OptionBit
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  • OptionBit

  • Regulated:  CySEC
Broker Name: OptionBit
Platform: Tradologic
Founded: 2010
Bonus: Case Basis
Return/Refund: 70-85%/0%
No. Of Assets: 100+
Regulated: CySEC
Demo Account: No
Minimum Deposit: 250
US Traders: Not Accepted
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OptionBit Review

by Martin Kay

Launched on May 2010, OptionBit was formerly owned by Novox Capital Ltd. which used to be regulated by CySEC. Today, it is under new management. The new company is Top Volume Solutions Limited and provides a fake address: office at Suite 4, 1st Floor, 23 Engineer Lane, providence industrial estate. They claim to be regulated in Gibraltar by the “Gibraltar Securities and Exchange Commission” (does not exist) with the following Company number: 109085. The real Gibraltar regulator is Gibraltar Financial Services Commission that strictly warns against engaging with Top Volume Solutions Limited! The company, Top Volume Solutions, is not regulated by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) nor the Gibraltar FSC. Furthermore, OptionBit.com is also in the French regulator’s (AMF) warning list.

Update March 2017: This brokerage continues to puzzle us: a recent visit showed that OptionBit is owned by Novox Capital Ltd… again. Now there’s no trace of Top Volume Solutions Limited and we don’t know what the story behind this new change is. We cannot confirm if the domain/brokerage was sold back to the initial owners (Novox) or what exactly happened and all this looks like a tangled spider web, with back and forth changes.

What we know is that CySEC’s website lists optionbit.eu as an approved domain of Novox Capital Ltd, which is a regulated Cypriot Investment Firm (CIF) under licence number 224/14 and a listed address at 4 Michael Georgalla Street, 2409 Engomi, Cyprus. A big fine was recently dished out by the Cypriot watchdog but I’ll give you more information about it in the Regulatory Warnings and Announcements section below.

 

Is OptionBit Scam?

OptionBit certainly posses a scam threat and if you ask me I would look elsewhere. Both the French and Gibraltar financial authorities have issued warnings against dealing with OptionBit and the new owner, Top Volume Solutions Limited that claims to be regulated in Gibraltar. Due to this change of management, OptionBit is no longer regulated by CySEC either. Furthermore, since we did the review, the number of complaints on OptionBit has increased regarding withdrawals, price manipulations and more.

The FSC says this about Top Volume Solutions: “The FSC has received information about websites operated in the name of these companies*, for which the company secretary has resigned and also filed a ‘Notice that the company does not have authority to use the address it has registered’ at Companies House. References are made on these websites to the companies’ former registered office addresses in Gibraltar, as if this was where the websites were operating from. The FSC has received complaints from customers, where they describe having been unable to withdraw funds placed into trading accounts operated by these websites or otherwise experienced difficulties when attempting to obtain monies owed to them. None of these companies are or were regulated by the FSC, nor licensed under the Financial Services (Markets in Financial Instruments) Act 2006, to carry on investment business in or from within Gibraltar.” *Company = Top Volume Solutions and a few others.

Please read more here below, under “OptionBit Complaints” on how to proceed in case you are already involved with OptionBit.

Update March 2017: The new change of owning company makes things even shadier and makes us trust them even less. Now the brokerage changed hands again and is owned by the previous company Novox Capital Ltd. So as far as we know, OptionBit was owned by Novox, Capital then by Top Volume Solutions and now by Novox Capital again. Be extra careful if dealing with this brokerage but maybe it’s better to stay away completely.

As far as web traffic is concerned, OptionBit is having troubles: during the last 6 months, their highest visit count (on optionbit.eu) was 55K (in October 2016), which is very thin, considering that the big brokerages easily surpass the 1 million mark. Ever more worrying is that in January 2017, they only had a little over 10K visits, which is almost a sign of a brokerage’s “last breath”. Not sure what’s happening, but it can’t be good. The website optionbit.com is doing better, with over 100K visits in January 2017.

As a special note, I have to warn against OptionDot (optiondot.com) because this brokerage shows the name OptionBit all over their website. I have no idea what type of relation the two websites have, but both are a bad choice if you ask me.

 

Please Avoid: Too many doubts regarding this broker. We have at least 3 more brokers available at your location. get started with a Trusted Broker Now!

 

Editor’s Note – Why does OptionBit Suck in 50 Words?

OptionBit sucks because they went from being a CySEC regulated broker to an unregulated broker with new ownership. They were acting unfavourably towards their clients even under the CySEC regulation and are now fully unauthorized. What’s even more alarming is the fact that the new company claims to be regulated in Gibraltar and that’s an outright lie!

