Binary Options: Living Up to the Hype

If you use the web for financial and investment information you have probably seen some astounding advertisements promising astronomical short term investment opportunities. Some of the more recent claims are "up to 95% profit in one easy trade," "Earn up to 85% per trade," or "Win up to 88% per trade." Are these types of claims accurate? Does the world of binary options live up to the hype? We will explore this question in this report.

What is a binary option? Perhaps it is best to define the word 'option' first. An option is simply a financial contract where we agree to buy or sell some sort of asset at a certain price within a certain time frame. Options fall into the derivatives category because such a contract has a value without actually holding the underlying asset itself. For example, if you own an option contract for Apple or Google, that contract has value all by itself, despite the fact that you own no shares in the company. The mere fact that you have a contract to buy or sell shares in the future has a value in and of itself. Option contracts expire at some time in the future - minutes, hours, weeks, months or even years, depending upon the particulars of the contract. Upon expiration, an option contract becomes worthless. So those who invest in options must do something with them, buy or sell, sometime before they expire.

A binary option is a highly specialized option contract which cannot be sold after purchase. This type of option is simply held by the purchaser until it expires with a predetermined profit or loss. The advertisements that describe a 90% profit simply describe an option deal whereby a 90% profit (or loss) would be generated if the underlying asset performs in the manner that you predict. For example, let's say the Dow Jones Industrial Average opens up at 16,501. You think it will close higher by the market close. So you decide to purchase a $500 call (upward price expectation) option with an end of day expiration. The day grinds to a close with the Dow closing up one point at 16,502. Your option contract appreciates in value by 90%. Thus, your $500 appreciates to $950. If the DOW closes down, you lose the contract and will lose most of your $500. Some brokers will give you back 15% on losses. But this type of option is binary in nature, meaning you will either win or lose at the time of expiration. Some have described this type of option like throwing money on red or black at a casino. This is a fair description. Yet most option investors would like to believe they are much more skilled than gamblers who play the casinos.

Binary options have been around for years as private over-the-counter deals. These exotic options were first introduced to the general public in 2008, when the brokers started offering the deals online. Today there are dozens of brokers who specialize in these exotic options. Most of these are located offshore in places like Cyprus and the British Virgin Islands.

Are binary options legal? Like most legal subject areas, the answer is not simple. Most of the binary options brokers operate in locations outside of the jurisdiction of securities regulators. Some of them operate under casino gaming licenses. There is now a CySEC (Cyprus Security and Exchange Commission) which is attempting to regulate the industry for those brokers within that jurisdiction. In the United States there is a relatively new broker called NADEX (North American Derivative Exchange). This firm is fully regulated by the Commodities and Futures Trading Commission, a US government agency similar to the Securities and Exchange Commission. Binary option investing is so new that it will take some time to see how the regulatory environment actually pans out. Certainly it is fair to say that the legal trend is toward fully regulated firms which offer exotic option investment opportunities to eager clients within any jurisdiction.

Before we look at the upside of binary options let's take a look at the downside. Exotic option investing is not traditional investing. Some say it is very similar to gambling. I like the red/black roulette wheel analogy. When you acquire a binary option contract it will either win or lose at some point in time, depending upon the expiration time of the deal. Many of the option brokers now promote 60 second contracts. A fair assessment would be to call such a contract an investment/gambling hybrid. In fact, it could be argued that any Wall Street investment is really nothing more than an elaborate gambling scheme.

Unlike traditional option deals, where each contract controls a certain number of shares, there is no leverage with binary options. With this type of option you cannot exercise the options. Thus you have no right to the underlying asset. The option is strictly used to generate income for the holder.

There is no liquidity with binary options. There is no marketplace to sell these unexpired contracts. Once you purchase the contract you are in for the duration. Some brokerage firms are starting to experiment with liquidity, offering to either buy back certain of the contracts under certain conditions or find buyers willing to take over unexpired contracts. It will be interesting to see how the industry evolves in terms of such an after-market.

Read Full Article Here:  Binary Options: Living Up to the Hype