Binary Options. Beware!

Hi Thanks for your reply. so what is this system that you created which generate funds for you?

I second that question. And what sort of “tricks” should we look out for?

Optionbit had 15 minute Options then(Last yr) on Ten Currency Pairs: Majors and GBP/JPY , EUR/JPY, EUR/GBP.

I would use 5 minute charts, open all the pairs in their respective windows on MT4. My MT4 had sessions indicator(search this on google) for good visibility of trading sessions.

I would look out for times when the markets are not trending; that is no news on ForexFactory. Have you ever noticed, say, a monday when FF news is all yellow, no red; maybe one orange and possibly some whites. That was a perfect day for me. I knew the markets were going to range.

On the 5 min charts, I would scan through all the pairs to see who had a 5 min candle closing out of the bolinger band. If it was out of lower BB, I would make a Call expiring at the top of the current 15 minutes. If upper BB, then vice-versa.

I had at the back of my brain a technique called “Buy Back A Losing Option”. Supposing a Call shifted in my favour only to come

Hello. Let me summarise:
[B]1)[/B] Optionbit removed 15 minute options. Meaning if I was winning 10 options net, I will now be winning 5.
[B]2)[/B] They still, as before, do[B] “rounding off”[/B] which can make you lose even when you are in the money. E.g. on GBP/USD you decide a PUT Option at 1.43281 Strike Price. If this Option moves down in your favour to 1.4325 expiry, they round of the last figure to 1.4330; this way you lose. It is even in their terms of service.
[B]3)[/B] They have now added about 7-9pips spread. Say on MT4 the GBP/USD reads 1.43281 and they detect guys will be making puts, they now shift “Our Rate” to 1.43211. You make a put and the Option expires correctly at 1.4325. On MT4, you have won; on Optionbit, expiry is correct at 1.4325 and you have lost. In their past expiries they show 1.4325, and u lost!!!
[B]4)[/B] When they know you are going to [B]“Buy Back”[/B] a losing Option, they Tell you “[B]Option not available now[/B]”(TraderXP). When they know Asia session is on, no trading available(Optionbit).
[B]5)[/B] Non-Farm payrolls out, lock options, put technical problems in platform. In a few hours we will be having NZD CPI, take note, TraderXP [B]may pull NZD off the platform.[/B]
[B]6)[/B] Deposit is microseconds; withdrawal 2 weeks.
[B]7)[/B] There is an [B]investment ceiling[/B]. 1000 USD for Optionbit; now 3000 for TXP.

I don’t think that binary options are as bad as Forex trading, in fact i find them safer; simply because they take out the psychological aspect of the trade which almost always works against a trader. The psychological aspect being taken out as you are committing no matter what to the trade and may not alter TP/SL or influence the trade until it is over - something that very frequently leaves traders on the backfoot

Hi,

So which Binary Options Broker do you work for ‘gainpips’??? LOL!!!

Whatever the case and my crass ‘attack’ above aside: you do have a point i.e. once you’re in a trade you’re ‘committed’ as it were. There’s only one Binary Options Broker that I know of that will allow you to close out a position before the expiry of the Option (at a premium of course).

When I started this thread: as I said ‘Binary Options Beware’. Then somebody made a good point i.e. from a NEWS trader’s perspective they could be a ‘God send’. But as this thread has progressed I’ve reverted back to my ‘Binary Options Beware’ ‘take’ on the subject.

Just my ‘equity futures and commodities’ ‘couple of hundred dollars worth’ of input is all!!! LOL!!!

Regards,

Dale.

Now I’m not sure if I’m doing the right thing by posting this because I’m most CERTAINLY not advocating the trading of Binary Options BUT as I did note somewhere on this thread: I think they’re VERY ‘broker integrity dependant’. Here is an advertisement that appeared in this month’s issue of SFO (Stock, Futures, Option) Magazine (published on friday):

The Free Magazine for Stocks, Futures and Options Traders

(It’s the PFGBEST advertisement to which I’m referring).

I haven’t bothered to look for broker reviews but I’ve at least HEARD of PFGBEST and I’m ALMOST sure that they are a regulated broker in the USA (and not some small Binary Options ‘scammer’ registered in Greece).

I’m posting this because I’d ‘bet my bottom dollar’ that in spite of everything said on this thread and all of the warnings more than one person will have thrown ‘all caution to the wind’ and opened a Binary Options trading account somewhere. Put it this way: if there is ANY chance of Binary Options being profitable then it would be with a regulated and well known broker so this post MIGHT help to give you at very least a ‘fighting chance’ if you want to try them.

