Stay Safe – Your Guide to Binary Options Survival, Newbies and Veterans
Stay Safe – Survival of the Fittest!
Scared of getting scammed or ripped off? Are you sure your broker is playing by the books? Why not take measures to be on the safe side, better safe than sorry, right? As in any other business it’s important to keep your eyes open and know how to avoid possible scams and pitfalls that can get in the way of profitable binary options trading. There are a few ways you can protect yourself and I am here to tell you how. Obviously all brokers aren’t bad but not reading the terms and conditions can cause trouble if you agree to things you had no idea about. Here is your guide to surviving the world of binary options trading.
Evidence & Awareness
First and foremost; not getting shady brokers is a good start but it doesn’t mean you can put your guard down! Staying safe begins with your level of awareness, which means you keep your eyes open and look for evidence. Does the broker claim they are regulated? If so then investigate if they really are regulated or ask them to show you evidence. After that the next thing you need to do is the seemingly boring task of reading through the broker’s terms and conditions. Even though it’s a dirty trick to add unfavorable rules in the terms and conditions it still is your responsibility to read them. Think about it, anything can be written in there, so don’t just agree to it in good faith.
I would go one step further and advise you to save the terms and conditions on your drive in case the broker changes them without your knowledge. Bonus terms and conditions are as important to read and understand. There are many rules surrounding bonuses that can become quite a hurdle to withdrawing profits. Keep track of the bonus volume you have generated by making your own calculations and comparing with what the customer service or your account manager claims. Wile you’re at it make sure you take a screen shot of any emails they write you and save any response you get, just in case! I suggest you create a file on your drive for your trading. In this file save screen shots, the terms and conditions, bonus calculations and other documentation you generate.
If you suspect price manipulation when trading you should start recording your trades. Take pictures or use a recording software to capture your screen with just a click of a button. Having proof, like a video or a picture of your trades acting suspicious makes it harder for the broker to deny, thus you can get a refund. It is also wise to compare the brokers price feed with at least another source. Usually there is a slight difference which is alright but the broker’s platform can crash or act strangely during an update so if you have another source you can notice if there is a significant change in the price. Not having a reference to compare with, leaves you vulnerable to trade with any price the broker likes. Most of us use MetaTrader 4 but there are other charting software.
Keep your Money Safe
Feeling uncomfortable leaving all your money with some broker located in some other country ? Then one solution is frequent withdrawals, which I recommend anyway. It is a good idea to be sure the withdrawal process works and to remove excess funds as profits accumulate in your account. Unfortunately, withdrawing your funds regularly is not always the easiest thing to do. For some of us it may mean an exchange rate or wire fee for withdrawing to our bank in our country of residence. Well, good news! Many brokers offer free withdrawals to certain Moneybookers and other eWallets, which are my preferred method of banking. You can open an account with a with the same currency as with your binary account. This way you’ll be able to “park” your funds with a Moneybooker. Whenever you need your funds you can just deposit them back in with the broker again and thus, you avoid being exposed to double exchange rates! So keep your money safe, make regular withdrawals to a trusted Moneybooker.
Promises
Account managers can be helpful but they can lie too, not everything is true and some of the things are can be misleading so ask for proof. It is possible for brokers to make mistakes, they are human, they can forget things too or your manager may quit or get fired. Therefore, it’s a smart idea to ask for some kind of confirmation of whatever it is the two of you have arranged. The confirmation can be as simple as taking a print screen of your chat conversation or saving the e-mail response you got from your account manager. If you have it on e-mail/screenshot like a contract you can prove that you were promised the benefits that were discussed – even if your account manager quits or forgets the deal.
Survival of the Fittest!
In order to avoid getting fooled stay informed, look for the evidence and keep your documentation. This can be boring when you are eager to start trading but what sucks even more is not being able to withdraw your funds because you overlooked facts in the terms and conditions. Nothing is flawless, even the broker’s platform can crash or show the wrong price. Make sure you are one step ahead, compare your charts with other sources and charting soft wares and record your trades. Save yourself from a lot of trouble and save all the documents about whatever the agreement is about. In conclusion, this is about survival of the fittest. The fittest are the ones that are aware of the facts and take care of themselves. Be safe!