Binary Options HOT!
A binary option is a type of options contract in which the payout depends entirely on the outcome of a yes/no proposition and typically relates to whether the price of a particular asset will rise above or fall below a specified amount. Once the option is acquired, there is no further decision for the holder to make regarding the exercise of the binary option because binary options exercise automatically. Unlike other types of options, a binary option does not give the holder the right to buy or sell the specified asset. When the binary option expires, the option holder receives either a pre-determined amount of cash or nothing at all.
binary options
A binary option is a financial exotic option in which the payoff is either some fixed monetary amount or nothing at all.[1][2] The two main types of binary options are the cash-or-nothing binary option and the asset-or-nothing binary option. The former pays some fixed amount of cash if the option expires in-the-money while the latter pays the value of the underlying security. They are also called all-or-nothing options, digital options (more common in forex/interest rate markets), and fixed return options (FROs) (on the NYSE American).[3]
While binary options may be used in theoretical asset pricing, they are prone to fraud in their applications and hence banned by regulators in many jurisdictions as a form of gambling.[4] Many binary option outlets have been exposed as fraudulent.[5] The U.S. FBI is investigating binary option scams throughout the world, and the Israeli police have tied the industry to criminal syndicates.[6][7][8] The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) have banned retail binary options trading.[9] Australian Securities & Investments Commission (ASIC) considers binary options as a "high-risk" and "unpredictable" investment option, [10] and finally also banned binary options sale to retail investors in 2021.[11]
The FBI estimates that the scammers steal US$10 billion annually worldwide.[12] The use of the names of famous and respectable people such as Richard Branson to encourage people to buy fake "investments" is frequent and increasing.[13] Articles published in The Times of Israel newspaper explain the fraud in detail, using the experience of former insiders such as a job-seeker recruited by a fake binary options broker, who was told to "leave [his] conscience at the door".[14][15] Following an investigation by The Times of Israel, Israel's cabinet approved a ban on sale of binary options in June 2017,[16] and a law banning the products was approved by the Knesset in October 2017.[17][18]
On January 30, 2018, Facebook banned advertisements for binary options trading as well as for cryptocurrencies and initial coin offerings (ICOs).[19][20] Google and Twitter announced similar bans in the following weeks.[21]
Binary options "are based on a simple 'yes' or 'no' proposition: Will an underlying asset be above a certain price at a certain time?"[22] Traders place wagers as to whether that will or will not happen. If a customer believes the price of an underlying asset will be above a certain price at a set time, the trader buys the binary option, but if he or she believes it will be below that price, they sell the option. In the U.S. exchanges, the price of a binary is always under $100.[22]
In the online binary options industry, where the contracts are sold by a broker to a customer in an OTC manner, a different option pricing model is used. Brokers sell binary options at a fixed price (e.g., $100) and offer some fixed percentage return in case of in-the-money settlement. Some brokers, also offer a sort of out-of-money reward to a losing customer. For example, with a win reward of 80%, out-of-money reward of 5%, and the option price of $100, two scenarios are possible. In-the-money settlement pays back the option price of $100 and the reward of $80. In case of loss, the option price is not returned but the out-of-money reward of $5 is granted to the customer.[23]
Binary options are often considered a form of gambling rather than investment because of their negative cumulative payout (the brokers have an edge over the investor) and because they are advertised as requiring little or no knowledge of the markets. Gordon Pape, writing in Forbes.com in 2010, called binary options websites "gambling sites, pure and simple", and said "this sort of thing can quickly become addictive... no one, no matter how knowledgeable, can consistently predict what a stock or commodity will do within a short time frame".[25]
Pape observed that binary options are poor from a gambling standpoint as well because of the excessive "house edge". One online binary options site paid $71 for each successful $100 trade. "If you lose, you get back $15. Let's say you make 1,000 "trades" and win 545 of them. Your profit is $38,695. But your 455 losses will cost you $38,675. In other words, you must win 54.5% of the time just to break even".[25]
The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission warns that "some binary options Internet-based trading platforms may overstate the average return on investment by advertising a higher average return on investment than a customer should expect given the payout structure."[26]
A binary call option is, at long expirations, similar to a tight call spread using two vanilla options. One can model the value of a binary cash-or-nothing option, C, at strike K, as an infinitesimally tight spread, where C v \displaystyle C_v is a vanilla European call:[1][2]
Since a binary call is a mathematical derivative of a vanilla call with respect to strike, the price of a binary call has the same shape as the delta of a vanilla call, and the delta of a binary call has the same shape as the gamma of a vanilla call.
