Programs where a link click does not count

An affiliate link is treated as the basic mechanic: you give out a link, the referral clicks, buys, you get a commission. In part of the prop affiliate market this chain is broken. A click on the link creates no right to a commission there, and the only way to get paid is to make the referral manually enter a promo code at checkout.

Disclosure: propcases.com is owned by the prop firm Hash Hedge.

Who runs on a promo code instead of a cookie

Promo code attribution is used by E8 Markets, Take Profit Trader and Alpha Capital Group (the firms’ own pages, checked 2026-07-28). At all three, a click on the affiliate link without a subsequent code entry is not paid.

Look at the rates of these programs. Take Profit Trader states up to 25%, which puts it in the upper part of any ranking by percentage. E8 Markets pays 20% on the first sale and 10% on subsequent ones, and recurring commission is stated without reservations. Alpha Capital Group states up to 9%, that is, it sits at the bottom of the table (the firms’ own pages, checked 2026-07-28).

So promo code attribution is not tied to the level of the rate. It shows up both where the percentage looks attractive and where it is minimal.

A separate case: BrightFunded

BrightFunded formally has link attribution, but it lives for exactly one browser session (the firm’s own page, checked 2026-07-28). The referral clicked the link, looked at the terms, closed the tab, came back in the evening and bought: no commission.

This is an intermediate state between a cookie and a promo code, and it is not obviously dangerous, because formally the program does not say “we work on codes”. It talks about affiliate links, and the lifetime of the attribution is stated on a separate line.

Context: BrightFunded states up to 15% and pays on repeat purchases at the full rate, which is itself rare in the niche (the firm’s own page, checked 2026-07-28). At the same time BrightFunded bans paid advertising entirely (the firm’s own page, checked 2026-07-28). The combination of single session attribution with a PPC ban means there is only one workable scenario here: an audience that buys at the moment of contact.

A separate case: Take Profit Trader and the code tied to an account

Take Profit Trader has a second feature that breaks recurring commission from the inside. The promo code is tied to a trading account, not to a user (the firm’s own page, checked 2026-07-28).

The practical meaning: the trader bought his first account with your code, you got a commission. A month later the same trader buys a second account and enters someone else’s code or no code at all. That account is not credited to you, even though you brought the client.

Take Profit Trader is listed among the programs with recurring commission without reservations (the firm’s own page, checked 2026-07-28). Formally that is true. In practice recurring commission here is conditional: it works only if the referral repeats the entry of your code every time. As we showed in the review of why the commission rate is not the main thing, recurring commission usually weighs more than the rate. Here it exists on paper and leaks in practice.

How this counts in EPC

EPC is earnings per click. The usual calculation: EPC = rate × order value × conversion to purchase.

With promo code attribution a multiplier k is added: the share of buyers who reached payment and entered your code.

EPC = rate × order value × conversion × k

The value of k is never published by any firm and cannot be derived from public data. But you can estimate the order of magnitude by logic: the code has to be memorised from a page or a video, carried to the checkout, the right field has to be found and the code entered without a typo. Each of these steps cuts off part of the buyers.

What matters more is that you do not see the loss. In the dashboard you see the credited sales. Purchases where the code was not entered are not displayed anywhere: as far as you are concerned they never happened. That is why a promo code program looks in reports like a program with poor traffic conversion, and the first decision that comes to mind is to fix the creatives. Fixing creatives will do nothing here.

What makes the problem worse and what makes it better

The format of the source decides almost everything.

Video and podcast. The promo code is read out loud and held on screen, the viewer is used to entering a code in this format. Losses are minimal, and promo code attribution works here almost like a cookie.

A live community where you answer questions. The code can be repeated at the moment of purchase. Losses are moderate.

An article or a review. The reader leaves for the firm’s site, reads the terms, comes back a day later. By that point the code is forgotten. Losses are high.

Paid traffic from a landing page. The user arrived from an ad, clicked the button, landed at the checkout. He had no reason to memorise the code. Losses are maximal, and this is exactly the scenario where a promo code program is at its worst.

Separately: a long attribution window does not save the promo code scheme, because the code is not stored in the browser. Cookie lifetime is simply not applicable here. More on how the window interacts with the other parameters is in the article on the attribution window.

What to do

Do not compare promo code programs with cookie programs by rate. These are different units of measurement. Estimate k at least roughly and multiply the rate by it.

Check whether the program has link attribution at all. The wording “affiliate link” on the landing page does not mean a click on it is paid: in the three programs reviewed above only the code is paid.

Check what the code is tied to: the user or the account. That determines whether recurring commission works on the second and third purchase.

Clarify the lifetime of link attribution separately from the attribution window. These are two different parameters, and at BrightFunded they do not match.

If a promo code program stays on your shortlist, send it only those sources where the code naturally reaches the checkout. Run everything else where a click is enough.

And check the terms against the agreement text before launch: at eight programs in the niche the landing page and the agreement diverge on rates, windows and recurring commission, the review is in the piece on the landing page against the agreement.