What is negative carryover?
A term under which a negative commission balance is carried into the following month instead of being reset to zero.
Under revenue share on a trading venue, your commission for a period can be negative — if your referred users collectively won, the operator lost money on them, and your share of a loss is a debit. Negative carryover means that debit is deducted from your next positive month rather than wiped.
Why it matters
This is the single most important term in a crypto affiliate agreement and the one most often left unmentioned in the pitch. With carryover, a few profitable referrals can put you in a hole that takes months of positive performance to climb out of, during which you earn nothing while still sending traffic. A program offering 30% with carryover reset to zero each month is frequently worth more than one offering 45% with carryover. Ask explicitly: does a negative balance reset at the end of each period? If the answer is not in writing, assume it does not.