3Commas Affiliate Program Review: Status Unclear After v2

The 3Commas affiliate program used to be one of the richest deals in the trading bot niche: a hybridHybrid A payment model that combines a one-time CPA payment with an ongoing revenue share, usually at a lower percentage than pure RevShare. More payout that mixed revenue share on subscriptions, a flat bonus per new paying user and a trading-volume bonus on top. Right now, though, the honest answer to “does it still work?” is status unclear. This review separates what you can confirm today from what the last published terms said, shows how the money worked, and lays out what to do if 3Commas is already in your content.

3Commas affiliate program status: what is confirmed right now

3Commas shut down its original platform (now called v1) and moved users to a new v2 platform built in partnership with WunderTrading. According to the official v2 help-center article, v2 needs a new account, users reconnect their exchanges and rebuild strategies by hand, and existing subscribers keep their remaining time plus bonus months. That article says nothing about affiliates, referral balances or partner payouts.

Here is what we could verify directly on 3commas.io during our latest check:

• The current affiliate terms page (/affiliate-program-terms-and-conditions) returns a 404 error. So does the previous version of the terms.
• 3commas.io/affiliate no longer shows a program page; it redirects to the homepage.
• The Terms of Referral for regular users are still online, with the 25% / 15% / 10% structure.
• The Affiliate CPA Program terms for legal entities are still online, with $3 per registration and $197 per new subscription.
• The Legal Documentation index still lists the affiliate terms, but the links lead to dead pages.
• The only partner page in the site menu, Business Partners, is about white-label licensing, not commissions.

What the last published 3Commas affiliate terms paid

The latest affiliate terms (archived before the pages went offline) stacked three income streams. Understanding them still matters: if the program returns on v2, it will most likely start from this structure, and any balance you earned on v1 was calculated this way.

1. Revenue share on subscriptions. You earned a percentage of every subscription payment from users you referred, for as long as they kept an active paid plan. That is a classic recurring commissionRecurring commission A commission paid again every time a referred customer renews a subscription — typical for trading bots and crypto tax software. More, and the tier depended on whichever of two triggers you hit first:

2. New User Payout Bonus. On top of revenue share, every referred user who paid for a first subscription earned you a one-time bonus. New affiliates spent their first three months on a Starter tier at $15 per user. After that, a Pro tier was recalculated monthly: $15 per user at 5+ new paid users, $17 at 20+, and $19 at the top tier. (The published table repeated “20+” for both upper tiers, so the exact $19 threshold was never clear.) Hitting 20 new paid users in a single month moved you to Pro early.

3. Performance bonus on trading volume. Because 3Commas bots trade on connected exchanges, the company also paid a flat monthly bonus based on the trading volumeTrading volume The total value of trades your referrals make. A $1,000 buy followed by a $1,000 sell adds up to $2,000 of volume. More of your referred users:

3Commas reserved the right to change the volume bonuses with prior notice and offered custom plans through an individual order form, so large partners could negotiate.

How the recurring SaaS commission math worked

SaaS affiliate income behaves differently from a one-off cpaCPA A fixed one-time payment you earn when a referred user completes a set action, such as passing KYC or making a first deposit. More payment. You get paid every month a referral keeps paying, so your income is the sum of everyone still subscribed, minus churn. Here is a worked example using the last published 3Commas rates. The subscription amounts are illustrative, because 3Commas plan prices on v2 are not part of the affiliate terms.

Say you are past your first three months and, in one month, you bring 25 new paid users. Your referred base (old and new users together) pays $3,000 in subscriptions that month and trades $2M through 3Commas bots.

That adds up to $1,755 for the month. The 25 new users lift you from 30% to 40% revenue share, which is worth $300 on its own compared with the Basic tier. Drop to 10 new users and $3,000 in subscriptions, and the same month pays $900 in revenue share, $150 in user bonuses and the volume bonus, a big step down.

The lesson for any revshareRevShare You earn a percentage of the revenue a platform makes from your referred users — on exchanges, usually a share of their trading fees. More SaaS program: the first-user bonus pays once, but the percentage keeps paying. A content site that keeps sending steady sign-ups builds a base that compounds, while a one-time traffic spike mostly earns the bonus. Our CPA vs RevShare vs hybrid guide runs the same math across payment models.

