Some of you reading this might be surprised to see a topic talking about binary option brokers. This is because people think the binary options market is extinct. Furthermore, the mention of binary options evokes some bad memories of the events that transpired in that market in the latter half of the last decade. Yes, the binary options market had a lot of problems. It is undergoing a period of complete cleansing to rid it of all the bad characters and practices that turned this market into a cesspool of fraudsters.
Despite the challenges that the binary options market has faced in the last few years with all the restrictions and prohibitions to curb its trading in several countries, the binary options market remains active, viable, and exists in a much more decent form. With most of the unscrupulous players now out of the space, the coast is now clear to reveal the binary option brokers accepting US clients.
Before we discuss option brokers that accept US clients, it is pertinent to state that binary options trading in the United States is a legal, regulated activity and that US citizens are allowed to trade in binary options.
However, trading of binary options in the United States takes two forms. The first format is the trading of binary options instruments on designated US exchanges. In this format, binary options are traded as Designated Contract Markets (DCMs). Binary options that are traded as DCMs are listed on US exchanges and this is the format of binary options trading that is available on Nadex. The second group of binary option brokers that accept US clients belong to the category of brokers that are penned by the US regulator as being exchange-registration deficient. But even the CFTC acknowledges on its website that such a designation does not necessarily mean that a binary options brokerage is a bad brokerage per se. It is just that their status makes them a riskier proposition to put money in than others.
There are several binary option brokers for US traders that will be discussed in this article. They have been chosen because they will accept US clients and provide the same trading conditions for US traders as they do for other nationalities.
| ⚡ Pocket Option | 2017, Marshall Islands |
| ⚡ CloseOption | 2015, Unknown |
| ⚡ Quotex | 2019, Seychelles |
| ⚡ GC Option | 2006, Saint Vincent |
| ⚡ OptionBlitz | 2006, Saint Vincent |
| ⚡ Nadex | 2009, US |
Here are the detailed profiles on each one:
PocketOption has been in the market for a while, but has significantly improved on its branding and site offering, following the sanitization of the digital options market. The company is one of the few regulated entities in the binary options market, and operates under two entities. These entities are all under the name of PO Trade Ltd, and are registered and licensed in St.Vincent & Grenadines and St. Lucia by the Financial Market Relations Regulation Centre, and independent industry self-regulator with license number TSRF RU 0395 AA V0174.
Trading of binary options on the PocketOption brand is a web-based and mobile-based activity, which can be done on computers and the regular smartphone/tablet devices via the respective mobile apps.
Digital options on PocketOption are offered for more than 100 assets, with a minimum trade amount of $1 and a minimum investment amount of $50. More than 50 payment methods are featured, including several crypto-based options such as Bitcoin, ZCash, Stellar, USD Coin, Ripple, Paxos, DAI, and Litecoin.
There are several account types, each coming with a minimum balance. Traders can choose from the following:
Minimum deposit on PocketOption is $50, while $10 is the minimum withdrawal amount. Customer support in the form of a Live Chat exists, and several promos and bonuses are available. PocketOption has also opened a social trading portal, allowing newbie traders to copy the trading systems of other more experienced traders in the portal.
CloseOption requires just $5 to get started on their platform. The moment you start trading with CloseOption, you are presented with several trading contests that you can participate in. There are also powerful articles on aspects of binary options trading to bring beginners up to speed as to what binary options trading is all about.
Several funding options are available. One of these is Perfect Money, which is an e-wallet used on many trading platforms. There is also WebMoney, PayPal, and the use of debit cards. Cryptocurrency funding systems are also available. Bitcoin is especially popular but others like Ethereum, Litecoin, and Dash are also available.
Trading can be done using the Real account or from the Contest account.
Here is a word about both account types. For the Real account, the minimum deposit is $5 and the minimum investment trade amount is $1. The Real account is based on the real market conditions using prices from the underlying market across the globe. The Contest account is strictly for participating in the trading contest. The Contest accounts also make use of a real training environment, but the aim here is to win cash from the various prices that are on offer.
There's also the option of opening and operating a demo account on CloseOption. One of the reasons why CloseOption is very suitable for US traders is that it allows funding or withdrawals from a PayPal account, making it one of the few brokers in the market today that offer this functionality.
Quotex was launched in 2019 and owned/operated by Seychelles-based Awesomo Ltd. The Quotex brand provides an innovative platform for digital trading. Traders have the opportunity to trade digital options via the Innovate platform. You can commence trading activity with as little as $5, and access to a demo account is provided. The Innovate platform is a browser-based platform that works on desktop devices and smartphones/tablet devices. There is no mobile app.
Four classes of assets can be traded on the Innovate platform. These are currencies, metals, stocks and indices. Traders can choose from the offered expiry times/dates. The minimum deposit amount for Quotex is $10. The minimum withdrawal amount with other fiat methods is $10, but BTC withdrawals are pegged at $50.
Contact between traders/prospects and the company is usually done through the messaging board on the Contacts page of the website. There are also email addresses with which to reach the support and finance desks of Quotex. Unlike many other digital options brands, Quotex does not offer a live chat facility. However, clients can also reach the Quotex customer support team via the various social media handles on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
Grand Capital Option, also known as GC Option, provides its traders with three different account types to choose from. Traders can start the Silver account which allows a minimum deposit of $10. There is also the Gold account where the minimum deposit is $100. The VIP account has a minimum deposit requirement of $300.
