StartOptions

StartOptions is allegedly located in Hong Kong at Two International Finance Centre Level 19, Two International Finance Centre 8 Finance Street Central. They are not regulated and the name of the owning/operating company is not listed on the website or in their Terms and Conditions. These should be the first warning signs.

Is StartOptions Scam?

Their website is full of bizarre claims, there’s no trace of a company name and the address cannot be verified. Furthermore, it is not clear what they actually do: Mining? Trading? Both? No matter how hard I tried I couldn’t locate a trading platform, so I guess trading is out of the question. Ok, that leaves mining… but according to them, mining means investing in a cryptocurrency and holding for 90 days. According to everyone else on this planet, that is NOT cryptocurrency mining.

But let’s stick to this section’s title: Is StartOptions a Scam? I have a strong feeling the answer is Yes. But there’s no place for feelings when money is involved, right? And because I don’t have any hard proof, I cannot say they are scam. But maybe we can find an answer with the help of their traffic numbers: zero or a few hundred visits monthly for a few years and all of a sudden in December 2017 they reached almost 95K visits. That’s probably because of their re-branding as a Bitcoin mining/trading site. Most of the traffic comes from the United States and we know Americans are big cryptocurrency fans.

Editor’s Note – Why does StartOptions Suck in 50 Words

StartOptions stands in a point where change is needed to keep up with the modern trading technology already available. Now that they’ve switched to Bitcoin mining and auto trading, I am more confused than ever with this exchange or brokerage (whatever they are). Their FAQ still has information about Calls and Puts but there’s no trading platform (at least not one that I can find), they say they offer cryptocurrency mining but holding for 90 days is not mining… so they suck because they confuse the ### out of me.

Why doesn’t StartOptions Suck in 50 Words

Since we last visited them, they made a “skin change” to their website and the new layout is better, although the main things remain the same. The lack of trading options and the relatively low number of assets could harm the trading experience, but it could also help beginners get going smoothly. Sometimes less is better, but I really don’t know how that would hold up in today’s competition.

The new Bitcoin craze has taken the world by storm so if you want to invest, they offer you the opportunity. I am not saying you should take it or that it’s a good opportunity, but hey, SmartOptions doesn’t suck if you are in dire need to spend some money you don’t need. You could as well throw it out the window. Windows don’t suck…

Should I Open an Account with StartOptions

Launched in early 2010, StartOptions used the TradeSmarter platform and was managed by TradeCharge Ltd, a company incorporated under the laws of Cyprus. Similar to the other platforms for binary options trading, Start Options Platform was 100% web-based and used the technology of TradeSmarter so there was no need to download and install software.

After a few years without traffic, the website is revitalized again but now under a new face: they offer cryptocurrency (Bitcoin) automated trading, manual trading, and mining. You can choose between 100% mining or 30% trading and 70% mining so apparently, there’s no option to simply trade. Also, they say that you can trade manually but on their homepage, they describe their services as: “1. Become member 2. Initial Deposit 3. Choose agent 4. Earn your profit.”

Basically, you give them some money (minimum 1000 USD) and then expect to get a return on investment but they don’t exactly say how that profit will be made. There’s no education section on their website, no tutorials, no information really. All I could find was a bit of marketing talk about their platform which is developed in-house and “one of the leading platforms available in the industry today” (of course, duh). According to the same part of the website, you can use stop loss and take profit orders as well as 300:1 leverage. This kind of leverage is unheard of in the Bitcoin space, so I seriously doubt they really allow you to use it.
StartOptions “superiority” over most other Brokers is probably the Insurance system: according to them, each account is insured up to 100% of the initial investment. I don’t really understand how that works: if I invest in Bitcoin and the price drops, they will give me back my loss? I seriously doubt it

So why does StartOptions Suck? Because to make it simple – beginners will not find what they are looking for in StartOptions and more experienced traders will immediately recognize this for what it is. I don’t have to say it – you know.

StartOptions Complaints

At thatsucks.com we do the research, you get the results! We simply search different forums and trading sites, looking for any StartOptions complaints, scam alerts, frauds and so. Try it yourselves! Anyway, searching for StartOptions complaints is not an easy task. We couldn’t find more than one or two comments regarding StartOptions, therefore we cannot establish a firm conclusion.

After the new Bitcoin facelift, I could find a few comments that confirmed my suspicions: StartOption is a Ponzi scheme that pays existing clients from the money brought in by the new ones. However, I couldn’t find any complaints coming from people that invested in this website.

StartOptions Bonus

Since they’ve started to offer the new Bitcoin package, they stopped offering any type of bonus, which is pretty normal in my opinion.

StartOptions Withdrawal

In the past we couldn’t find any information regarding the minimum or maximum withdrawal amounts, and this hasn’t changed so we still don’t know the limits. Withdrawals can be made via credit card, wire transfers, and Bitcoin. There are no fees according to the website but that information is not always reliable.

StartOptions Ratings

 User Friendly 10/20

Start Options was using 100% web-based TradeSmarter platform, but during our most recent visit we couldn’t locate a trading platform, so the product they offer is still pretty much unknown. That is definitely not user-friendly!

The website is still a little messy, even after the recent “skin change” as they call it, but there is some improvement. Start Options doesn’t offer its customers any understandable demos or other extra binary options tutorials to simplify and explain how things work.

No. of Assets and Expiry time 7/20

The only asset they offer is Bitcoin. As mentioned before, they say you can trade it manually or you can invest and have your money managed (bad idea, if you ask me). Another option is to invest and hold for 90 days, a process which they call “mining”. I have to say it again: this is NOT mining. I guess you can say the only expiry time is 90 days but the return is unknown.

Commissions, Support and Effective return 9/20

StartOptions do not charge any fees or commissions from investors when they deposit or purchase their package. There are no commissions for withdrawals either. Live Chat doesn’t work as you are only able to leave a message and the effective return is unknown.

Deposit, Payment and Bonus 10/20

Minimum deposit is huge: 1,000 USD. Deposit is available via wire transfer, some unspecified e-wallets, and Bitcoin. Withdrawals are available via the same methods but the limits are unspecified. They don’t offer a Bonus.

Website Extra’s 10/20

They offer some form of Bitcoin investing but the whole thing is poorly explained. Nonetheless, Bitcoin trading and investing is new to binary options traders so I will include it in the Extra category.

Start Options Rating: 46/100

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