The year 2013 has ended with a bang for stock markets, with both the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average posting annual jumps not seen since the 1990s. While equity traders patient enough to sit out the roller coaster ride saw record gains on their investments, the flow of investors moving out of equity trading to safer ground continued throughout the year.
There were, in fact, many speculators looking to diversify and to take advantage of the upwards moving markets who looked to binary options as a way to do just that. Binary options trading is not a new fad by any means. In the past, binary options were considered a semi-official investment product, open only to banks, other institutional and high net-worth investors in the Over-the-Counter (OTC) markets. There was no regulation and they were offered as part of larger and more complex contracts.
This changed in 2008 when the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) made it legal for binary options to be offered on major exchanges as a stand-alone, tradable financial instrument. By the middle of the year, the American Stock Exchange (AMEX) started offering binary options to the public for the first time and the CBOE followed suit soon after, albeit with only call options available for purchase.
Company Closures and Openings
Despite the volatility of binary options and the high risk factor involved in trading, binary options trading is easy and less stressful than most other investment vehicles and we continue to see more and more brokers and vendors jumping into the binary options markets. To stay one step ahead of the competition, binary options brokers have begun introducing more technologically advanced products to the industry such as simulated trading and charting tools for traders, items that have been traditionally absent within the binary options world.
2013 saw several major binary options brokers close their doors, while many new companies have hopped on the bandwagon. The biggest company to collapse was iOption, which employed about 60 employees and whose parent company had just been granted a CySEC license making it one of the few regulated binary brokers out there. Problems allegedly began a few weeks prior to their closing when some of iOption's trading clients were unable to process withdrawals. 123binary and BNRY are two other binary options brokers that will not be continuing into 2014.
Despite the demise of a few brokers, there are still dozens of reputable binary options brokers in the industry and with such a wide selection it is difficult for an interested trader to know which broker to choose.
To help you along, we are offering a quick overview of some new binary options brokers that are worth keeping an eye on, and some older ones that we've been admiring for a while:
New Brokers:
PowerOption, powered by AvaTrade, has shown great promise and popularity among traders over the past year. PowerOption was founded in the Seychelles with the aim of bringing the smartest technology and highest integrity to the world of binary options trading. Their executive team has decades of combined experience in finance, trading and online security.
TopOption, powered by leading Forex broker, Markets.com, is headquartered in Cyprus and was one of the first regulated binary option brokers. It is currently one of the most reliable and secure brokers in the industry and is considered a key broker in the binary options market. TopOption is available in a wide variety of languages exposing the company's expanded global vision.
Lbinary was introduced at the beginning of this year and has gained a lot of attention from online traders. The company's success lies in the easy-to-use interface and their team of experts experienced in the binary options field. Lbinary offers the SpotOption trading platform which is used by leading online trading brokers.
TitanTrade also made its entrance into the binary options market this year. TitanTrade is a web-based trading platform and is perfect for traders looking for a comfortable trading platform. The company was created by industry veterans aiming to generate a more down to earth and diverse binary options trading experience. TitanTrade also offers the SpotOption trading platform and prides itself on having the best customer service.
Established brokers:
24Option is a relative veteran in the binary options market, having started operations in the second half of 2010. The company has been a top-rated broker at DailyForex.com for 2 years and shows no signs of weakening in the market. Customer service at 24Option is exemplary with a diverse, multi-lingual staff for support in all regions. 24Option is registered in the tax-free haven of the British Virgin Islands and accepts traders from all over the world except the U.S.
StockPair is another older broker that we've been watching, and the company seems to be improving with age. What began as an online platform for quick trading of stocks has grown into one of the most interesting and diverse and unique binary options platforms in the industry. Traders looking for a bit of a different trading experience will appreciate all that StockPair has to offer.