SmartOptionFX Rating
SmartOptionFX Review – Is It a Good Broker for Your Trading Needs?
Are you planning to enter the trading world? There is no doubt that trading holds a lot of potential and has low barriers to entry, which has made it a lucrative option for anyone who wants to earn high profits. You can trade right from the comfort of your home s there are online brokers available to help you get started. This is definitely a convenience, especially when you check out the number of brokers who are currently offering their services to traders all over the world. While this choice can be helpful, it also creates difficulties. How do you figure out which one is the best?
Recommended Cryptocurrency Trading Software – With Bitcoin Evolution you can automate all of your trades or carry out manual trading by yourself through the smart program with your broker. The Bitcoin Evolution’s type of software has the capability to precede the markets by a notable amount of time, as much as 0.01 seconds, which can bring you huge profits!
Scam Brokers
This is the major dilemma that traders face when it comes to broker selection. There have been plenty of stories about brokers who scammed traders out of their hard earned money and you don’t want to end up the same. So, how do you make sure it doesn’t happen? The best way to do so is to check a broker thoroughly and any broker that doesn’t clarify their offerings and operations should be ignored. SmartOptionFX is one such broker that can confuse traders when they start their search for one. According to its website, SmartOptionFX is a safe and secure binary and forex trading broker.
Who Is Behind SmartOptionFX?
It states that the owner of the brokerage is B.O. TradeFinancials Ltd., a company which is based in the Republic of Cyprus and is licensed by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission. The broker itself provides an address of Miami, Florida, USA. It is currently offering five account types to its clientele, but the trading conditions that can be associated with these clients are mostly unclear. Other than this, there are more serious concerns about the broker, which doesn’t make it a good choice for anyone who values their money and wants to work with a trustworthy broker.
But, what exactly makes SmartOptionFX an unreliable choice as a broker? Here are some of the red flags you will come across when you take a close look at this broker:
- False claims regarding regulation
SmartOptionFX advertises itself as a well-regulated broker, which indicates that traders can trust the broker. They claim that they are regulated in Europe and have specifically mentioned the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC). The broker also states that it complies with all MiFID regulations, which are applicable to brokers operating in the European Union. First and foremost, it seems strange for a broker that’s based in Miami, Florida to be not regulated within the United States. It should most definitely be regulated by one of the local regulators and the fact it is not is a major red flag.
Apart from that, binary options trading was also prohibited all across the European Union in the previous year and the temporary ban is constantly being renewed by the ESMA ever since. Lately, majority of the national financial authorities of the member states of the European Union are following the product intervention measures being taken by ESMA and are planning to make them permanent on a national level. Therefore, if you take a look at the online register of CySEC, you will immediately notice that the company that operates SmartOptionFX, B.O. TradeFinancials doesn’t have a license.
- They are blacklisted by CySEC and may be related to other shady brokers
Further research into SmartOptionFX has shown that the broker has actually been blacklisted by the CySEC. This is due to the fact that its website doesn’t belong to an organization authorized for providing investment services or the performance of investment activities within the country. This means that local investors are being illegally targeted by the broker. An official warning was issued by the CySEC and in it, they also made it clear that they had completely withdrawn the license issued to B.O. TradeFinancials. This was done back in June 2018.
As a matter of fact, it was later revealed that there were a number of shady websites, which were all being operated by the B.O. TradeFinancials, which was formerly licensed by CySEC. This included websites like AceTradeOptions, FXTradeOption, 33option, binarycent24 and more. A number of these websites can no longer be accessed. Warnings have also been issued by CySEC for several of these websites too. In some cases, it has also pointed out the contact details and license number of B.O. TradeFinancials Ltd. as they were illegally used and were not authorized.
- Unclear trading conditions
As mentioned before as well, SmartOptionFX is quite unclear about what it has to offer to its traders. The only thing the broker has actually mentioned in a straightforward way is the minimum deposit requirements of each of the five account options given to users. They have also outlined the amount of bonuses that clients can get, but no specific payouts, minimum bet sizes or other information has been mentioned. In fact, the broker has not even mentioned which trading platform they offer to their customers. No demo accounts are offered by SmartOptionFX and you cannot access the trading platform just by opening an account, unless you have deposited money.
The only thing that you can actually find on the broker’s website is the mention of the SpotOption platform. But, what is it? Does the broker offer or support it? Payouts of 81% are mentioned on EUR/USD High/Low options, but it is unclear whether the broker offers these or has only stated them to show how to trade binaries. Everything is quite confusing and difficult to figure out.
- Relatively higher initial deposit requirement
Another major red flag that you will come across in your view of SmartOptionFX is their minimum deposit requirements they have established for the different account options they provide. In order to open even the most basic account on SmartOptionFX, traders have to deposit at least $500.
This initial investment figure is actually twice of the figure that’s required by most of the brokers out there. In fact, most of the top brokers have completely eliminated these requirements or charge as low as $100. Like the basic account, the minimum deposit requirement for the rest of the accounts is also quite high. Such figures make it impossible for new traders to be able to open an account because they may not want to invest such a huge amount right away. Likewise, experienced traders may not want to block their money in the initial deposit as the broker has not mentioned their withdrawal policies.
- Misleading terms and conditions on the website
While SmartOptionFX has not outlined most of its trading conditions and, the terms and conditions that the broker has mentioned are also misleading. According to what’s stated, the company is being supervised by the British authorities, which is also a false claim. It is not regulated in the UK and is not being monitored by any British entity, which means it has no authority to offer its financial services in the United Kingdom.
- No clear contact details
One of the biggest red flag about any company or broker is the lack of proper contact details. SmartOptionFX also hasn’t provided any such information on its website, which means it is a broker that cannot be trusted with your money.
Conclusion
The above signs clearly indicate that SmartOptionFX is a shady broker and should not be considered a good option for your trading needs. Firstly, it should be noted that the broker is not regulated and you should not hand over your money to unregulated brokers. This is due to the fact that doing so carries a significant risk of losing your money because unregulated parties are usually scammers.
Any broker that’s not unregulated is not accountable of how they are handling your money, which means you can lose all your investment in one go. Most of the time, traders who are dealing with such brokers will often face problems when they want to withdraw their funds. Moreover, with regulated brokers, traders are usually compensated if the broker goes bankrupt or due to any other issue that occurs on the broker’s end. This will not happen if you have chosen to work with an unregulated broker like SmartOptionFX.
This broker is masquerading as a regulated broker, which has been licensed by CySEC, but this is untrue. On the contrary, CySEC has issued a warning regarding this broker. To top it off, the trading conditions offered by the broker have not been mentioned so you don’t know what you will be dealing with. The initial deposit requirements are also high, something not everyone will be able to meet. Since the broker doesn’t provide any information about its trading platform or give you access to it unless you deposit money with them, it seems to have all the trappings of a scam.
As the financial markets are full of such fraudsters, the key is to only work with regulated brokers because unregulated ones, such as SmartOptionFX are only trying to rip off their investors in every possible way.
