OptionFair (Shut Down) Review
| Broker | OptionFair (Shut Down) |
|---|---|
| US Traders Accepted | |
| Company Name | B.O. Tradefinancials Ltd. |
| Headquarters | Limassol, Cyprus |
| Regulation | CySEC (license #216/13, withdrawn) |
| Max Payout | 85% |
| Out-of-Money Reward | 10% |
| Trading Platform | TechFinancials |
| Early Closure | |
| Deposit Options | Credit/debit card, wire transfer, Western Union, MoneyGram, Skrill, Neteller, QIWI, WebMoney, iDEAL, UnionPay, Abaqoos |
| Deposit Currencies | US dollar, euro, Great Britain pound, Russian ruble, Hungarian forint |
| Minimum Deposit | $300 |
| Minimum Trade | $25 |
| Maximum Trade | $3,000 |
| Online Since | 2009 |
| Trading Instruments | FX, commodities, stocks, indices |
| Number of Trading Instruments | 145 |
| Binary Option Types | High/Low, Short Term, One Touch, No Touch, High Yield Touch, Boundary, High Yield Boundary |
| Customer Support Types | Web form, email, telephone, live chat, paper mail, Google Plus, Twitter, Facebook |
| Education Offered | FAQ, glossary |
| Tools Offered | Early close, double up, rollover, free trade alerts (coming soon), financial news, economic calendar |
| Commission | $30 fee for withdrawals after the first one of the month. $45 monthly fee on inactive accounts. Spreads on FX trades. |
| Languages | English, French, Russian, Hungarian |
| Demo Account | No |
OptionFair has been shut down on March 1, 2018. The review below is presented for the archiving purposes.
OptionFair is a reputable binary options broker which has been around since clear back in 2009. Over the years, this broker has made a number of changes in terms of ownership, regulation, account tiers, bonuses, and features.
The previous owner (when I reviewed this broker last) was Mika Holdings, Inc. Today it is B.O. Tradefinancials Ltd, located in Cyprus. When I first reviewed OptionFair, they had no regulatory status, but as of the time of this writing, they are regulated by CySEC with the license number 216/13. Let’s take a look at what they have to offer.
OptionFair’s parent company – TechFinancials has finalized its IPO process on the London Stock Exchange on March 16, 2015. It is currently one of the few publicly traded binary options operators, which means a lot of transparency compared to other companies.
Opening Your OptionFair Account
Back when I reviewed this company previously, they offered two different types of accounts: Standard and VIP. Today, there are no account tiers. You simply register and make your deposit. No matter how much or how little you deposit, you have access to the same features.
The minimum deposit has increased from $250 to $300. Account currencies you can choose from include US dollar, euro, British pound, Russian ruble, and Hungarian forint. You can make your deposit using Credit or debit card, wire transfer, Western Union, MoneyGram, Skrill, Neteller, QIWI, WebMoney, iDEAL, UnionPay, or Abaqoos. This is a lot more options than used to be available in the past.
OptionFair’s Awesome Bonus Policy
OptionFair does offer bonuses. They are fairly vague as to their nature and amount, but the homepage references a “welcome back offer.” But here is what I want to draw your attention to:
No more wager based trading benefits – All our trading benefits are given in CASH funds directly to your trading account. No volume or turnover is required once the trading benefit has been given and it can be withdrawn at any given moment. A gift is a gift.
This is very exciting! How many brokers offer this kind of bonus policy where the money given to you is really yours? Not a whole lot. In fact, I am not even sure I have ever seen it anywhere else.
Withdrawals and Fees on OptionFair
To withdraw your money, you do not need to meet any kind of minimum threshold. You can take out as little as you want. Your first monthly withdrawal is also free. But if you need to make more withdrawals within the same month, you will have to pay a $30 fee on each of them. This policy is neither the best nor the worst I have seen. If your account is inactive for six months, there is also a $45 monthly maintenance fee.
Trading on OptionFair’s Proprietary Platform
OptionFair is still using a proprietary platform, and it is pretty nice. It has a really great visual appeal, and it is easy to use. On it, you can trade around 145 different currencies, commodities, stocks and indices. In the past, there were only around 40, so they have been added a lot.
Types of trades you can place include High/Low, Short Term, One Touch, No Touch, High Yield Touch, Boundary, and High Yield Boundary. This is a fantastic selection, one of the best I have seen.
The minimum trade size on the site used to be $24, with the maximum set at $5,000. Currently the minimum trade size is $25, and the maximum trade size is $3,000. So the minimum has just barely increased (though it is still higher than I would like), while the maximum has come down a bit. Still, it is higher than the ceiling set by a lot of competing sites.
There used to be almost nothing in the way of trading tools and educational resources on the site. Thankfully that has changed. Along with the FAQ and glossary, there is now financial news and an economic calendar. Double up, rollover, and early closure are offered so you can control your trades while they are live. The site is also planning on offering free trade alerts to all of its customers in the near future. This is a fabulous feature which most sites do not offer except to top tier traders!
Drawbacks
There are two noteworthy drawbacks which I still observe with OptionFair, despite numerous improvements to most areas of the site. The first is that there is still no demo account. The second has to do with customer service.
Basically, I have never had a single good experience with OptionFair’s customer service team — or I should say that I have never had an experience with them, and that is the problem. I have checked the live chat line repeatedly in the past, and I have done it repeatedly recently as well. Not once have I ever seen anyone staffing it. It always just pulls up an email form. This is true whether you are logged in or not, and also seems to be true regardless of the day of the week or the time.
This leads me to believe that the chat line is likely never staffed, which makes its presence on the site a bit misleading. I really hope they will get this fixed at some point and consider providing a live agent to help out customers with questions or concerns.
Conclusion: OptionFair Is Currently Offering More than Ever Before
OptionFair has changed quite a lot over the years. Just to review:
- Unlike in the past, the site is now regulated by CySEC.
- Account tiers are gone, but there are more features for everyone, and more on the way.
- OptionFair has adopted a generous bonus policy where the money they give you is yours with no strings attached.
- A lot more assets are now available to trade.
- There have also been a few other changes to minimum and maximum trade sizes, the minimum deposit, currencies allowed, and so on.
Most of these changes and additions qualify as major improvements. OptionFair still needs to add demo accounts and also needs to work on providing reliable customer service. But in all other respects, this site looks like it is on top of its game.
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