Update March 2017: OptionBit is again under the ownership of the previous company and thus regulated by the CySEC. But all this back and forth business covered in uncertainty makes them suck even more. Why did they change from Novox to Top Volume Solutions and then back? I don’t know, but this lack of information and transparency sucks big time.

 

Why OptionBit doesn’t Suck?

Despite a few interesting platform features and decent candlestick charts, they are operating illegally and therefore, there are no good reasons for why you should trade with this broker. What good is a nice looking trading platform and website if you can’t even withdraw?

 

 

Should I Open an Account with OptionBit?

Like most new Binary Options Brokers platforms, OptionBit platform is 100% web based (available on 9 different languages) and does not require any software to be downloaded. OptionBit trades on TradoLogic, and is protected by Godaddy SSL. OptionBit trading platform is based on the most advanced Binary Options trading systems in the industry, equipped with many efficient tools such as Range, Touch and Digital trade or other In-Trade tools like Close Now and Extend options. You can see multiple charts by clicking on the “Multi” button in the upper right corner of the chart. Update March 2017: OptionBit offers Advanced Charts powered by TradingView.

OptionBit offers a variety of VIP accounts each with different services and perks. The best perk here is the 2 free withdrawals per month but the deposit amount of 10,000$ is way too high. There are other brokers that offer completely free withdrawals with much smaller deposits and even higher returns! Update March 2017: They’ve introduced a new account called Diamond, which requires a minimum investment of 50,000$. We recommend you stay away from such an account or better yet, from this brokerage.

Not long ago, OptionBit introduced Algobit which is a software that enables you to trade manually or you can let the Algobit follow the signals it produces. I am not a big fan of robots and software as they usually just blow the account. Based on what we have found (see Is OptionBit a scam & OptionBit Complaints below) we can be certain the Algobit is another method for wiping trader’s accounts.

You can trade Binary Options, Short Term, One Touch and Range on the platform and the asset’s index is pretty good, offering 90 assets. You can select a refund in advance on expired options or get to prolong your expiry by using the ‘Extend’ tool or close your position before it expires by using the ‘Close’ tool. The AutoTrade is a new feature that makes it easier for you to execute continuous trades in a trending market. This feature uses the winning Martingale system which is actually a good thing since it will only invest the winning sum each time it reopens a new trade. The trades will stop if a trade results in a loss.

Choosing a Binary Options Broker is not easy at all. Much research has to be done and every potential trader has to do his own Cons and Pros list to draw a certain conclusion. OptionBit still has its disadvantages. But the biggest disadvantages are the serious complaints that have increased and because of the warnings issued by FSC and AMF, we now know which way OptionBit has decided to go – the wrong way. Better to avoid this broker!

 

OptionBit Complaints

Apparently, OptionBit can and will close your account if they don’t like your trading. Binary options brokers don’t really like traders who win and recently there have been a few complaints about this matter in our Comments section below. We are not sure what is considered abusive trading by OptionBit and what are the exact conditions that can get your account closed. However, more has come to our attention as of December 2015.

There are serious complaints regarding price manipulations where people have recorded evidence of their trades. You don’t have to go far to find these complaints, just scroll down and check out our comment section here below. A couple Google searches will also lead you to hundreds of further complaints on OptionBit. In many cases the account managers have either placed losing trades or manipulated customers to execute losing trades when they have requested for a withdrawal. This is a typical technique scam brokers use to avoid paying out. Extremely delayed withdrawals are a common practice too but the soon as you start doing “well” the payouts stop coming and price manipulation becomes a fact.

More complaints on OptionBit other than in our own comment section can be found here:
Tradecomplaint.com
Complaintsboard.com
BinaryOptionsEdge.com
BinaryOptionsPost.com

Update March 2017: Complaints about OptionBit are flooding the Internet, ranging from unauthorised deposits (money is taken from clients’ CC and sent to their binary account) to price manipulation and to unauthorised trades done by OptionBit representatives on clients’ accounts. On one of the largest forums for complaints and much more (forexpeacearmy.com), OptionBit was given a “Guilty” verdict on a case opened by a client (Source: FPA Moraks vs. OptionBit). Over the years, ForexPeaceArmy’s Court has become a very well respected venue and a Guilty verdict there is kind of a big deal, which just goes to show that our reticence about this brokerage is not unfounded.

 

Please Avoid: We have found too many complaints concerning this broker. Why taking a risk with a shady broker when you can get started with a Trusted Broker Now!

 

OptionBit Regulatory Warnings and Announcements

15.02.2017: CySEC announced that on 05/12/2016 imposed a fine of 175,000 Euro on Novox Capital Ltd (which is the current owner of OptionBit). The biggest portion of the fine (70,000 Euro) was given for providing investment advice and portfolio management services without having the appropriate authorization. The CySEC also noted that Novox Capital failed to act fairly and in the best interest of their clients. Source: CySEC Board Decision.

