Lighter referral code: how the free Premium week works

A Lighter referral code gets you one week of Premium for free: the maker and taker fees you pay during your first week are rebated back to you, on up to $10M of trading volume. It only works if you use it when you create your account, and it can’t be added later.

What the Lighter referral actually gives you

Lighter has two main account types. Standard accounts trade perps and spot at 0% maker and 0% taker, but orders go through with a speed delay. Premium accounts pay small fees in exchange for lower latency. The full breakdown is in our Lighter fees guide.

The referral perk lets you try Premium without paying for it. According to Lighter’s referral program page:

• You’re prompted to activate the free Premium week after signing up with a referral link.
• The trial week starts at sign-up, when the code is used, not when you make your first trade.
• Fees are rebated on the first $10M of volume during the trial. Maker and taker volume both count toward the cap.
• Rebates arrive every Monday as L2 transfers within Lighter.

If you only plan to place a few manual trades, Standard is already free and the trial won’t change much. The perk is useful if you want to see whether Premium’s faster execution makes a difference to how you trade before paying for it.

How to apply a Lighter referral code

1. Open the referral link above in a fresh browser session and connect the wallet you want to use for trading. The code needs to register before your account exists.
2. Deposit funds. Lighter accepts deposits from several chains, including Ethereum, Arbitrum and Base, with a $5 minimum for a new account per the API docs.
3. When prompted, activate the free week of Premium. Your account switches to the Premium fee schedule and latency.
4. Trade within the next seven days. Remember the clock starts at sign-up.
5. Before the week ends, decide whether to stay on Premium or switch back to Standard.

If you already have a Lighter account: you can’t apply a code. Attribution is permanent and set at sign-up. A fresh wallet would count as a new user, but Lighter’s rules ban self-referrals and other attempts to game the program, and abuse leads to disqualification and forfeited rebates.

What the Premium trial is worth in practice

Premium fees before any LIT staking discount are 0.0040% maker and 0.0280% taker, according to Lighter’s fee schedule as of September 2026.

Trial-week activity	Fees on Premium	Rebated to you
$100,000 taker volume	$28	$28
$1M taker volume	$280	$280
$2M maker + $2M taker	$80 + $560 = $640	$640
$10M taker volume (the cap)	$2,800	$2,800
$15M taker volume	$4,200	$2,800 (first $10M only)

So the most the trial can refund is $2,800, and that’s only for someone doing $10M of taker volume in a week. For a typical trader doing $50,000 to $200,000 of volume, the value is $14 to $56 of fees you’d otherwise pay, plus a week of faster execution.

The fee rebate is paid after the fact. You still pay the fees from your balance during the week, so keep enough margin for them.

How Lighter’s referral program works for referrers

Referrers earn a share of the gross fees paid by the people they refer. Since Standard accounts pay no maker or taker fees, referrers mostly earn from referrals who choose Premium. Fees that Standard users pay for advanced order types also count.

Tier	Kickback	Requirement
Bronze	10%	Everyone
Silver	20%	15+ unique referrals, each active on 5+ separate days
Gold	30%	50+ unique referrals, each active on 5+ separate days

Some limits worth knowing:

• Only referrals who signed up on or after July 28, 2026 count, both for payouts and tier requirements.
• Tier upgrades are reviewed manually every Monday, apply only to fees from the upgrade date onward, and are granted at Lighter’s discretion.
• Payouts are weekly, as L2 transfers, with a $1 minimum.
• Trades routed through partner integrations that charge an integrator fee don’t earn kickbacks.

Example: a referred Premium trader does $1M of taker volume in a week and pays $280 in fees. A Bronze referrer gets $28 of that; a Gold referrer gets $84. If that trader stays on a Standard account and uses only market and limit orders, the referrer earns nothing.

Should you use it?

Use the code if you’re opening a new Lighter account anyway: it costs nothing and gives you a real test of Premium. Just set a reminder for day seven. If you’re still deciding between venues, our Hyperliquid vs Lighter comparison and what is Lighter explainer cover fees, custody and liquidity side by side. For another exchange’s referral terms, see the Hyperliquid referral code page.