Binary.com is a professional broker in binary options, forex, and CFD's, operating since the year 2000. Binary.com has one of the most advanced trading platforms, which enable you to conduct various analyses. Binary.com's services are aimed at financial professionals. In this Binary.com broker review we discuss the broker's offer and our experiences with them. We helpen you judge whether Binary.com is a suitable binary options broker for you.
Available assets
At Binary.com you can trade binary options on over 100 different assets. That's a reasonable offer, but not impressive. In particular, the range of stock options and options on commodities is limited. At Binary.com you will find options on only 40 stocks, of which none are from Australia or New Zealand (but German, British, American, and Indian stocks). The only commodities you can buy binary options on are gold, silver, platinum, palladium, and oil.
Where this binary options broker does better is in currencies and stock market indices. You will find a range of more than 30 forex pairs, including all major currencies such as the euro, US dollar, Japanese yen, and British pound. Binary.com offers options on no fewer than 36 stock market indices, including the Australian ASX 200, the US NASDAQ 100, and the Euro 50 index.
In addition, Binary.com has a number of special indices in its package that you will not find anywhere else. You can trade on a volatility index, a bull / bear market index, and several currency indices. This means that you can not only make money from how companies are doing on the stock market, but also take advantage of the general stock market climate. For example, if there is a lot of uncertainty and the prices are going up and down, it can be difficult to predict the direction of the stock market. But what you can predict is that there will be more volatility in the market, and then take a binary options contract on that.
Types of binary options
You can trade different types of binary options with this binary options broker. As you might expect, there are the traditional up / down options. What is a little confusing is that at Binary.com these are called Rise / Fall. You can also buy Higher / Lower options, but this broker means something else by that term.
Binary.com offers a unique type of options under the name Higher / Lower that you will not find anywhere else. Instead of having to predict whether the price will be higher or lower than the current price over a certain period of time, you can set a value yourself where the price should go above or below. That value is called the Barrier. This allows you to manipulate the trade to your advantage. Keep in mind that the easier you set the barrier, the lower the return.
Furthermore, Binary.com has the Touch / No Touch in its package, and two types of boundary options. The Ends Between / Ends Outside option is the classic in / out binary option. But there is also the Stays Between / Goes Outside option, which has you predict whether the price will remain within the boundary during the option's duration or not. Just like with the Higher / Lower options, you can set the limits of the boundary yourself (with High Barrier and Low Barrier). These unique types of binary options allow you to put new strategies into practice at Binary.com.
Binary.com trading platforms
Binary.com's standard trading platform is the web-based SmartTrader. You can use this to set up all parts of your options contracts. Because you have so much flexibility with the term, the starting time, and the barriers, this is a bit more complicated than with most brokers. But everything is clear enough to master the settings within a few minutes.
The interactive chart at your disposal for each investment is very impressive. You can easily set the chart type, scale, and interval. You can draw lines on the chart and add the prices of other assets. For example, you can compare the price of the ASX200, the DJIA, and the FTSE100 in one chart. But the best part is that you can display more than 50 technical indicators in the chart. This allows you to perform advanced technical analysis to make better decisions.
In addition to the SmartTrader, Binary.com has three other trading platforms for you. With the WebTrader you can open the price charts of multiple assets side by side in small windows, in order to keep an eye on different markets at the same time. This is an advantage for the active binary options trader, as you can quickly switch between different charts.
The most advanced trading platform is MetaTrader 5 (MT5). This is used by professional forex and CFD traders to perform technical analysis, enter orders, and automate trades. At Binary.com you get free access to a web-based version of MT5. Keep in mind that this software is much more complex than most other platforms and therefore not suitable for everyone. If you have limited experience it is better to use the SmartTrader.
Another very special trading platform is the Binary Bot. You can use it to program your own trading robot. This requires quite a bit of understanding of programming. You don't have to write the computer code yourself, but you do have to design the instructions for the robot. It takes many hours of study to become proficient at this. But it is fun to play with the Binary Bot. And if your robot is successful, you can sell it to other traders through the Binary.com Shop. (And you can buy robots from professional traders in the shop as well.)
Besides the web-based platforms, you can also trade binary options from your smartphone. Binary.com has a mobile app, which is a simplified version of the SmartTrader. The app is not suitable for technical analysis, but you can at least follow the stock market along the way, and open or close trades if necessary. The mobile app is unfortunately only available for Android, not on the iPhone.
We have not seen such advanced trading platforms with any other binary options broker. The platforms are available in English, as well as in 10 other languages.
