“Is this code real?” is the wrong question. A code can be real supplied inventory while its benefit is unproven, its market eligibility unknown or its terms stale. The useful question is what current evidence says the code does for your account and market — and that is checkable in about five minutes.
The short version
A broker code is a reference, not a promise. Checking it means separating three facts that are often blurred on affiliate pages: the code exists, the code is accepted by the provider, and the code carries a benefit for you in your market. Confirming the first two does not confirm the third.
A page that shows the code, the benefit, the market state and the evidence gap is more useful than a page that shows only the largest number.
Check 1: match the exact characters
Codes are case-sensitive more often than people expect. Compare every character, including letter case and any hyphen or digit. A mistyped code is not a fake code, but it will fail attribution. When a page and the provider's own materials disagree on the exact string, treat the provider-facing flow as controlling and report the discrepancy.
Check 2: find the designated field
A partner code belongs in the partner or referral-code field the provider documents, not in a coupon box and not in an unrelated form field. AvaTrade's official help centre, for example, says its partner-code field appears below the phone-number field during registration. If a page cannot show you where the code goes, that is an evidence gap, not a detail to skip.
Check 3: require code-specific terms
A provider's general promotion page is not proof for a specific code. The launch records on Broker.codes make this distinction explicit:
- TABTrade TABFDB2k carries a representative-supplied 15% claim while TABTrade's public promotion separately states 10%. The two are held apart instead of blended.
- AvaTrade 128979 is published with a supplied 20% welcome-bonus claim, but no current code-specific public terms were found for the exact rate, so it stays partially verified.
- XM QK44F is published with the benefit explicitly unknown, because XM's own bonus page says availability and percentage vary by region.
The pattern is the point: a good record names what supports each claim and what is still missing.
Check 4: screen your market and product
A code that works in one country can be useless or unavailable in another. Provider restrictions and local product-intervention rules are separate evidence routes:
- The FCA's incentive rules affect retail CFD promotion in the UK.
- ASIC's CFD intervention order restricts certain inducements in Australia.
- Provider pages list their own restricted regions, such as TABTrade's Australia, New Zealand and United States restrictions.
Unknown market eligibility should read as “review required”, not as a silent green light. If a page does not state the market logic, it has not done the work.
A five-minute verification loop
- Copy the code exactly as published and compare characters.
- Locate the provider's documented partner or promo field.
- Search for current code-specific terms, not a general campaign page.
- Check the provider's restricted regions and your local product rules.
- Read the funding, volume, expiry and withdrawal conditions before depositing.
- Ignore any claim that a bonus makes leveraged trading safer.