The iOption binary options brand is owned by iOption Group Ltd, incorporated in the British Virgin Islands.
Software & User Friendliness
iOption is one of the brokers that use the SpotOption white-label trading solution. Traders can trade the following contracts on iOption.
a) 60 Seconds Option: This is a Call/Put binary options contract with a sixty-second expiry.
b) Option Builder: This is a Call/Put binary options contract with a customizable expiry. Here traders are not boxed into the default expiries on other trade types, but can choose the specific time that they want their trades to expire.
c) High Yield Touch Option: This is the only Touch option available on iOption, promising a payout of up to 500% for successful trades.
d) Call/Put Option: With this option, traders can bet on the asset either ending higher than market price or lower than market price when the trade expires.
Asset Index
Assets that can be traded on the iOption platform are:
a) Commodities: Gold, silver, wheat, coffee, sugar, platinum and oil.
b) Currencies: EURUSD, GBPUSD, USDJPY, GBPJPY, EURGBP, EURJPY, USDCAD, USDCHF, AUDUSD, EURTRY, USDTRY, USDRBL, USDSGD, USDZAR, USDINR, NZDUSD, AUDJPY, NZDJPY, GBPCAD, GBPCHF, USDBRL, AUDCHF. iOption has one of the broadest ranges of currency assets among binary options brokers.
c) Indices: ASX-200, MIB-40, DJ30 (Dow Jones), IBEX-35 (Spain), SMI Futures (Zurich), CAC40 Futures, FTSE Futures, NASDQ100, DAX30 Futures, Hang Seng, Nikkei 225, RTS (Russia), SSE180 (Shanghai), Tel Aviv 25, NIFTY, Bombay SE, KL Futures, TOPIX, Bovespa, MICEX10, Tadwul (S. Arabia).
d) Stocks: AIG, Alcoa, Apple, BAT (British American Tobacco), British Petroleum, BNP Paribas, Caterpillar, Citigroup, COCA COLA, DANONE SA, Gazprom, General Motors, Goldman Sachs, Google, Groupon, IBM, JP Morgan Chase, McDonald’s, LinkedIn, Louis Vuitton, Microsoft, Netflix, Publicis Group, Rui Tinto, Saudi Refineries, Serbsbank, Starbucks, Telefonica, Tesco, Teva Pharma, TATA, TOPIX, Toyota US, UBS, Unilever, Vivendi, Wynn Resorts.
The minimum investment amount on iOption is $10, available on the OptionBuilder trade type.
Security & Reliability
iOption has a banking relationship with UBS, one of the world’s largest banks. iOption is also subject to regulatory oversight from CySEC and is also subject to the MiFID regulatory protocol.
Bonuses and VIP Program
The following bonuses are available to traders using iOption:
a) Account funding bonuses: All new traders are given a welcome bonus. Traders operating Trader and VIP class accounts are also entitled to an additional 10% bonus. This bonus is not available for Starter account holders.
b) Special Trading Bonuses: Traders who open iOption accounts through the Intellitraders Affiliate link are entitled to a $100 no-deposit bonus. That’s right, you read correctly. Free $100 provided to a live trading account without any obligation to deposit any money. However, this is for trading purposes and cannot be withdrawn until a certain number of trades have been carried out on the account.
VIP account holders (min account opening of $5000) enjoy a lot of benefits. A VIP account holder is entitled to the following benefits:
a) Platinum VISA card for withdrawals.
b) 2 free withdrawals
c) A 30-day signals and SMS alert service
d) SMS notifications
e) Unlimited one-on-one training with trading experts.
There is also a special class of accounts known as “Privileged Accounts”. Traders can only acquire a privileged account from the volume of deposits and trades. There are numerous bonuses attached to this class of account holders.
iOption also has a very comprehensive partnership rewards program where traders can earn money from introducing brokerage partnerships, CPA and other affiliate revenue models via the iOption Partners Program.
Special Features
Apart from the no-deposit bonus of $100 added to approved accounts, another special feature is the knowledge centre which provides a video tutorial on the binary options trading process, a demo tour of the iOption trading platform, a knowledge library, e-book and glossary. These are all free to use.
Traders can also use the Roll Over function to rollover positions, and also the Double Up function which allows traders to double the value of the bet that they have in the market. Mobile trading with the iPhone and Android devices is also available on iOption.
Deposit and Withdrawal
1) Credit card/debit card: The minimum deposit is $200 while the maximum is $5,000/5,000 Euros. Cards accepted on iOption include MasterCard, American Express, VISA, Diner’s Club, Maestro, Postepay, CartaSi, Bleue, and JCB. Deposits are instant. Traders must send a scanned copy of the front and back of their cards (blocking off the middle eight numbers of the card number and the CVV number) for verification.
2) Electronic payments: This is done via CashU and Skrill. Skrill gives traders access to 100 different payment methods and is the payment method of choice for iOption transactions. Deposits are instant and minimum deposit is $200. Maximum deposit is $1000 or 1,000 Euros.
3) Bank wires: Minimum deposit is $250 and a $25 fee is charged for the transaction. There is no ceiling on the maximum deposit that can be done on a trading account with iOption.
Traders are expected to use the same method for funding and withdrawals. Traders can operate their accounts in USD, Euros, GBP and JPY. There are no charges on withdrawals done by credit cards.
Support
Traders can access customer support on iOption in the following ways:
1) Live chat
2) Email: support@ioption.com
3) Phone: +357 220 30077
4) Fax: +357 220 30642
There are other numbers to call depending on the country the trader calls from. These are available on iOption’s contact page.
Our Opinion
iOption has a very serious problem with their customer support. Emails are hardly attended to and those that are eventually attended to eventually get to the trader 72 hours after the initial inquiries were sent. This is not a good testimony to a broker that has laudable programs such as the no-deposit bonus. The bonus amount ($100) is unrivalled in the binary options industry. iOption must work hard to improve on the quality and speed of its customer service if it is to enjoy and maintain the goodwill it has generated among traders from some of its laudable programs.