Do not invest more money than you can afford to lose.
The Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) announced it is imposing a fine of €138 000 on one of the big Cyprus-regulated binary options brokers OptionRally. IQOption was hit with an even bigger fine: €180 000.
According to the rather curt announcements, the both OptionRally Financial Services Ltd and IQ Option Europe Ltd are fined in accordance with two of CySEC’s own directives: Directive DI 144-2007-01 of 2012 (The Prevention and Suppression of Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Law) and Directive DI 144-2007-02 of 2012 (for the professional competence of IFS and the natural persons employed by them) and The Investment Services and Activities and Regulated Markets Laws.
According to its own website, OptionRally has more than 480 000 registered traders and offers trading on stocks, indices and commodities at various speeds, ranging from just 60 seconds.
The broker is regulated by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC), which allows it to operate across the EU, but has ended up on warning lists in Japan and Australia for soliciting residents of those countries without having the proper local license.
Over the summer media reports, citing own sources, claimed OptionRally has laid off the majority of its support staff and was planning to shift to automated services.
IQOption has been in the sights of Canada’s BCSC for soliciting British Columbia residents without authorization. In June the broker announced its decision to stop advertising in Russia, citing the unclear definition of binary options in Russian legislation.