Many binary option "brokers" have been exposed as fraudulent operations.[29] In those cases, there is no real brokerage; the customer is betting against the broker, who is acting as a bucket shop. Manipulation of price data to cause customers to lose is common. Withdrawals are regularly stalled or refused by such operations; if a client has good reason to expect a payment, the operator will simply stop taking their phone calls.[14] Though binary options sometimes trade on regulated exchange, they are generally unregulated, trading on the Internet, and prone to fraud.[3] Most of the binary options brokers are registered in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and offering their services globally.[citation needed] The country's Financial Services Authority has issued a warning to the general public about unlicensed Forex and binary options trading provided by entities registered in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.[30]
On 23 March 2018, The European Securities and Markets Authority, a European Union financial regulatory institution and European Supervisory Authority located in Paris, agreed to new temporary rules prohibiting the marketing, distribution or sale of binary options to retail clients.[9]
The Australian Securities & Investments Commission (ASIC) warned Australian investors on 13 February 2015 against Opteck, an unlicensed binary option provider.[31] The ASIC later began a focused effort to control unlicensed derivative providers, including "review" websites, broker affiliates, and managed service providers related to binary option products.[32] ASIC finally released a ban on sale of binary options to retail clients in 2021.[11]
No firms are registered in Canada to offer or sell binary options, so no binary options trading is currently allowed. Provincial regulators have proposed a complete ban on all binary options trading include a ban on online advertising for binary options trading sites.[34] A complete ban on binary options trading for options having an expiration less than 30 days was announced on September 28, 2017.[35]
On May 3, 2012, the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) announced a policy change regarding the classification of binary options as financial instruments. The effect is that binary options platforms operating in Cyprus, where many of the platforms are now based, would have to be CySEC regulated within six months of the date of the announcement. CySEC was the first EU MiFID-member regulator to treat binary options as financial instruments.[36]
In 2013, CySEC prevailed over the disreputable binary options brokers and communicated intensively with traders in order to prevent the risks of using unregulated financial services. On September 19, 2013, CySEC sent out a press release warning investors against binary options broker TraderXP, who was not and had never been licensed by CySEC.[37]On October 18, 2013, CySEC released an investor warning about binary options broker NRGbinary and its parent company NRG Capital (CY) Ltd., stating that NRGbinary was not and had never been licensed by CySEC.[38]
CySEC also temporarily suspended the license of the Cedar Finance on December 19, 2013, because the potential violations referenced appeared to seriously endanger the interests of the company's customers and the proper functioning of capital markets, as described in the official issued press release. CySEC also issued a warning against binary option broker PlanetOption at the end of the year and another warning against binary option broker LBinary on January 10, 2014, pointing out that it was not regulated by the Commission and the Commission had not received any notification by any of its counterparts in other European countries to the effect of this firm being a regulated provider.
In August 2016, France's Sapin II bill on transparency was announced by the Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF), seeking to outlaw all financial derivatives advertising. The AMF stated that it would ban the advertising of certain highly speculative and risky financial contracts to private individuals by electronic means.[42][43] The document applies specifically to binary options, and to contracts for difference (CFDs), and financial contracts on currencies. The French regulator is determined to cooperate with the legal authorities to have illegal websites blocked.[44] The law also prohibits all forms of sponsorship and partnership that results in direct or indirect advertising of the financial products it covers. This ban was seen by industry watchers as having an impact on sponsored sports such as European football clubs.[45] 041b061a72