. To move elsewhere entirely, see whether you keep your account when switching introducer; if you are thinking of registering as your own partner, read can I be my own IB.

How they respond when you ask is data too: a provider running a clean operation sends the reconciliation. One that talks around it, changes the subject to promotions, or says “the system calculates automatically and cannot export”, has answered you.

Reconciling the rebate figure is one thing. Knowing what the other side can see inside your account is another, and broker documentation is fairly clear about it.

Most IBs do not skim

This needs saying so the article does not become a tool for spreading suspicion:

• Sharing commission is a lawful, ordinary business model. The part an IB keeps is their work; nobody works for nothing, and an IB that keeps nothing will not survive long enough to keep paying you.
• Keeping a share ≠ skimming. Skimming is publishing one rate and paying another. Keeping a share that was stated clearly from the start is the price of the service.
• Many IBs pay correctly, in full, for years. The problem is that you cannot tell from the outside, so you have to check with numbers rather than with a feeling of trust.

Conclusion: change the question

The usual question is “which IB pays the highest rebate”. That question leads straight to whoever promises the most, and whoever promises the most is not whoever pays the most consistently.

Each IB's split and payout cycle change constantly and we cannot observe them all. If your experience differs from what this article describes, tell us about it.

The better question: “does this provider publish enough for me to verify it myself?” A table by pair, money per lot, per-trade history, a fixed cycle. All four can be checked on day one, before you deposit anything.

Spotted something inaccurate? Tell us and we will check it and publish a correction.