Do not invest more money than you can afford to lose.
SpotOpton, one of the most popular binary options trading platforms, has announced a strategic plan to expand globally, while reducing its headquarter activities. The company is headquartered in Israel with branches in the UK, Hong Kong, Singapore, and the Middle East. It will magnify the Hong Kong, Singapore, and London branches.
The company explained its move with the tough regulation in Israel, where binary options trading is actually forbidden. Its main office will continue to maintain its research and development operations, but some of the employees there will be laid off to optimize costs.
“Headquartered in Israel, SpotOption’s platform consists of CFDs, Binary Options, and Ladder trading products, that have a much higher market potential in the jurisdictions where regulation is available and feasible for these instruments,” the company’s statement read.
In Israel, brokers are not allowed to offer binary option instruments within the country, but they can still target foreign investors. The country is also a hub for binary options call centers. Recently, the Israel Securities Authority (ISA) said it was drafting a legislation that would expand its authority and enable it to shut down entities that solicit customers abroad, as currently its authority is limited to the country’s borders. A possible ban of marketing outside of the country would mean the end of Israel-based call centers.
“SpotOption has always encouraged regulation for brokers, as this is the best way to mature the industry and ensure sustainability,” says David Ripstein, CEO of SpotOption.
“Strengthening our services in the jurisdictions where regulation is embraced is the natural next step in our globalization advancements. Unfortunately this strategic decision comes with the loss of some of our great talents that are located at headquarters, which is not a small consequence,” he added.
SpotOption, established in 2010, is the world’s leading binary options platform provider with a global market share of 65%-70%. The company is headquartered in Israel with branches in the UK, Hong Kong, Singapore, and the Middle East. It has clients across Europe, Asia, Australia, Latin Americas, and the Middle East.
SpotOption offers, through partner SpotOption Exchange, market making and is licensed by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC).
The SpotOption white-label trading platform features different options for binary options trading, including regular binary options and 60-second options. The platform also allows trading in forex, contracts for difference (CFDs), and ladder trading. It is available across all platforms. It has been adopted by more than 300 brokers, including OptionRally, RoboOption, HY Options, TrustTrade, etc.
Many binary options brokers, predominantly regulated in Cyprus, have cut their operations or exited Israel. Recently, 24Option and anyoption closed their Israeli call centers and laid off some dozens of employees in the country. Brokers OptionRally and OptionBit also cut most of their staff in Israel who served English-speaking customers. The reason for this trend are the regulatory changes in Israel, paired with those in Cyprus, which results in many brokers transferрing their operations in Israel to the EU.
In other jurisdictions, mainly across Europe, binary options are limited or are about to get banned. Belgium has banned the distribution via online channels of over-the-counter (OTC) binary options, spot forex, and CFDs with leverage. The Netherlands and Germany have also announced they consider the ban on the advertising of such instruments, while Spain is to address the issue some time later in 2017. In late 2016, Cyprus’ CySEC and UK’s FCA announced the introduction of a default leverage cap for forex and CFDs and the ban of bonuses as a measure to attract clients.
