Hi JohnCA,
Thanks for posting. You’ve ‘summed it up well’. Here’s a link to a thread I myself started some time ago on the subject which has information that you may find of interest (and basically ‘backs up’ exactly what you’re saying in your post):
http://forums.babypips.com/newbie-island/38522-binary-options-beware.html
Binary Options in and of themselves are in fact legitimate trading vehicles BUT NOT those that advertise 1 000 000% gains in a half-an-hour (usually with a ‘pretty skirt with a smiling face’ depicted in the ad). The CBOE (or the CME i.e. I forget which now but it’s detailed on the thread noted) offers Binary Options and one can only assume that THOSE Binary Options are ‘legit’. Basically they’re nothing different than good 'ol ‘plain’ Vanilla Options really (but I’m no Options Expert so I may not be EXACTLY right). But yes: these ‘in your face’ Binary Option ad’s that pop-up ‘in your face’ everywhere you look nowadays are indeed the latest scam to ‘hit the trading business’ (actually the word ‘trading’ doesn’t even ‘fit’ really).
What upsets ME the MOST (and I think it’s detailed on that thread): it attracts those with absolutely NO knowledge of ‘trading’ ‘like flies’. I tried to start a trading ‘school’ (for FREE) a year (or slightly more) ago. When I explained to my potential ‘students’ that if they could AVERAGE 10% ROI per month they were doing well (‘in my book’ anyway) they were ‘gob smacked’ (10% being ‘too little’ or ‘not enough’) and then one of them was told about these Binary Options. Needless to say some of them ‘ploughed’ THOUSANDS of USD into them and, well, I don’t have to tell you what the end result of their endeavours were!!! LOL!!!
Regards,
Dale.