What is Deal Cap?

A deal cap is a negotiated ceiling written into an affiliate agreement that limits how much an operator will pay a partner in a given period, either by capping the number of qualifying CPA players or by capping total commission. It protects the operator from unbounded liability when a campaign performs better than forecast, and it defines the point at which extra traffic stops earning the affiliate money under the current terms. Caps come in several forms. A CPA deal might cap paid first-time depositors at a fixed count per month; a hybrid or revenue-share deal might cap total monthly payout in currency; and some deals cap only the initial "seasoning" period before renegotiation. Overflow players beyond the cap are typically unpaid, paid at a reduced rate, or rolled into revenue share, depending on the contract. Worked example: an affiliate signs a $150 CPA deal with a cap of 100 qualifying players per month. If they send 100 depositors, they earn 100 x $150 = $15,000. If they send 140, the extra 40 fall outside the cap and earn nothing under a hard cap, dropping the effective CPA to about $107 per player. Renegotiating the cap upward before scaling traffic is what preserves the full rate. For affiliates, the practical takeaway is to check the cap before pushing volume: hitting it early in the month means later traffic is monetised poorly or not at all. Uncapped or high-cap terms, or a fallback to revenue share on overflow, are usually worth negotiating for. Compare with CPA, revenue share, hybrid deals and master-affiliate structures.