How major exchanges write structural unfairness into their terms

Bybit

Affiliate Program Terms & Conditions

• §9.8 — Commissions already paid can be cancelled, recalculated, or recalled at Bybit's sole discretion.
• §9.9 — Set-off: recalled commissions can be deducted from your future commissions — and from your own trading account balance.
• §7.4 — All client data is the Company's "sole and exclusive property"; the affiliate "has no right to such information." Bybit may terminate any client relationship at will.
• §9.2–9.4 — Bybit's tracking report is final and conclusive; disputes must be filed within 10 working days; a discrepancy over 10% is resolved in Bybit's favor.
• §20.6 — Termination for breach forfeits every commission still owed to you.

MEXC

Affiliate Agreement

• §11.4 — Commission withheld on "suspicious" activity at absolute sole discretion; already-paid commission can be cancelled, recalculated, or recalled.
• §11.2 — Termination for breach forfeits all outstanding commissions.
• §3.4 — MEXC's account records are "final and binding"; discrepancies must be disputed within 10 working days.
• §11.5 — Close your account and you may never reapply to the program.

Binance

Referral & Affiliate Program terms

• June 2023 notice, verbatim: "Spot and Margin referral commissions will be discontinued for all referred users who reach VIP 3 or higher." Futures commissions cut off at VIP 2.
• The already-onboarded ban: soliciting an existing Binance user to open a new account as your referee is prohibited — the audience you already built cannot be monetized.
• "Damaging and/or defamatory behavior" toward Binance cuts your commission to 0%.
• Clause 4.4 — on an alleged breach, Binance may withhold commissions due and recover payments it has already made.
• Clause 9 — your own deal terms are confidential; you may not discuss them publicly.

Bitget

Affiliate Program Policy

• The program runs at Bitget's "absolute sole discretion" — including whether any commission is earned at all — and Bitget may "demand/recover… any commissions earned/transferred."
• Since October 2025, new affiliates start at 0% and earn nothing until they pass a monthly evaluation.
• Posting "false, misleading, negative, critical or disparaging" statements: status revoked, rate cut to 0%, paid rebates recovered.

OKX

Affiliate Program Rules

• Verbatim: "For traders at VIP7 or above, commissions are not applicable." At VIP5–6, commission caps at 100,000 per month.
• Miss your affiliate-level threshold 3 consecutive months and your level — and rate — adjust down; at rate 0 you earn nothing.
• Sub-affiliate relationships are not permanent; sub-affiliate rates can be reset to 0%.
• The program and its terms can be modified or discontinued at any time, for any reason, without prior notice.

BloFin

Affiliate Program Terms

• The same clawback template as Bybit and MEXC: cancel, recalculate, withhold, and recall already-paid commissions at absolute sole discretion.
• Quarterly assessment; fail it and your rate auto-downgrades, possibly to base.
• Commissions can be suspended, frozen, or clawed back without notice if any referred user is merely suspected of a breach.

Phemex

Referral Commission Program T&C

• §1.4 — Commission accrues only on trades within 365 days of the invitee's registration. After that: nothing, permanently.
• §3.2 — Trades by VIP3+ invitees are excluded entirely.
• §1.2 — If your own status changes (broker, institutional, market maker), new commission accrual ceases immediately.

And the rest

• KuCoin — may disqualify you and revoke earned commissions at any time; its decisions are final.
• Gate — the commission period lasts one year per referred user; Gate reserves the final right to interpret the rules.
• CoinEx — rewards halve after 6 months and end entirely after 12.
• Coinbase — 50% of referees' trading fees for the first 3 months, then $0.
• Kraken — 20% of referred trading fees, hard-capped at $1,000 per referral, regardless of the trader's lifetime value.
• BingX — exclusive rates limited to 3 months; disqualified after 3 consecutive monthly misses.
• Bitfinex — the entire EEA barred from referrals since December 2024; payments must be disputed within 30 days.