 

OptionBit Bonus

In the Promotions section, OptionBit informs us that the bonus is 30% for a $200 investment, 50% for an investment of $1000 and 75% if you deposit $10 000, while the wager is 30 times the deposit.

Update March 2017: According to their Promotions page, for a $200 deposit you will receive a 30% bonus, for a $500 deposit the bonus is 40% and finally for a $1,000 deposit you will receive a 50% bonus. According to their Accounts page, they now feature a Welcome Bonus and a Loyalty Bonus but no other info is provided here. According to their Terms and Conditions, they do not offer any type of bonuses. If this is confusing to you, then you are not alone because it’s confusing to me as well. However, they state that some benefits may be offered, in line with CySEC’s circular C168.

 

OptionBit Withdrawal

Here at Bots.com we care about withdrawal, even more then we care about depositing. At OptionBit, the maximum withdrawal for C.C cannot exceed the initial deposit amount (there’s a limit), same as many other brokers. OptionBit claims that a withdrawal should only take 7 business days if all of the required documents are sent and verified. Every account gets one free withdrawal per month. VIP (10K+) gets two free withdrawals per month. Any other withdrawals cost $30. 2015 Edit: Withdrawals are dilatory and can at times take over a month. If you are doing well with your trading, expect your withdrawal days to be over.

Update March 2017: Only one withdrawal per month is free and VIP account holders now benefit from speedy withdrawals that take 3-5 working days, not the usual 7. However, given all the problems mentioned so far in this review, we believe that withdrawals may take much longer than that.

 
 

OptionBit Ratings

User Friendly 16/20

OptionBit website offers 100% based Tradologic trading platform. The platform isn’t the most user friendly trading experience but nevertheless, the site is nicely organized, clean and switching between asset categories is easy, especially since the recent improvements they did. Another downside is the OptionBit trading tutorial which is unattractive and not easy at all to read. Site is available in 9 languages.

 

No. of Assets and Expiry time 16/20

Total of 100+ assets: 28 currency pairs, 9 commodities, 23 Indices and 128 stocks. The fastest expiry is 60 seconds as Super Turbo (15 and 30 seconds) is not available anymore.

 

Commissions, Support and Effective return 14/20

The OptionBit Effective return adds up to 80%, which is between average to high compared to other Binary Options Brokers, but they do not offer any refund in case of Out-Of-Money. The OptionBit support is available via 4 international numbers in the US, UK, France and Spain, by email, call back request (international and multi-lingual) and the live chat which is extremely effective and answered within very few minutes.

Although they are quick to answer, the live chat is only available from 8:00 AM to 6:00 PM Monday to Friday. Also, at the moment of writing this review, they still haven’t solved the T & C issue as they promised. I never got to read it and if you can’t read it either, you should find another broker because knowing what you are signing up on is very important!!

Update March 2017: Only one monthly withdrawal is free and the rest carry a fee of $30. Their Live Chat is not available. I tried to contact them in the middle of a working day (GMT time) and all I got was a message to email them.

 

Deposit, Payment and Bonus 14/20

Depositing is only available via credit cars or wire transfer or skrill. The minimum deposit is average compared to Binary Options Brokers- 250$ and the minimum trade amount is 10-20$$. OptionBit Bonus adds up to 500$ from the very first deposit, and the investor can purchase options for as much as 5000$ per option which is very competitive in the industry. Payment is available by credit cards. The bonus is up to 75%.

Update March 2017: They’ve introduced new methods for deposits/withdrawals, among which: Webmoney, Yandex and Qiwi. OptionBit does not offer any bonus according to their T&C’s but according to the website they do. The turnover is not specified anywhere. 

 

Website Extra’s 10/20

A good extra feature is the Extend and Close now options, which allows investors to extend or close a trade before the expiry time. OptionBit demo is available and enables amateurs to trade with virtual cash before they make real trades, however, it’s only available after the initial deposit. The best extra feature, added after the website update is the Advanced Chart feature which allows you to actually conduct technical analysis. Their newest feature is the AutoTrader and the Algobit software. With Algobit you can trade either manually by following signals that it generates or simply letting the software itself trade for you.There are two new recent features added to the platform. Dynamic Payout; where traders can in advance select their profit-to-loss ratio from 0% up to 20% with 5% increments. And finally, Super Turbo; trade within 15, 30 and 45 seconds expiries.

Update March 2017: The following features are now gone or sent to a dark corner where I couldn’t find them: Demo account, AlgoBit, Dynamic Payout and Super Turbo.

 

OptionBit Overall Score + Regulated +3 = 73/100

WARNING: This broker has been rated below average by our members and team. We found 3 Recommended Brokers for You