IQ Option Review

Is IQ Option Safe?

IQ Option was the star of the award shows in the years following their launch as a binary options broker. Winning a set of awards for the innovation and performance of the platform, including Best trading platform (Forex Awards 2014) and Most innovative binary options platform and Best Mobile trading platform (IFM Awards 2015), it is well established that the industry recognises the quality of the technology.

Additional recognition as the World’s leading binary options broker (2014) and Best binary options broker Europe (2015) affirmed that the brokerage was providing a recognised service on the technology.

IQ Option Europe Ltd has been regulated by CySEC (license: 247/14) since 30/07/2014.  IQOPTION LTD is registered at St. Vincent and Grenadines, this entity is not regulated. 

Considering the regulation and oversight on IQ Option, along with the industry recognition for innovation and quality of the execution at the brokers, IQ Option should be regarded as safe.

IQ Option for Beginners

IQ Option is a fun platform and has made trading options extremely enjoyable and accessible via mobile applications. There are competitions and other bonuses that encourage players to keep playing, the platform is intuitive, and there is 24/7 phone customer service in 13+ languages to help get traders going.

Educational Material

The education material at IQ option is a series of videos that are split into categories. While most of the videos cover issues of market news, there are a set of videos that cover how options work, the basics about the IQ Option platform and an introduction to CFD trading.

A large portion of the material is focused on cryptocurrencies and limited information on anything substantive and educational about trading overall.

Analysis Material

A Facebook-style news feed of 3rd party economic news is freely available to all visitors to the IQ Option website along with a small section on expected high volatility news events. The rest of the analysis comes in the form of tools built into the platform which will be covered later.

Customer Support

IQ Option has a 24/7 telephone and live chat customer support service. Most countries have a toll-free phone option while others are charged at local rates. Customer service is available in 13+ languages to ensure a good customer experience.

Trading Conditions

The trading accounts are very generous for new traders, making it easy to get a live account with limited funds. Because IQ Option is a market maker, they should be more open with their spreads on Forex and Crypto CFD products, as this is one of the significant factors that other brokers are very transparent about.

Account Types

Opening an account at IQ option is easy as they support account creation by using your existing Google or Facebook account, or fill out a form to include your name, and email address. All of the KYC (know your customer) information will be added later in your profile before you can deposit and trade.  Every account is assigned a personal manager, monthly trading analysis and expedited withdrawals in under 24 hours.

Demo Account

This account will allow you to get to know the platform and how it works before you invest any real money. Upon opening the account, it is loaded with $10,000 in virtual dollars for trading with 400+ assets. Should the demo account close, contact IQ option and they will renew the account, meaning you can extend the lifetime of your demo account indefinitely.

Real Account

Ideal for newcomers to IQ Option, this account requires only a 150 ZAR minimum deposit and makes 400+ trading assets available. Participate in trading competitions, make withdrawals of your funds in under three days.  Note that the maximum leverage offered is different for European countries and restricted to 1:30.

VIP Account

For the more serious trader, the minimum deposited is lifted to $1900 within 2 months. The VIP-status isn’t available for regulated traders.

Spreads and Commissions

IQ Option is a market maker where trades are not conducted on the open market and instead transacted on an internal exchange. While this is standard for market maker brokers, we could not find any openly published information on minimum and average spreads.

It is rumoured however that the spreads for USDEUR are between 15-20 pips which is significantly higher than any other brokers we have listed.

Deposit & Withdrawal

Depositing funds is secure, and some e-wallet solutions are available. Visa and Mastercard are accepted for deposits and free of any administration charges.

The withdrawal system favours withdrawing profits with e-wallets. If you are withdrawing more than you initially deposited using a credit card, the amount that you deposited via credit card will be returned to the card, while the additional amount will be sent to you via e-wallet (free) or via bank wire (31 USD). If you deposited with e-wallet, then all funds will be sent back to that same e-wallet. Payments take three business days for IQ Option to process.

Note:  Regardless of the amount withdrawn, IQ Option charges a flat fee of $31 or equivalent in local currency for Bank wire withdrawals.

Inactive Account Fee

After 90 consecutive days of no trading activity, an account is considered inactive, and a fee of 10 EUR, or local equivalent, will be charged until the account becomes active again.

Trading Platform

The IQ Option platform has Binary Options, Digital Options, Forex Trading and more available to customers. This variety makes it easy if you want to trade more than just Forex Trading, and why we keep the review on this website.

Central the tool is the list of currency pairs you can trade. Next to the currency in the list, you can see a glimpse of the research area as it shows the profitability over the 1 and 5-minute trading intervals.

The next layer down in the platform is the monitoring of 4 assets in more detail, each with a trading screen so multiple trades can be monitored. This is the platform showing its diversity as with the below example; the assets can be from different classes – this example shows the USD/ZAR and CAD/CHF currency pairs, Bitcoin, and Brent Crude Oil. This complexity of data and structure is unique to IQ Option.

Research & Education

IQ Option offers research tools directly in the browser. Below is an example of the single currency view where we have the pair USD/ZAR plotted. Straight from this screen, the trader can either speculate on the value of the currency pair either decreasing or increasing. You can see the simple functionality showing in the “higher” and “lower” buttons to the side of the screen.

Here is an additional view of the USD/ZAR currency pair, showing market momentum and other layers on the graph. In this screenshot, I am monitoring new currencies at the top of the screen while setting up a 1000 USD put trade.

IQ Option – The Social Platform

On IQ Option, leaderboards are visible showing the better traders of the week and even localised down to South Africa. Congratulations to Emily M. I think this aspect makes the platform a little more fun, but traders should not only focus on this playful component and forget the seriousness of trading, as losses are just around the next corner. Tournaments are also available to traders who wish to participate, however these tournaments are not available to regulated users.

Evaluation Method

We value transparency and openness in the way we review the partners. To bring transparency to the forefront, we have published our review process that includes a detailed breakdown of the IQ Option offering. Central to that process is the evaluation of the reliability of the broker, the platform offering of the broker and the trading conditions offered to clients, which are summarised in this review. Each one of these is graded, and an overall score is calculated and assigned to the broker.

IQ Option Risk Statement

Trading Forex is risky, and each broker is required to detail how risky the trading of Forex CFDs is to clients. IQ Option would like you to know that: CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 85% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you understand how CFDs work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.

Overview

IQ Option has won awards for the strength of their binary options business, as well as the technology that supports the experience.  It is unique, fun, and has done something very different by incorporating high-quality design into a financial trading application.  While the trading conditions are hidden, and the educational section is limited, IQ Option is a leading global binary options broker.