IQ Option review and ratings

Established 2014
Location UK Cyprus Seychelles
Regulation FCA, CySEC, CONSOB, CNMV, AFM, Regafi, Finantsinspektsioon, Czech National Bank
Offices London, Nicossia, Mahe
Broker type STP | Binary
Leverage up to 1:300 (1:30 for EU clients)
Deposit from 10 USD
Spreads mid  mid
Platforms Web Specific Binary Platform
Instruments Currencies Crypto Indices Metals Energies Softs Stocks ETFs
Funding methods Wire Transfer Credit Cards Skrill Neteller WebMoney Perfect Money Yandex Money Qiwi Sofort AdvCash Giropay AstroPay

Company information

IQ Option group includes 3 related companies.

IQ Option UK - located in the United Kingdom, regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).
IQ Option CY - located in Cyprus, regulated by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC).
IQ Option SEY - legally registered entity located in the Seychelles, but not regulated by any government agency.

IQ Option is also registered and supervised by the CONSOB (Italy), the CNMV (Spain), the AFM (Netherlands), the Regafi (France), the Finantsinspektsioon (Estonia), the Czech National Bank (Czech Republic).

Be aware, all EU companies have some trading restrictions because of the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) influence.

Availability

IQ Option group accepts clients from all over the world, excluding USA, Canada, Australia, Russia, Belgium, Israel, Palestine, Japan, Sudan, Syria, Iran, North Korea.

Distinctive features

Trading instruments

Forex broker offers the following underlying assets for FX trading.

90+ Currency Pairs Based on major and minor world currencies.
17 Crypto Pairs Based on Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, Ethereum Classic, Litecoin, Ripple, Dash, Zcash, Qtum, Cardano, OmiseGo, Stellar, EOS, IOTA, NEO, NEM, TRON.
5 Indice CFDs Based on baskets of different blue-chip stocks.
3 Metal CFDs Based on Gold, Silver and Platinum.
2 Energy CFDs Based on Crude Oil (WTI, Brent).
1 Soft CFD Based on Wheat.
130+ Stock CFDs Based on shares of US, UK and EU companies.
28+ ETF CFDs Based on exchange-traded funds containing various tradable assets.

Forex broker offers the following underlying assets for Binary Options trading (unfortunately, not available for EU residents).

30+ Currency Pairs Based on major and minor world currencies.
2 Indice BOs Based on DFMGI, TelAviv-25.
2 Metal BOs Based on Gold and Silver.
20+ Stock BOs Based on shares of US companies.

Comprehensive review

IQ Option is a fairly large forex & binary options broker with offices in the UK, Cyprus, and the Seychelles, and regulated by the FCA and CySEC. Keep in mind, however, that the Seychelles-registered branch of IQ Option is not regulated by any government agency.

As is common practice in the brokerage industry, EU-based traders will automatically be assigned to the EU-based entity of the broker, while traders from countries outside of Europe (and the US & Canada) will normally be assigned to the broker’s offshore-based entity. In the case of IQ Option, this offshore entity is the broker’s Seychelles-based company.

As a result of regulations from the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), EU-based traders unfortunately do not have access to binary options trading with brokers like IQ Option. For forex and CFD trading, however, European traders are welcome, although the maximum leverage has been set at just 1:30 for major FX pairs.

IQ Option is a broker that has grown significantly over the years, starting from less than 1 million registered users in 2014, to 14 million in 2016, and more than 40 million in 2018. Meanwhile, the trading volumes recorded by the broker has also grown from about 140,000 transactions per day in 2014 to more than 1 million transactions per day in 2018.

For binary options traders, the underlying assets available with IQ Option include roughly 30 major and minor FX pairs, the precious metals gold and silver, stocks of a few of the largest US-based companies, as well as the Israeli stock index Tel Aviv-25 and the Dubai Financial Market General Index (DFMGI).

For the traditional CFD & forex traders, far more assets are available for trading. This includes more than 90 forex pairs, a range of popular cryptocurrency pairs, a large selection of stocks and exchange traded funds (ETFs), and various categories of commodities such as precious metals, energies, and softs.

The payment methods accepted for funding trading accounts with IQ Option include all the usual options like VISA, MasterCard, Skrill and Neteller, in addition to a range of other online money transfer services, including AstroPay, Qiwi, and WebMoney.

IQ Option’s trading platform is web-based and simple to use for pretty much anyone, regardless of experience level. Most of the essential tools for technical analysis are provided on the platform, including a range of drawing tools for the carts. At the same time, the platform includes certain features that are known from social trading brokers, such as a “leaderboard” with top traders on the platform.

To make things even more convenient, IQ Option’s trading platform supports both binary options and forex & CFD trading within the same user interface.

Customer support is available 24/7 via email and local phone numbers in 13 countries, namely the UK, Brazil, Singapore, India, South Africa, Portugal, Spain, Thailand, Australia, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, and Mexico. This is far better than most other brokers, particularly in the binary options space, and certainly gives the impression that IQ Option takes their responsibility as a broker seriously.

In conclusion, we therefore believe IQ Option is one of the better brokers to trade with for those who are interested in combining both binary options and forex/CFD trading. With the very easy-to-use platform, and step-by-step instructional videos on the broker’s website, it’s also a suitable choice for beginners in trading.

Reviews from traders

4.6/5
(10 votes)
4/5
Argentina
Argentina
5/5
Bangladesh
Bangladesh
5/5
Bangladesh
Bangladesh
4/5
Bangladesh
Bangladesh
4/5
Brazil
Brazil
5/5
Argentina
Argentina
5/5
Indonesia
Indonesia
5/5
Argentina
Argentina
4/5
Vietnam
Vietnam
5/5
South Africa
South Africa
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