Do not invest more money than you can afford to lose.
The Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (‘CySEC’) announced on Monday that Leadtrade Ltd., operating a couple of binary options brands, the most popular being TopOption, has renounced its CIF license. The company which operated via the domains www.leadtradeltd.com, www.topoption.com, www.excellenceoption.com, www.prestigeoption.com, www.platiniumoption.com, www.optionsclick.com, is not authorized to provide financial services, as of April 28, 2017.
The regulatory statement by CySEC further details that the company is obliged to settle its obligations arising from the investment services that lapsed (including any clients’ complaints) within a period of three months and until then it remains under the supervision of the regulator.
Leadtrade Ltd. acquired the TopOption brand from Playtech (LSE:PTECH) in August, 2016. In January 2017, TopOption has informed some of its affiliate partners that it is suspending cooperation with them as part of a restructuring procedure. In April this year, CySEC suspended the license of Leadtrade Ltd., because reportedly the company failed to maintain the minimum of own funds required and the necessary capital adequacy ratio, which is a violation of the Services and Activities and Regulated Markets Law. A day later, the regulator withdrew the suspension.
Either way, it looks like it is one of the companies that are forced to shut down due to the regulatory pressure on the binary options industry in Cyprus and Europe in general. One of the largest binary options brokers, Banc de Binary, renounced its CySEC license and stopped accepting clients from the EU in January, 2017. Other binary options brokerages, such as BDSwiss, have launched forex trading in order to survive.
