Binary trading is a highly popular investment strategy with UK traders. Although the Financial Conduct Authority has prioritised regulating this type of trading, is checking to ensure the platforms are operating correctly and has restricted non-FCA-regulated firms to limit selling these options, it's easily done with the right trading platform.
Only some specific binary options brokers are allowed to offer these services. As a result, it can be difficult to choose the best one.
Suppose you want to trade binary options or a particular asset and avoid losing trades. In that case, you might need to research the available platforms and determine whether they are a good match for you. To make this simpler, we've completed the research for you.
Discover the best binary options brokers available to UK traders in this article.
*IG Disclaimer: Spread bets and CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 70% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading spread bets and CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you understand how spread bets and CFDs work, and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.
| Provider | Score | Details |
|---|---|---|
| *1. IG | ★★★★★ | Click Here |
| 2. Nadex | ★★★★★ | Click Here |
| 3. Binomo | ★★★★★ | Click Here |
| 4. IQ Option | ★★★★★ | Click Here |
| 5. Pocket Option | ★★★★★ | Click Here |
| 6. AZAForex | ★★★★★ | Click Here |
| 7. BinaryCent | ★★★★★ | Click Here |
| 8. IQCent | ★★★★★ | Click Here |
What Are Binary Options and What Are Binary Options Brokers?
A binary option is a trading contract.
It is a financial instrument traders can speculate on. This contract is similar to an investment. You make a prediction related to the asset's price and can potentially make a profit depending on the validity of your prediction.
Now, you can trade binary options through binary options brokers. The brokers are platforms that offer market data on the options. They also offer account management features. You can think of brokers as intermediaries since they facilitate trading between you and financial markets.
Which Factors Determine How Binary Options and Brokers Work?
Binary options have two trading outcomes.
The result of the trade depends on whether your prediction aligns with the outcome. For instance, if you predict the asset price will increase, and it does, you make a profit. If you predict the underlying asset price will decrease, and it does, you make a profit.
On the other hand, if you predict the asset price will increase and it decreases, you lose your investment. The trade is a fixed risk. You may lose a predetermined amount, which will not fluctuate.
You can receive a fixed payout when you make a correct prediction, and the asset reaches the set target price. You may receive a payout structure between 70% and 90% of the investment.
Binary options and trading brokers work with a few specific factors. They provide a few options, including high or low, short-term or boundary trading methods. Through the broker, if you choose high or low options, you predict whether the underlying asset price will be greater or lower than the current price within the timeframe.
With short-term options, you still make a prediction and enter a trade considering the strike price, but the expiration time is short. With boundary options, you also make a prediction, but it's based on whether the asset price will remain in a specific range.
Binary Options Brokers Pros and Cons
Binary options brokers have a few advantages and disadvantages.
Here are the ones to consider if you're about to pick one of the internet-based trading platforms.
Pros
✅ Easy to access — These platforms make it easy to access the market. Online broker platforms allow you to trade online. This feature means that wherever you have a connection to the internet, you will be able to trade.
✅ Analysis tools — You’ll have access to access analysis tools. These tools facilitate the market trend analysis process. You have a greater chance of making informed trading decisions with these tools and in-depth charts.
✅ Mobile compatibility — Accessing many binary options trading platforms on your mobile device is possible. You will not need to sit at your desk to make the trades. Instead, when you're travelling, you can access the charts, tools, and your account on your smartphone.
Cons
❌ High complexity and challenging to learn — Binary options broker platforms can be complex. If you're a beginner trader, it may be difficult to adjust to them. You'll need to dedicate time to learning the platform and its features.
❌ Costly fees — You may find that your broker platform expects high fees. These fees apply to transactions, withdrawals, and deposits — they can affect your profit.
❌ Sometimes slow execution — While most brokers execute trades quickly, trading binary options with some platforms may include delays. These delays may lead to negative trade outcomes. UK traders may lose specific chances to make a profit in this case.
Best Binary Options Brokers — Reviews
So, which are the best binary options brokers available to UK traders?
Here, we'll look at eight options that, after using them first-hand, we reviewed their features in depth.
