CPA is the wrong question on its own
Brokers love to ask what a good CPA is, hoping for a benchmark to measure against. The honest answer is that the number alone tells you almost nothing. CPA for what action? A cheap registration that never deposits is expensive at any price. A pricier funded account can be the best money you spend. Define the action first, then the number means something.
What actually moves CPA
The market. Acquisition in mature, competitive South Africa costs more than in an emerging market like Tanzania. Comparing your South African CPA to a Tanzanian one is comparing different games.
The channel. Search, paid social and creator-led traffic carry different costs and different intent. A higher CPA from a channel that brings serious traders can beat a cheap one that brings bonus-chasers.
The offer. Bonus-led campaigns lower the headline cost per sign-up and often raise the real cost per funded account, because they pull in people chasing the bonus, not the trading.
The funnel. A leaking funnel inflates CPA no matter how good the ads are. Fix the funnel and the same spend produces more funded accounts.
The metric that matters: cost per funded account
Shift the question from "what is a good CPA" to "what does a funded trader cost me, and are they worth more than that." Cost per funded account, measured against lifetime value, tells you whether to scale or stop. That is the number that decides whether a campaign makes money. See our piece on performance marketing metrics for the full set.
How to judge yours
Benchmark against your own lifetime value and your own markets, not against a figure from a different country or a competitor with a different model. If a funded account is worth more than it costs to acquire, and the ratio is healthy, your CPA is good, whatever the absolute number.