Trade binary options with IQ Option, a world-renowned award-winning broker
What are binary options? How do they work?
Binary options are a financial instrument that allows traders to speculate on price movements. Basically, a trader should predict whether the price of an asset will go up or down relative to the opening price. If the prediction is correct, a trader receives a fixed amount of return on the initial investment;if the forecast is wrong, a trader loses the initial investment. The binary nature of this financial instrument means that there can be only two results at the end of the trade – either a win or loss (“yes” or “no”).
In binary options trading, it does not matter how significantly the price changes. If the closing price is equal to the opening price, your initial investment into a deal will be returned to your account.
Unlike contracts for difference (CFDs), currency pairs (Forex) or commodities, binary options have a limited time span, known as the expiration time. To put it another way, it is the moment in the future when an option ceases to exist. The expiration time in binary options trading can be very short – up to 1 minute. On the IQ Option platform, the shortest time span is 1 minute, while the longest time span is extended until the end of the current month.
Why are binary options so popular?
Binary options attract more and more traders every day in all parts of the world. In South Africa, binary options trading enjoys great popularity too.
What are the reasons for their growing popularity? First of all, simplicity. Binary options are not considered to be complex financial instruments. The essence of binary options trading is easy to understand. Binary options are easy to trade. They suit both professional traders and beginners.
Trading binary options does not require huge investment amounts. For example, the minimum investment amount to open a binary position on the IQ Option platform is 1 U.S. dollar.
The third, and maybe the most important, reason why binary options are so popular is their high profitability. Where else can you get 70%, 80%, or even 90% of profitability in a few minutes? Keep in mind that high profitability is always accompanied by increased risks, so never put your entire capital at risk. Always stick to your trading plan and use special tools to make your trading more efficient.
In most cases, binary options trading is very fast.
Deals are usually executed quickly – from one to several minutes. So, it comes as no surprise that millions of traders choose this financial instrument.
Is binary options trading legal in South Africa?
South African traders, just like traders from other parts of the world, choose binary options for their simplicity and fast results.
Many South Africans ask a reasonable question: “Is this financial instrument legal in my country?” Binary options are not prohibited by South African laws and trading with this financial instrument is permitted in the country. Nevertheless, you should keep in mind that the binary options industry itself is not regulated in South Africa. This means that there is no regulatory body, public or independent, that enforces industry standards in the country.
So, what to do?
The binary options market in South Africa is quite large, so even if it is not regulated by South African authorities, this does not mean it has no regulated brokers.
How to start trading binary options?
The first and most important thing to do is to choose the right broker.
Taking into account that there are lots of online brokers, it is quite hard but possible. Before committing your money to a particular broker, you will need to carry out some research on your own. First of all, find information about the company you would like to work with. You should take into account its reputation and history: learn when it was founded, how much progress it has made over the years, if it can boast any prestigious awards, how many active clients it has, how responsive it is on social media etc. Analyze the company’s website: is it user-friendly, clear and well-done? Does it provide you with the full terms and conditions and other useful information? Does it provide you with free educational materials? Read customer reviews.
If a broker offers a free demo version, we recommend that you try it, as it is a good chance to see what the system looks like and how it works. In order to do this, you will need to create an account with that broker.
On the IQ Option platform, the sign-up process is free and simple. It will take you less than a minute to create your account.
There is also an option to sign up using social networks. After you have completed the registration process, you will have full access to all online services that a broker offers. You can find a detailed description of how to trade binary options on the IQ Option platform below in this article.
Why should I trade binary options with IQ Option?
Binary options trading is getting more and more popular in South Africa.
The market is developing fast, and traders have an opportunity to choose from a variety of binary options brokers.
IQ Option has offered binary options trading to its clients since 2013 when the company started its operations. It is our first financial product, and we are continuously improving it. We have developed our own software and work on it every day in order to provide our clients with a safe and transparent trading environment and one of the best financial products in the industry.
Over the years, we have made binary options trading easily accessible to traders from all over the world, including South Africa.
Our South African clients can make deposits and withdrawals directly in the rand. The IQ Option platform also supports popular local banks and payment methods.
The minimum deposit amount on the IQ Option platform is 10 U.S. dollars or the equivalent in your local currency.
Binary options trading on IQ Option is available in both desktop and mobile versions. With the IQ Option app, which is easy to download to iOS and Android devices, you can comfortably trade binary options on the go, no matter where you are, as long as you have internet access.
How to trade binary options on IQ Option?
Before you start trading on your live account with real funds, we recommend that you gain some practical skills and experience in a risk-free trading environment.
What does this mean?
It means trading binary options on a free demo account, also called a “practice account”. The account has an initial virtual balance of $10,000 and can be topped up at any time. This means that you can practice and hone your skills for as long as you wish. With the demo account, you will have the same trading environment as traders who trade on real accounts, but you will not be risking your real funds. To get more information on how to trade binary options on IQ Option, we advise you to watch our video tutorials, which are available on our platform, as well as on our official YouTube and Vimeo channels.
Using a demo account, educational materials and other specific tools, such as economic calendars, market analysis and technical indicators will help you develop your own binary options trading strategy.
One of the most popular binary options strategies is trend following. According to this strategy, a trader buys an asset when the price goes up (uptrend) and sells an asset when the price goes down (downtrend). Other popular strategies include swing trading, news trading, scalping, candlestick pattern trading, momentum strategy etc.
Use this step-by-step guide to binary options trading.
- Log in to your account on PC or mobile app and select demo or real account.
- Click the "+" button on the top bar of the home screen and select "Binary Options" from the list of categories.
- Select a specific asset - a currency pair, commodity or stock. Next to each asset you will see the percentage of profitability and you can sort assets by this indicator. The higher the percentage, the more profitable the deal can be.
- The asset chart will open. You can change the chart type using the technical toolbar at the bottom left of the screen. There you can also configure indicators and other technical tools.
- Now set the investment amount and select the validity period. Click "Higher" if you think the asset's price will rise. Click "Lower" if you think the asset's price will fall.
- After the transaction crosses the red line and the option expires, you will see your result: either a green window with the earned profit if your prediction was correct, or the red window with the amount of loss if your prediction turned out to be wrong.
Binary options return percentage is a percentage of your investment amount. If the transaction is successful, this percentage will be credited to your account. For example, 85% means that if a trader invests $100, he will receive $85 in income after the expiration of the binary option, if his prediction is correct. Binary options payout percentages may vary. This depends on market conditions, time of day, transaction costs of the underlying instrument, liquidity of the instrument and some other factors. The maximum payout percentage in IQ Option ranges from 90% - 95%, this is a very high figure, register and enjoy favorable conditions!
On our platform, you can buy several options of the same asset in both directions up to the purchase deadline, which is indicated by a dotted line on the chart.
After the transaction crosses the red line and the option expires, you will see your result: either a green window with the earned profit if your prediction was correct, or the red window with the amount of loss if your prediction turned out to be wrong.
