How do Binary Options Brokers Make Money?
Brokers
IQ Option
Olymmp trade
Expertoption
Pocketoption
Quotex
Binary options brokers make money via one of two business models:
- As a counter-party, ensuring an ‘over round’ via payout percentages. Known as ‘Over the counter’ (OTC)
- Via a spread or commission on an exchange traded model
People who have experience of other forms of trading, and are now approaching over-the-counter (OTC) brokers for the first time may find themselves asking the question: “Where is the commission?”.
With OTC binaries however, there is no commission. In theory, the term ‘brokers’, is not correct. Binary firms are not arranging a deal or acting as a middleman, or as a market maker; What they are, is the counter-party to each of their customers’ positions. So there is no fee or commission for the trade. Instead, each customer is essentially betting against the house. Where brokers have both sides of a trade covered, they have a handsome margin. Where they do not, the payout still gives them a level of protection. In certain circumstances, the broker will also hedge it’s own position to mitigate risk.
Those companies (Nadex, for instance) that trade binary options via an exchange operate much more like a ‘broker’. Unlike the OTC market where the platform is the counter party, with exchange traded options, the broker is the middleman – matching buyers with sellers and charging a commission. This charge is normally hidden within the spread, rather than an explicit cost. There is far less risk involved for the broker, and therefore generally better returns per trade for the trader. Brokers can be actively compared using the spread – the tighter the spread (difference between buy and sell prices) the cheaper it is to trade.
Brokers using the spread model often also offer leverage, or trading on ‘margin’ via their software. This increases the trade size for the trader – and profit for the platform.
Should You Use Multiple Brokers?
There are some very good arguments for having more than one binary trading account:
- Brokers suit certain trades. Different brokers will suit different trading styles, or trade types. So one broker might be excellent for shorter term trade types, and have great payouts on forex pairs. But that same brand may be slightly less good when it comes to offering boundary trades or indices payouts. If a rival had a full set of long term expiries with great payouts, and lots of choice of boundary trades – it makes sense to have accounts with both platforms, and place trades with the broker that offered the best deal for each trade.
- Demo accounts. Multiple demo accounts makes perfect sense – you want to try as many brokers and trading platforms as possible before deciding where to trade.
- Reduce risk. Accounts at more than one broker protects you from any issues with a particular firm. From issues as serious as insolvency, to smaller things, like website downtime, software issues or a market being closed – multiple accounts reduces your risk of being affected by any hardship a broker might face.
- Multiple offers. Each sign up can mean a new bonus, so it might be worthwhile taking up more than one account to receive all the offers. As ever, read the terms – and also note that on occasion, larger deposits might mean larger bonuses – so splitting them may not be the best choice.
- Spread winnings. Some brokers may look for winning traders on their books, with a view to restricting their trading, perhaps limiting trade size – or worse. While this threat is thankfully small, multiple accounts means spreading the winnings out. Most brokers will search for “winners” based on total profit rather than strike rate, so hiding the volume across broker accounts can help you stay below their radar.
Exchange versus OTC (Over the Counter) Brokers
Exchange Brokers
A broker that offers an exchange is much closer to a traditional ‘broker’ than OTC brokers. An exchange performs the job of ‘middleman’. They will match a seller of an asset, with a buyer of the same asset, and charge a commission for putting the deal together. The market itself will decide the prices – if there are more sellers than buyers, the price will drift down until demand rises. If there are more buyers than those willing to sell, the option price will rise.
A broker operating an exchange does not mind who wins and who loses. They take no risk on the trade themselves (unless the traders are trading on credit). The broker will make their commission on the trade regardless of the outcome.
Due to this reduced risk for the broker, the returns for a winning trader are generally larger. Commissions are usually small relative to the size of the trade, meaning they do not impact the payout too much. Other benefits include the fact that stop losses can be applied, and also that trades can be closed at any time (to take a profit or reduce losses).
The complications with exchanges, comes from the structure. An exchange traded binary option will “trade” somewhere between 0 and 100. Where 0 is the figure used where an event did not occur, and 100 where it did. If the current price is currently 30, a ‘buyer’ would risk 30 times his trade size, to potentially win 70. A ‘seller’ therefore, would risk 70 to win 30. While not a complicated equation, it is slightly more complex than the straight forward over the counter option.
OTC (Over The Counter) Brokers
The most common type is the Over the counter (OTC) broker, but this type of firm is not really a ‘broker’ at all strictly speaking. They are the counter-party to one side of the trade. So where a trader opens a position, the broker will win or lose money, based on whether the trade wins or loses. Only where the broker has another trader who has made the exact opposite trade, will they have assured profits.
Due to this increased risk, the brokers will offer a lower payout which mitigates some of the risk they are taking. It is therefore likely to be lower than an exchange traded broker. Some firms will also have built in ‘hedging’ mechanisms to reduce risk further. In some cases, one side of trade might be made unavailable if liabilities get too large.
The simplicity of binary options is retained with OTC brokers. They have also made great strides in competing with exchanges by offering ‘cash out’ values for options, allowing traders to close positions early, and set up stop losses. Once those features become common the gap between OTC and exchanges will get smaller. For now, traders are better off trading on an exchange – but might be advised to learn the differences via demo account.
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Payment Methods
Deposit and withdrawal options do vary at each brokerage. Each of our reviews will explain which each firm offer, but below is a list of the most common options.
If you are looking for brokers that support a specific payment method:
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All of the factors covered above will ultimately affect the way a trader plays the market, and therefore, their profitability. The ideal situation is to get a binary broker that offers:
- Several financial assets spread across several markets
- Offers a reasonable bonus with a good payout approaching 90%
- Offers flexible expiration dates without boxing traders into very long expirations.
Trading using a broker’s platform will only be enjoyable, and profitable, if you are using a reputable operator. You also need to choose one that suits your trading style best – only you will know what that is. Read the above binary broker reviews carefully before making that crucial trading decision, but remember you are not tied in to any single broker, and can pick and choose.
General risk warning: your capital is at risk
