IvoryOption is a new broker that just started its operations last year and is still hard to evaluate. We got to know this broker through a colleague of ours, who received an email from them even before registering. In our view, this is a little pushy, so we were set to investigate who are these guys and what is the deal with this broker.

There are many brokers on the binary options market now. In fact, so many that sometimes it is hard to choose. And while there is not enough information for us to give a final opinion about IvoryOption broker, we found out as much as we could. So, is it a total scam or there’s some hope for this broker? Read to find out.

IvoryOptions Special Features

While IvoryOption’s website has a very simple layout, it has the majority of the features that traders require to begin trading upon signing up. They also have a new feature known as ‘SuperTrader TV’ which is an educational how-to section on their site which seeks to educate traders on the various products, trading strategies, asset types, technical analyses, as well as including live market reviews and workflows. All of this is presented in short and easily digestible videos; traders would be well-advised to take advantage of this feature prior to beginning to trade.

IvoryOption also offers trading bonuses, which is a good way for traders to obtain more experience as such bonuses allow the trader to increase the minimum number of trades available for each deposit. This causes an increased market presence, and no doubt many traders would be willing to accept such bonuses. Currently, they offer a bonus of 25% for deposits exceeding $2,000, however, by negotiating with your personal account manager, it is possible to obtain even higher bonuses.

IvoryOption does warn traders about some of the drawbacks of such bonuses, noting that by allowing a higher number of trades, it is possible that more trades will expire out-of-money, which would lower a trader’s deposited amount. We consider this to be a fair practice. The current withdrawal requirement for funds that have a trading bonus credit is a minimum trading volume of 25 times the total amount of deposits plus bonuses.

In addition to the features mentioned above, IvoryOption also provides VIP trading signals.

IvoryOptions Trading Platform

When we tested IvoryOption’s trading platform for this review, we were pleasantly surprised. It is a web-based platform, running from the user’s browser (meaning no software download required), with good loading speeds. To get an even more detailed picture, we also tested the platform using lower bandwidth speeds, and the results showed that speed remained high with an uninterrupted data stream. Overall we rate IvoryOption’s trading platform as ‘excellent’, although we note that the lack of a mobile platform is a small hindrance for traders who are frequently on the go.

Through its trading platform, traders can access and trade the entire range of binary options products. Examples include traditional high-low options, long-term options, and pair options. Other higher yield and higher risk options would include touch options and ladder options, which can earn traders returns amounting to hundreds of percentage points, assuming the ‘cascade’ is executed properly. Each option offered also allows for various expiry times, ranging from a mere 60 seconds up to the end of the month.

IvoryOption’s trading platform also comes with its own proprietary special feature, known as the ‘Spot Follow’. This feature is a social trading tab, meaning that traders can look up other successful traders to learn their trading strategies or to even just copy them directly. By providing this feature, traders have access to a wide-range of peer-generated trading signals, giving them more data which they can incorporate into their individual trading strategies.

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IvoryOption Support Information

Typical in most binary options brokers, IvoryOption offers live chat, email, and phone support. The fastest and most efficient method of getting support information would be by using the live chat feature, which will also give a good picture of its overall customer support performance. Alternatively, traders can also opt for email support, or phone support if they live in the following countries:

Phone Support

• United Kingdom: (+44) 203-608-6720
• Australia: (+61) 285-203-747
• New Zealand: (+64)497-475-18
• Singapore: (+65) 315-902-41
• South Africa: (+27) 875-503-796
• United States of America: (+13)473-322-860

Email Support

support@ivoryoption.com

Live Chat

Available on the website

Banking and Company Information

IvoryOption gives traders the option of using various credit cards such as Visa, Visa Electron, Delta, MasterCard, Diners, Maestro, Swtich, and Solo in order to make deposits into their account. Wire transfers are also possible. Note that all funds are converted either to USD, EUR, or GBP at IvoryOption’s own rate and that all wire transfers must come with authentic SWIFT confirmation. As mentioned, the minimum deposit amount is $250, which on par with the industry standard.

For withdrawals, minimum withdrawals are $100 via credit/debit card and $500 for wire transfers, which in our opinion is slightly prohibitive. After receiving a withdrawal request, the company will pay the specified withdrawal amount within 7 – 10 business days. A withdrawal order may be canceled should remaining funds post-withdrawal be insufficient to secure any open positions in the trading account. A plus point is that currently, the company does not impose any withdrawal fees for either credit/debit or wire transfers, with the company bearing all fees for wire withdrawals. Any fees imposed will be on the side of the client’s bank.

As a final point, we would like to highlight that IvoryOption, like many binary options brokers, is not regulated by any supervisory authorities, and hence traders should perform all due diligence possible when selecting their preferred binary options broker.

References/Further Reading:

1. Stealth-trading: Which traders’ trades move stock prices? (Sugato Chakravarty)
2. Speculative Dynamics and the Role of Feedback Traders (David M. Cutler, James M. Poterba, Lawrence H. Summers)
3. Option Volume and Stock Prices: Evidence on Where Informed Traders Trade (David Easley, Maureen O’Hara, P.S. Srinivas)
4. Existence of Competitive Equilibria in Markets with a Continuum of Traders (Robert J. Aumann)
5. Feedback Traders and Stock Return Autocorrelations: Evidence from a Century of Daily Data (Enrique Sentana and Sushil Wadhwani)
6. Earnings news and small traders: An intraday analysis (Charles M.C Lee)
7. Returns to social network capital among traders (Marcel Fafchamps, Bart Minten)
8. System and method for integrating trading operations including the generation, processing and tracking of and trade documents ( Inventors Albert Kwang-Hwa Sun, Tak Ming Chan, Jacqueline Layer, Nicole Gabrielle Rodriguez Toulis, Stephen Pan Cheung)
9. Taxation of Global Trading Operations: Use of Advance Pricing Agreements and Proftt-Split Methodology (Andrew M. Snyder)
10. System architecture pliability and trading operations in tradespace exploration (Brian Mekdeci ;  Adam M. Ross ;  Donna H. Rhodes ;  Daniel Hastings)
11. Tool for building documents for commerce in trading partner networks and interface definitions based on the documents (Bart Alan Meltzer, Terry Allen, Matthew Daniel Fuchs, Robert John Glushko, Murray Maloney)
12. Electronic trading on futures exchanges (Sarkar, Asani; Tozzi, Michelle)
13. Trading Places: Industries for Free Trade (Helen Milner)
14. Residual Risk, Trading Costs, and Commodity Futures Risk Premia (David Hirshleifer)
15. Risk measurement when shares are subject to infrequent trading  (Elroy Dimson)
16. Corporate Control, Insider Trading, and Rates of Return (Harold Demsetz)
17. Diversification in Banking: Is Noninterest Income the Answer? (Kevin J. Stiroh)
18. Development of a Web‐based enterprise collaborative platform for networked enterprises (W.B. Lee, C.F. Cheung, H.C.W. Lau, K.L. Choy)
19. The adoption of Internet-based stock trading: a conceptual framework and empirical results (Lawrence Loh & Yee-Shyuan Ong)
20. A Social Theory of the WTO Trading (Ford, Jane)