3Commas affiliate vs referral vs CPA program

3Commas ran three parallel schemes, and two of them still have live terms:

• Referral program (live terms). For individual users. It pays 25% of a level-1 referral’s net subscription payment, 15% on level 2 and 10% on level 3, credited monthly pro rata to the subscription. Payouts are in USDC or as subscription credit; the FAQ cites a $50 withdrawal threshold. Legal entities get a rate agreed individually.
• Affiliate program (terms offline). Single-level, but 30–45% plus per-user and volume bonuses. It needed manual approval, could involve kycKYC Identity verification: users upload an ID (and often a selfie) before they can trade or withdraw. Many crypto commissions start only after KYC. More (ID, proof of address, business documents) and could be rejected without explanation. Accepting affiliate terms ended your referral terms; the two cannot run at the same time.
• CPA program (live terms). Only for legal entities, tracked through Affise on web and AppsFlyer on mobile. It pays $3 per registration and $197 per new subscription purchase. Invoices must arrive within 10 business days of the month start, or the fee is waived.

If you are a company running paid media, the CPA terms are the only affiliate-style document still online. Whether new CPA partners are being onboarded on v2 is not confirmed either.

Getting paid: USDC, monthly, on request

Under the last terms, your affiliate balance was kept in USDC equivalent. Bonuses for each month were paid by the 25th of the following month, but only after you requested a withdrawal in the affiliate workspace inside the 3Commas app. Payouts went out in USDC on the ERC20 network, which means Ethereum gas costs land on you, and 3Commas could ask for an invoice before paying. The minimum withdrawal was shown in the app, not in the terms, and the cookie lengthCookie life How long after a click the program still credits you if the visitor signs up or buys. A 30-day cookie gives the user 30 days to convert. More was never published: attribution relied on the user registering through your link or typing your Tracking Code at sign-up.

Traffic rules that applied

Even with the program in limbo, these rules tell you how 3Commas thinks about compliance:

• No advertising anywhere in the European Economic Area, plus a ban on sanctioned countries and regions (EU, UN, US, UK and BVI lists).
• Use 3Commas-provided materials; your own creatives needed approval first.
• No misleading claims such as guaranteed returns. Bots lose money in bad markets, and promising profits is the fastest way to lose a partnership.
• The CPA track added a long list of bans: brand context ads, incentivized trafficIncentivized traffic Users who sign up because you rewarded them (cash, giveaways, points) rather than because they want the product. Often banned or paid less. More, toolbars, cashback and coupon traffic, rebrokering, brand doorways, co-registration, SMS and email spam.

The EEA ban was unusually broad. If a large share of your audience sits in Europe, check our compliance guide before promoting any bot platform.

What to do if you promote 3Commas today

1. Audit your links. Test every 3Commas link in your content. Links that land on the v1 sign-up flow or on the homepage may no longer attribute anything.
2. Ask support in writing. Contact 3Commas support (live chat or support@3commas.io) and ask three things: is the affiliate program open on v2, do v1 referrals carry over, and how is any outstanding v1 balance paid.
3. Document your balance. Screenshot your affiliate workspace, earnings and referral list while you still have access. With terms pages gone, your own records are your evidence.
4. Stop paid traffic. Do not buy clicks for an offer whose terms you cannot read. Keep organic reviews live, but say clearly that partner terms are unconfirmed.
5. Add a live alternative. Point comparison content at programs with published terms so the traffic keeps earning while you wait.

3Commas affiliate alternatives with live terms

If your audience wants automated trading, three programs in our directory have terms you can actually read:

• Cryptohopper’s tiered recurring commission pays 10%, 12.5% or 15% of subscriptions for as long as referrals stay subscribed, with a 30-day cookie and a $75 minimum payout. Lower rates than 3Commas, but a clear, stable rulebook.
• Coinrule’s lifetime revenue share pays 25% on monthly plans and 30% on annual plans, with an extra 5% once your referrals bring in more than $2,500 in a month. The closest match to the old 3Commas percentages.
• Pionex’s fee rebate program works differently: the bots are free and you earn 20% of spot and 15% of futures trading feesTrading fees What an exchange charges per trade, usually a small percentage of the trade size. Most exchange affiliate commissions are a share of these fees. More for 365 days per invitee, credited every hour in USDT.

If your readers trade derivatives directly rather than through bots, an exchange program such as MEXC’s lifetime revenue share pays on trading fees instead of subscriptions. The trading bots category compares all bot programs side by side.

Verdict: wait for written confirmation

On paper, the last 3Commas affiliate terms were among the strongest in the niche: 30–45% recurring, $15–$19 per new paying user and up to $1,018 a month in volume bonuses, paid in USDC. In practice, the program’s status is unclear. The terms pages are gone, the affiliate URL redirects, and the v2 announcement does not mention partners.

If you already have 3Commas traffic, protect your records and get answers in writing. If you are choosing a bot program today, start with one whose terms are live, and revisit 3Commas once it publishes affiliate terms for v2.