And note: I do not (OBVIOUSLY) work for PFGBEST nor do I have anything at all to do with them i.e. I’ve just heard OF them now and then is all. Just thinking of ‘you all’ is all. As should be done with any broker: do your research and look for reviews about them. There’s bound to be some around.

Regards,

Dale.

[B]“if there is ANY chance of Binary Options being profitable then it would be with a regulated and well known broker”[/B]. Thanks Dale for this. Definately that is what a serious Options Trader should look out for.

Busingy.

My pleasure.

Look: from the little bit of research that I did do whenever it was (which I noted in one of my posts on this thread i.e. I’m not sure which one) Binary Options must be / are ‘valid’ trading instruments. I say this because its either the CME or CBOT (I forget now which exchange offers them but it’s easy enough to find using Google I’d say) that offers them. It’s these Binary Options brokers that ‘promise the earth’ with their ‘in your face’ advertising and ‘profit promises’ and offer humongous deposit bonuses etc. that will give them a bad name. I’ve never gone any deeper into this but I would imagine that accounts with brokers that ACTUALLY trade on the exchanges would require big deposits not these $100 accounts (I’m surmising here of course). Put it another way: to trade futures with futures brokers in the US you need, in most cases, some SERIOUS ‘maintenance margin’ if you’re going to keep positions open overnight. That type of thing.

Anyway: they’re not for me but hopefully the information contained on this thread will help new traders who happen to stumble across them and decide to give them a shot a fighting chance is all. One thing I did notice in that ad referred to: it would SEEM that with that broker you can take profit off the table up until a certain point in time before the option is to expire so you’re not totally ‘committed’ as I noted in one of my posts above (at least I THINK it was me that made that point)!!! Sorry: I’m not quite ‘with it’ today (tired).

Regards,

Dale.

What was I thinking when posting the above post yesterday??? LOL!!!

It’s the CBOE (Chicago Board Options Exchange) (not the CBOT or CME)!!! LOL!!! (It only ocurred to be this morning). Sorry about that.

CBOE - Micro Site

Regards,

Dale.

Thanks a lot for this.

Hi all – great site, great forum – pleased to have the opportunity to join in and post my first comment.

I came across OptionBit after I saw a site that offered a free options trading strategy. Am I allowed to post the URL here?
I won’t for now just in case I breach protocol on my first attempt.

Suffice to say a “former London stockbroker” has managed to give up the rat race without having to give up his $20k a month salary by trading binary options.

I smell a rat #1 - his strategy is to follow the “Trader Insight” window which tells you if traders on the site are net long or net short of each pair. The site provides you a hint as to whether you should be going long or short of your chosen market.

Now, if you lose a trade, you place another trade on the same pair, but multiply your stake by approx 2.5; so effectively a Martingale incremental plan.

Using $10 as a first trade, your subsequent trades would be $26 - $65 - $150. So if your first trade was actually $100, you are looking at a sequence of $260 - $650 - $1500. Strewth.

I smell a rat #2 – I quote from the ex-stockbroker’s video where he is describing the incremental plan - “your last trade is pretty much 100%, so it’s totally risk free trading”.

What the heck does that mean?

So I am with those people who see this as pure gambling and not trading. Nothing wrong with gambling per se, as long as you understand and accept that’s what you’re doing. But what makes this marketplace seem all the more seedy is sites like the one I described above, and the huge offers of cash incentives if you deposit funds before a certain time limit (OptionBit’s site actually says “It is not advisable to start with less than $500”). Wonder why?

What the heck does that mean?

LOL good question
sounds like a bad martingale blow out to me not a risk free trade.
I think you have a good nose on all that rat scent!

Dale,

I know this thread has spanned a while and I posted earlier inquiring about Aplari FX Options.

Is that what we are talking about (Alpari) when you say “Binary Options”. I noticed that brokers avoid using that term, so I’m don’t know if Its a new trend to avoid a bad rep, or just my ignorance of what “Binary” implies.

I guess what I’m asking is whether all Forex Options count as these “Binary Options”.

I have read nothing about 15 minute timetables on Alpari. Their examples are typically 7-30 day terms.

Thanks for all your help!

Hi.

I never realised that there’d been so much discussion on this subject (I’d not subscribed to this thread).

