Do not invest more money than you can afford to lose.
The Financial Services and Markets Authority (FSMA) issued an official notice on Wednesday, warning the public against several binary options brokers illegally operating on the Belgian market. Obviously, these brokers violate the rules imposed by Belgium’s financial regulator which prohibited the public marketing of derivatives on August 18, 2016.
Namely, FSMA warns against the following unregulated binary options brokers:
- EasyGestions (www.easygestions.com)
- FXUnited / United Global Holdings Limited (www.fxunitedglobal.com)
- Markets Premium (www.markets-premium.com)
- OneTwoTrade / Up & Down Marketing Ltd (www.onetwotrade.com )
- Switzerland Option / Primary Stream Limited (www.suisseoption.com)
- TorOption (www.toroption.com)
- Tp-Markets / Hubstone Holdings Ltd. (www.tp-markets.com)
- VIP Markets (www.vvipmarkets.com)
- XFR Financial (cloned firm) / New Sp Zoo (www.xfr-financial.com)
In its notice FSMA reiterates that most likely these companies are in fact indulged in fraudulent practices and strongly advises investors against doing business with them.
Most of these brokers are also present in the warning lists of other financial regulators: New Zealand’s FMA has also warned of FxUnited; Both Canada’s provincial regulator, the British Columbia Securities Commission (BCSC), and the Spanish financial watchdog have warned against TorOption; Tp-Markets is in the warning list of France’s AMF.
Over a year has passed after the Belgium’s financial regulator has banned the marketing of forex and binary options trading within the country, but it looks like these companies keep targeting residents without having the right to do so. Binary options are also banned in Israel (including their offering abroad), and other countries, like Canada, are also considering to prohibit these controversial financial products. Even technologies giants such as Apple have taken a firm stance against binary options.