1. IG
Spread bets and CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 70% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading spread bets and CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you understand how spread bets and CFDs work, and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.
With IG, we could speculate on the price of options and trade them online. We could buy underlying assets at a specific price or sell them when they moved beyond the specific price in a set period.
We liked a few of IG's main features. For instance, we could trade with leverage after placing a deposit to control larger positions despite initially having lower capital amounts. We could make commission-free trades on the web and mobile platform IG provides.
A few other benefits were available with IG. We did not need to worry about the maximum risk when trading daily options. We could cap this to avoid losing more than the margin we put forward. We could hold our daily options positions, although the market moved against us in some circumstances. We could also select the trade size and strike price.
The daily options were similar to binary options in that they involved trading options contracts over a shorter expiration date — typically; the option expires within one day. We could benefit from price movements over a short-term basis.
We did not need to worry about overnight funding when making longer-term trades. The zero overnight funding feature meant we didn't need to pay significant sums when holding a position.
2. Nadex
The North American Derivatives Exchange offers assets such as binary options, which we could easily trade through the platform as it accepts members from the United Kingdom.
Not only does the app offer the option to trade 23 hours a day for five days a week, but the platform also provides a handy knowledge base, and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission regulates them.
When trading binary options, the short-term, fast-paced nature of trades worked in our favour. We could speculate on the price movement of various financial instruments and only lost as much as we invested in the trade because all positions settled at zero.
We liked that we could trade using NadexGo, an app with plenty of tools to trade binary options in any location. Some tools we could access include charts with various features, technical indicators and drawing tools.
One extra advantage of the Nadex platform was the option to try binary options trading at no cost. This feature was available through the free demo account, which we used to learn the platform's main features. This feature, alongside the knowledgebase, helped us get started with binary options trading and gain confidence when we began trading to make a profit.
What was ideal about Nadex was the option to fund the account using a debit card or a wire transfer. If we wanted to withdraw funds from Nadex, this was also easy. We could complete this process using an international bank transfer (wire) or debit card.
3. Binomo
Using Binomo, we could complete binary options trading and predict whether the asset price would increase or decrease over a specific timeframe.
When we made a correct prediction, we earned fixed payouts. The maximum payout we received was 90% of our investment, but the payout range was between 70% and 90% in most cases.
We liked that we could work with a demo account to practice trading as beginners. It came with $10,000 or £7,905.40 of demo money that we could practice with.
On the real platform, we could trade with a minimum account balance of $10, or £7.91. It was possible to make multiple simultaneous trades and open them simultaneously.
Binomo offered us an app that functions on Android and iOS systems. We used the Android app and were able to keep up to date with trade closings and trade from any location with an internet connection.
When we accessed our account, we were pleased that the two-factor authentication kept our account information secure. Additionally, when we made a payment, we were happy that the PCI international standard protected our data.
What we also liked about Binomo was the free training feature. This feature gave us information from the knowledge base to improve the success of our trades and yield better results.
4. IQ Option
The renowned IQ Option broker offers binary options trading. With this platform, which has a presence in Europe, we could use forex binary option contracts and speculate whether the currency pair would rise or fall.
We could select when to enter the trade and consider the amount we wanted to invest. After selecting the expiry time and predicting correctly, we received 90% of our investment as our payout.
We used the web version and could open new charts to check which binary option forex instruments were available in addition to the forex pairs we had already traded.
The user interface is made for easy navigation. We could check the profitability percentage and understood that if we invested £10 and the profitability percentage was 75%, we would have retained the £10 and earned £7.50.
We liked that we could practice using a practice account and receive £10,000 demo or practice money to refine our trading skills. We also liked that the platform is available on MacOS, mobile and Windows.
The multi-chart layout was useful, as were the technical charts, which gave us information about the price fluctuations and patterns, moving averages and market dynamics to help us make informed decisions when trading.
Stop loss and take profit features helped us manage our risk by setting profit and loss levels. We also liked the community available with IQ Option, which we could use to share and discuss trade opportunities.
