Recently, I saw someone asking about referral commissions again, so I’ll just casually talk about it.

Basically, referral commissions are a user growth strategy used by exchanges. When you trade on a mainstream platform, whether spot or futures, you have to pay transaction fees. Futures are especially scary, calculated based on the position size. For example, $1,000 with 100x leverage equals a $100k position, and opening and closing the position can cost several dollars in fees. The exchange knows this money is substantial, so they offer a portion of it as a referral commission, allowing you to reduce fees by inviting friends, and you can earn some extra commission. That’s the basic logic of referral commissions.

But there are some nuances. First, you need to understand that your referral quota is a resource itself. Whether you’re a newbie or an experienced trader, others want to bind you under their account. So the choice is in your hands—don’t bind yourself recklessly. If someone offers you a referral, first check the ratio; if they are just a regular account, binding or not binding makes no difference. Second, look at what this person does; if they only push referral commissions, have no followers, and no valuable output, then binding under them is meaningless. You should look for someone who can bring you value, such as a streamer sharing real knowledge or with trading experience—only then is binding worthwhile.

Referral commissions do have pitfalls to watch out for. Don’t trust referral ratios that exceed the rules—that’s definitely a scam. Also, don’t be led to shady platforms; losing money due to liquidation is just the beginning. And don’t bind recklessly—many people don’t even have a referral ratio, so binding them is pointless.

As for whether ordinary traders can make money from referral commissions, honestly, it’s very difficult. This field is highly competitive. Unless you have a team to help promote referral commissions for big streamers and share the earnings, it’s hard to succeed. Doing it alone, the ratio is too low; even if you manage to get some newbies to bind under you, once they understand, they can just switch to someone else, and you won’t earn much. So instead of wasting effort on pushing referral commissions, it’s better to focus on trading itself—using referral commissions to save on fees is the right way.