Risk and reward
The returns at Binary.com are excellent! On normal higher / lower options you get a minimum of 60% return, but usually the returns are between 70% -90%. What is special is that the return on 'higher' is not always the same as on 'lower'. This broker adjusts the returns to what the market thinks. The less popular a direction is, the higher the return. The return can even exceed 100%. So if you think that most other traders are wrong, you can make a lot of money if you are proven right.
The returns on the other types of binary options vary widely. This is because you can set the barrier yourself, and the more challenging it is, the higher the return. This can amount to a return of up to 1,900% per option. This means that if you risk $50, you will receive $1,000 if you predict the outcome correctly.
Note that the options with the highest returns are also the least likely to pay out. For example, you can set up an options contract that pays you 1,900% profit if the AUD / USD exchange rate rises more than 3 cents in a week. That is possible, of course, but it is unlikely. So be aware that you run a significant risk with these options. Because you can set the limits of the options contract yourself, you have full control over the ratio between return and risk.
Binary.com has more than a million customers worldwide and is tightly regulated by financial regulators in Europe, Great Britain and Japan. The company holds no special license for the territories of Australia or New Zealand. However, it is a voluntary member of The Financial Commission (TFC). That shows its commitment to protecting customer funds. In case of a dispute, TFC offers compensation of up to $20.000 on a case-by-case basis. This ensures that your money is safe with Binary.com.
Options expiry and terms
Another thing that you can set yourself is the duration of the options. You can indicate the duration in ticks (seconds), minutes, hours, or days. The minimum duration is 5 ticks, which is extremely short. We don't think you can predict with any certainty what a stock's price will do in the next 5 seconds, so we don't recommend this.
But you can set very precisely for how long you want the option to run; for example 4 hours and 23 minutes. This can be useful if an important news item is expected and you want the option to end before it is released. At the top end of the range you can let options run for up to a year (365 days). In this way you can act on long-term expectations.
In addition to the duration, you can also set the start time of the option. With other binary options brokers, the option always starts to run the moment you buy it. But at Binary.com you can start an option tomorrow or the day after tomorrow, at a time of your choice. For example, you can start the option while you are sleeping, to profit from trading on a foreign exchange.
Finally, you can also sell an option before expiry. The market price of the binary options you buy changes over the term. For example, if you bought a lower option with a term of 21 days, and the price is 2% lower after 4 days, the option has become worth more. You can then take your win early, for example if you expect the price to go up again.
Minimum investment size
Opening an account with Binary.com is free, and you get instant access to a virtual demo account worth $ 10,000. This allows you to master Binary.com's software without risk before you start trading with real money. Click here to open a free demo account.
You can easily open a real money account from the demo account. There is no minimum deposit to open an account, but depending on the payment method you want to use, there is a minimum. You can deposit money from 5 dollars with online payment systems such as Neteller and WebMoney. With a credit card the minimum deposit is $10, and with a bank transfer $25.
What is interesting is that you can also deposit or withdraw money into your account with cryptocurrencies. These will then be converted into the currency of your account. In all cases, Binary.com processes withdrawal requests within one business day, which is faster than most brokers.
The minimum position size is also very small with this broker: you can already buy binary options from $0.50. This way you can easily spread your risk over different investments, even if you only have a small amount of assets in your account. The maximum position size is $20,000.
Conclusions of this broker review
Binary.com is the most professional broker we have come across in the binary options market. The software is very advanced and allows extensive technical analysis. The returns on binary options are very attractive, especially if you trade 'against the flow'. And the enormous flexibility with which you can set up your options contracts is perfect for the serious options trader.
Although the supply of binary options on forex and stock market indices is fine, we think that the supply of stocks and commodities is disappointing. Because Binary.com does not require a minimum deposit to open an account, and you can buy options from as little as 50 cents, this broker is very accessible for small investors. But even if you have more capital to invest, Binary.com is a great choice. Due to the strict regulations, your money is safe with this broker under all circumstances. All in all, we give Binary.com a rating of 'very good' (4.5/5 stars).
Would you like to try out the range of binary options broker Binary.com for yourself? You can open a demo account for free with $10,000 virtual money on it. Or open a real account right away so you can start taking advantage of binary options trading right away.
Binary.com binary options broker review summary:
| Rating: |  |
| Min./max. position size: | 0.5 AUD / 20,000 AUD |
| Expiry of options: | 5 seconds to 365 days |
| Binary options on assets: | Stocks, stock market index, forex, commodities and volatility indices. |
| Software platforms: | SmartTrader, WebTrader, MT5, Binary Bot, and mobile app |
| Minimum first deposit: | 5 AUD |
| Deposit / withdrawal methods: |        |
