IQ Option is operated by an IQ Option Europe company that was founded in 2013 and claims to be one of the fastest growing online trading brands in the world with over 40 million members. The IQ Option offering includes trading in binary options, currencies, ETF trading, stocks as well as the exclusive IQOption product called Digital Options.
🗺️ Registered in | Cyprus |
🗺️ Type of License | Non compliance |
🛡️ Is IQ Option safe to trade | No |
🗺️ Recommended Licenses | FCA in UK 🇬🇧 & ASIC in Australia 🇦🇺 |
🖥 Alternative Broker | IC Markets - licensed by ASIC in Australia |
IQ Option is a registered company by the CySEC with an allowance to provide its services within the EEA zone with a number of registrations from other EU authorities and claims its attractive location Cyprus. Nevertheless, at the fact the domain and all rights belong to IQ Option Ltd registered in Seychelles, a known offshore hub, while the Cyprus branch operates for payment transaction management. Registration Address/ License: Limassol, Cyprus. Regulated by CySEC – registration no. 247/14
For that reason, the Board of the CySEC (Read CySEC regulated TriumphFX review) informed investors several times during the last years about the imposing of administrative fine to the CIF IQ Option Europe Ltd with a revoked amounts of a series of fines amounting to 180,000€ or another of 20,000€ and more for doing business with non-compliance to the required rules. Charges laid out to the IQ option had the main reason for non-compliance since the services are outsourced through the head office, which is not situated in Cyprus. The figures also included some fines that were waved for misrepresenting risks on company websites and non-reasonable steps when executing orders, which does not lead to the best result for its clients rather than profitable trades.
“IQ Option Fined €180.000 By CySEC for Outsourcing Operations”
Financial Magnates, 2016
For traders that reside outside of the European Economic Area, their trading accounts are managed by a sister company known as “IQOPTION LTD“. This company is registered in St. Vincent and Grenadines, and this entity is not regulated. Read more about St. Vincent and the Grenadines regulation by the link.
Many traders from India are interested in Forex trading and specifically in trading with IQ Option, however, most of them don’t even know if there is such opportunity on the broker’s platform. Trading isn’t prohibited by the Indian legislation and international companies have never been banned in India (Check Indian forex brokers here). Thus, there is no violation of the law in trading with IQ Option from India.
IQ Option is not legal in the USA and is not available for American traders. As per the U.S law, brokers regulated by CFTC are the only brokers allowed for the USA traders. So, except for IQ Option, you are only permitted to trade with the U.S regulated platforms.
The minimum deposit for opening a real account with IQ Option is $10 USD/GBP/EUR. This broker supports various instant deposits and withdrawal methods also offered with no commission charges. Some countries may have different requirements for the account verification process, which is a standard process for all the new traders.
The minimum withdrawal amount for IQ Option is $2. Traders have the right to withdraw funds only to the payment system that was used to deposit funds to their account.
IQOption offers clients the ability to trade options and CFDs using their proprietary mobile application (Read about Skilling Broker’s mobile trading platform by the link) that is very easy to use and has a very clean interface. The mobile app is available on Android and Apple iOS operating systems and can be downloaded via the Apple Store or on Google Play. With the help of this app traders are able to execute trades, check account status, stay updated with market developments, use charting tools, set up customizable alerts and push notifications.
IQ Option offers a free demo account (Read Infinox review, which also offers free demo account) that includes $10,000 in virtual money. There is no limit on how long you can use the demo account for. If you run out of virtual funds inside of your demo account, you can have them replenished so you can continue practicing.
The Demo Account is provided to give traders a demonstration of the broker’s trading platform and to offer traders the opportunity to trade on simulated real trading conditions. This further allows the trader to gain more experience prior to trading with real funds and facing actual risk. Traders may test their trading strategies and become familiar with the trading platform at their own pace.
Overall, there is not a sustainable trust to the delivered IQ Option trading environment since there are many complaints from the broker’s clients along with the official periodical issues in terms of non-maintained order record of clients, transaction, material and the approval of the information. So the downside of the IQ Option would be also multiple negative reviews of this company, including poor execution and slow withdrawals, which are pretty major issues, when it comes to brokerages like this one
We strongly advise opening a trading account only with the brokers like Exness that are regulated by the respected world authorities that comply with the required set of rules and a good reputation through the delivered timeframe of operations (See the top 10 forex brokers in the world). Traders should trade with well-regulated brokers such as UK brokers or brokers in Australia and reliable brokers such as BDSwiss and BlackBull Markets.
You can also share your trading experience with IQ Option by commenting on this review.