The three types of accounts on GC option allow for the trading of the classical Call/Put binary options, which allow traders to decide on whether the asset prices will end up higher or lower than the strike price by the time the trade expires. 44 different assets scattered across currency pairs, features, and metals are offered to trade. The auction also operates a bonus system where special offers are given. An example of this special offers the loss refund facility where up to 10% of the amount invested in a losing trade is refunded to the trader. The Early Closure facility is another feature that allows the trader to close a profitable position before expiration, in exchange for 40% of the initial payout.
GC Option offers three trading platforms. These are the WebTrader Pro, WebTrader Classic, and MT4. The beauty of using the MT4 is that all the tools of analysis used by FX traders are available for the MT4 users on GC Option. This translates into the possibility of achieving a high degree of success that will ordinarily not have been possible without the use of the tools and indicators found on the MT4. Trading with the MT4 also ensures that a trading robot can be used to execute the trades.
Deposits and withdrawals have been structured in such a manner that local funding channels suited to the location of the trader are used. Local funding channels exist for users in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. For the rest of the world, there are also cryptocurrency options and specific e-wallets such as Perfect Money, WebMoney, and PayTrust. FasaPay, Neteller, and Help2Pay are also e-wallet options available on GC Option.
OptionBlitz is a binary options brokerage brand whose platform is built on Web3 technology. Optionblitz is probably the only platform for trading digital options built on the blockchain. Launched in 2021, Optionblitz is a decentralised digital options platform with a social trading component powered by Arbitrum, an Ethereum Layer 2 blockchain protocol.
What is so special about this? The regular binary options trades have to go through a single counterparty. This level of centralization exposes traders to such occurrences as price manipulations, especially in ultra-short expiry trades where a single pip can be the difference between a payout and a total loss of investment. By deploying a low-latency, layer 2 solution for determining and guaranteeing price feeds using the blockchain, binary options traders can be sure that price determination is decentralised and prices are guaranteed.
Optionblitz also goes beyond the classical High/Low options in its digital options offering. You can trade the Touch, No Touch, Double No Touch, and Classical American-style (1-100) options. There are also Perpetual contracts that go beyond the expiration times set for the regular binary options. With as low as $1, you can trade regular options (Binary) or the American-style options that allow you to exercise the option at any time before contract expiration. Expiry times start from as low as 10 seconds to as much as 24 hours.
Optionblitz's binary options smart contracts span FX pairs, commodities, energies, and cryptos. The payouts are capped at 90%, except for the Touch/No Touch contracts, where payouts can extend up to 200% of the invested amount.
On Optionblitz, you can trade digital options actively or participate in passive investment vehicles. The passive channels include staking, where you provide USDC liquidity to earn a share of revenues from trading commissions. You can also dual-stake using USDC and the BLX token by locking these funds for a period for a profitable payout.
Nadex is owned by the IG Group and remains the only binary options exchange operating out of the United States. By this status, it attends to US citizens. Nadex is regulated by the US Commodities and Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).
What does Nadex offer? Binary options on Nadex are made up of short-term contracts that are built for fast-paced trading. Nadex is a true exchange where buyers and sellers are matched as counterparties. The exchange does not operate a dealing desk that acts as a counterparty to the trades.
The binary options are Yes/No trade types. You can hold contracts to expiration or you can sell them off before expiry. The binary options contract on Nadex is a 0-100 contract. All payouts are based on $100 multiples. Profitable trades are settled at $100, with the profit being the sum of $100 minus the trade cost. This provides an advantage to the trader because the risk-reward ratio for each trade is known ahead of time. A trade that costs $25 to set up, and gets a $100 payout has made a profit of $75. This is a risk-reward ratio of 1:3 (i.e. 25 risked versus 75 rewarded). Trading fees are incurred on each side of the trade. This means that the Nadex trader will be charged $1 on trade entry and $1 on trade exit. Contracts can be allowed to expire, or the trader can close the trade by placing another position on the opposite side of the contract. A settlement fee of $1 is charged for all trades that are left to expire in profit. Nadex comes with a free demo account.
Binary options on Nadex are not just about assets. Yes, there are stock indices, currencies, and commodities available to trade, but Nadex traders can also trade news events. News events traded on Nadex include Jobless Claims, Nonfarm Payrolls, and GDP data. News events and currencies come with no position limits, while stock indices and commodities have position limits of $2500.
Nadex also operates a Refer-a-Friend program which pays $100 to both the referrer and the referred trader, subject to terms and conditions.
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The name “CryptoBo” is coined from “crypto binary options”. This platform prides itself in being the first-ever binary options platform that is solely based on the price movements of Bitcoin. The platform provides the trader with 500 satoshis for free on initial sign-up. The signup process is very fast and easy. It takes approximately 3 minutes to complete the sign-up process. No account verifications are required to start trading.
In addition to conventional assets such as stocks, commodities, and indices, traders on CryptoBo can trade classical digital options on various crypto pairs such as BTC/USD, ETH/BTC, LTC/USD, etc. In all, there are more than 12 crypto pairs that can be traded on CryptoBo, based on the Call or Put options. There is no minimum deposit amount, and the payout for successful trades is 90%. Withdrawals are completely processed in a period that is as low as 10 minutes but does not exceed 24 hours. Deposits also follow the same course, but larger amounts get to be settled faster as the transaction fees are heavier. Withdrawal fees are set to 0.0004 BTC.
One thing you will notice is that all transactions are carried out in Bitcoin. This means that the trader needs to have an external wallet to initiate a deposit process, and also to withdraw when the trading cycle is over and profits have been made. Customer service afforded to clients usually is very good.