5. Pocket Option
With Pocket Option, you can trade binary options for various trading instruments, such as commodity instruments, stocks and currency pairs.
The platform facilitates the trade of these financial derivatives through binary options. The platform offers plenty of benefits to look forward to and is available to traders in many locations around the world.
When we used Pocket Option, we could begin with a demo account and virtual money to make risk-free trades. Even though we didn't win money since winning money in this context isn't possible, we did refine our trading methods.
When we used the live version, we could check the chart to view the change in the asset price and make forecasts related to the change in the price within the specific timeframe.
With a smooth interface, Pocket Option clearly displayed the amount of money we had in our trading account. To the left of the account balance was the menu for asset selection, with which we could select an asset and open a trade with it. Alongside the assets, the platform displayed the payout.
We were able to set the timeframe for the trade and the trade amount from the right panel and view the payout clearly on the platform.
6. AZAForex
Although has limited funding methods available, we found that it accepts clients worldwide and provides binary options for traders. This broker offers maximum winnings of up to 190% and allows you to earn money on rises and falls.
We could make withdrawals quickly and trade within a Sunday to Friday trading window.
Specifically, AZAforex allowed us to trade for 22 hours a day. When placing bets, we could make a minimum bet of $1, or 79p. Based on the bet limit, the maximum possible bet was $1,000, or £790.90.
We liked the fact that we could trade the options without commissions. When trading, we also found that the payouts depended on the period length. For instance, longer periods, such as one-day periods, gave a 190% payout. On the other hand, we received a 170% payout over a 30-second period.
7. BinaryCent
With BinaryCent, we were able to trade options and, for the most part, earn in a risk-free way. When signing up to the platform, we could choose Pounds Sterling as our account currency.
The minimum deposit for the funding began at $250 (£197.56).
Making the deposit was simple as the platform has several deposit methods, including Visa and MasterCard, wire transfer and Maestro. We even had the option to pay for our binary options using cryptocurrencies.
We could trade at any time, even during the weekend, and we were pleased that our data was secure and had data protection features. Before trading, we used the demo account to practice and gain familiarity with the platform.
What was ideal about BinaryCent was the option to trade with leverage. The greatest ratio we could trade with to maximise our outcome was 1:500. We found it easy to withdraw our funds and did not need to pay any commission. There was a minimum withdrawal amount of $50 (£39.50).
We liked that copy trading services were available to us. Since we were beginners, the feature helped us instantly trade without completing trades manually. We accessed this feature by funding our account, selecting copy trading and then choosing a trader.
BinaryCent offers three separate account types: Bronze, Silver and Gold. When we used the Gold account, we could use features such as a masterclass session. Three initial trades were compensated with a bonus despite negative trading results, and we also received a personal success manager.
8. IQCent
Since UK investors can use IQCent to trade binary options, we were able to use this platform's many features. IQCent requests that you select an asset to trade under the binary options default setting.
Once we had selected currencies, we could select the trade amount, with the minimum amount being $1 (79p).
We liked the user interface of the IQCent platform. The call option and put buttons were clearly displayed on the right-hand panel, and the left panel displayed the copy trading feature, market analysis, trading statistics and help centre.
A free demo account is available with this platform, where you can practice making trades and learn how the IQCent works.
The range of financial instruments we could trade using binary options was impressive. In addition to currency pairs, we could trade indices, commodities, and more in addition to currency pairs. We could also use advanced charting and analytical tools when making trades.
IQCent also offers trading contests, which we could take part in to win prizes. Although we didn't win, the top four traders could split $20,000 (£15,790.40).
Best Binary Options UK: The Verdict
Trading binary options is possible with the wide selection of binary options platforms, but since each account is different, it's important to consider whether they offer the right features for you. Remember that it's a good idea to look for options with regulations in place.
It's also ideal to consider whether the platform you're interested in using has a demo account. With demo accounts, you can advance to the level of more experienced traders and improve your trading techniques.
Then, when you're ready, you can go live and try your hand at trading through reputable brokers and their platforms. Sign up for a binary options platform to start your trade journey.
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