Before I give you my OPINION know this: that’s all it is i.e. an OPINION because what I know about ‘proper’ Options is dangerous!!! LOL!!! So just bear that in mind.

I too have noticed (of late) that some well known (whether they be reputable or not is another matter) FOREX Brokers are offering Binary Options or FOREX Options. Alpari being one of them, GFT another, and IG Markets. I would GUESS that these are ‘proper’ Binary Options or FOREX Options (a Binary Option, to the best of my knowledge and very limited understanding, is what is known as a plain ‘Vanilla Option’ in the ‘real’ Options world i.e. it only has two possible outcomes: it expires ‘in the money’ or ‘out of the money’). But I’m sure there’s someone more qualified here to confirm that.

What I’m saying REALLY is that I THINK that the Options that YOU are talking about are pretty ‘genuine’. But as I say: I THINK!!! LOL!!!

THESE are the types of ‘Binary Options’ that I was referring to and personally wouldn’t ‘touch with a bargepole’:

Binary Options Trading - OptionBit
winoptions - Binary Options Trading Platform | Winoptions.com (I see they’ve changed their ‘skirt’ and she’s DARN ugly)!!! LOL!!!

You’re talking about ‘proper’ FOREX Brokers that now offer Binary Options or FOREX Options. I cannot forsee a problem there to be honest. But like I said: this information is based on some demo testing of brokers such as those on those links and ‘gut feel’.

Regards,

Dale.

I’ve stumbled over these Binary Options some weeks ago as well.
I’ve never even had a closer look at them, because the first thing I saw was that you had to ‘invest’ 100 bucks to get a return of 70-80 … that’s a bad reward/risk ratio.
Plus, it didn’t look like fun, more like placing a casino bet and waiting for the outcome of your ‘bet’.
I’d prefer forex anytime, even without considering the various disadvantages of binary options described in earlier posts of this thread.

O.

Thanks Dale!

This IS helpful.

Busingy - How are you doing on your Binary Options trading currently? Are you still trading Binary Options? I ask because I have been studying my technicals & practicing Binary Option trading, trying to get down a great win/loss ratio before I get back into Binaries (I have already used real money & have realized that there is a world of a difference - for me - between practice trading and real trading and it’s all psychological) I’ve gained thousands in a matter of hours on a practice account, but once I use real money, I get psyched out and lose big time. This is even with the platform closing my position right on time and at exactly the price the currency pair is at (I use a separate charting service, to be sure). Something about using real money makes me throw all my technical analysis & charting patterns out the window. Just wondering how you were doing, since you are the only other person I know trading Binary Options…

Thanks!

I am very fine. Doing well. I use Spread Betting | Financial Spread Betting. These are the inventors of Binary Options. All other companiea are copy cats. Moreover the other companies are likely to be unregulated or something like that; in such a case they may cheat you without any remorse. IG INDEX are regulated in the UK; and are very strict regarding your identity. They are the same owners of IG MARKETS and NADEX. IG INDEX is the best of the three. If you live in the US, try out Binary Trading Options | Binary Trading | Nadex. They dont have the full range of binary options found at Spread Betting | Financial Spread Betting but you will surely be able to make daily binaries on forex for a good return.

Feel free to get back to me.

Thanks for replying, busingy! I’m so glad to hear from someone else who is actively trading binary options, and not just preaching the evils of them (or white label shills trying to ensnare gullible traders into their webs). I found a site that shows which platforms are regulated (and by whom) and which are not. Lately I’ve been using 24Option (reg. by FEC) - I don’t like NADEX’s UI, plus, I can’t seem to get myself to trust any US platform nor US regulators (the past few years has completely eroded the last little bit of my faith in this once good country) I use the streaming charts from FX Solutions (via eToroUSA) looking at both the 20 minute and 5 minute (300 bars), using Bollinger Bands, SMA, SAR in the main window, MACD (plus histogram) in the second, and RSI (9, 14, and 21) in the bottom window. I don’t rely on all or just one, but it all gives me a better snapshot of what a pair is doing all together. Again, I’m a champ when I use Monopoly money, and I completely psych out when I use my real hard earned money. If you don’t mind, I would love to have a voice of reason mentor for a short while until I get into a successful groove. If I can make even half of what I make in practice accounts with real money, I would be more than happy to give you a thank you commission (over a pint). scott (at) argyleproject (dot) org Anyone else who is successful at trading binary options, feel free to get in touch. I’d be happy to hear from you!