TradeSmarter (Not a Broker) Review
| Broker | TradeSmarter (Not a Broker) |
|---|---|
| US Traders Accepted | |
| Company Name | Market Punter Pty Ltd. |
| Headquarters | Limassol, Cyprus |
| Regulation | Registered in Australia (ACN 137 016 490) |
| Max Payout | 85% |
| Out-of-Money Reward | 10% |
| Trading Platform | TradeSmarter |
| Deposit Options | Credit/debit card, local payment, Skrill, wire transfer |
| Deposit Currencies | EUR, GBP, USD |
| Minimum Deposit | $250 |
| Minimum Trade | $10 |
| Maximum Trade | $2,500 |
| Online Since | 2008 |
| Trading Instruments | Forex, Commodities, Stocks, Indices |
| Number of Trading Instruments | 55 |
| Binary Option Types | Call/Put |
| Customer Support Types | Live chat, email, phone (not toll free) |
| Tools Offered | Blog (fundamental updates), economic calendar, free and live webinars, glossary, binary options wiki. Free training for account holders who deposit certain amounts on joining. |
| Commission | $30 fee for wire transfer |
| Languages | English, Arabic, Russian, French, Spanish, Italian, Latvian, Chinese, Dutch, Korean |
| Demo Account | Yes |
TradeSmarter is no longer a broker but a trading platform provider. The review below is no longer applicable.
TradeSmarter is a binary options company operated by Market Punter Pty Ltd., and is based in Limassol, Cyprus. They have the distinction of being the first binary options broker to become regulated by ASIC (the Australian Security and Investments Commission), #AFSL 223682. They are closed to US traders but accept traders from other countries around the globe. While the regulation is definitely a recommending factor, there are a number of areas where TradeSmarter could use some work, the most obvious being their website, which is outdated, inconsistent in some places, and also buggy. Hopefully this is a temporary issue, but it doesn’t look promising in light of some of the dates on their old blog entries.
Getting Started with TradeSmarter
Getting started is actually one of those areas where TradeSmarter appears to need some work. When we went to register an account, we were unable to do so on Opera, Internet Explorer, or Chrome. In Opera, nothing happened, and in the other two browsers, we were told that TradeSmarter did not accept traders from our country for regulatory reasons. We even found this to be the case for countries which we know TradeSmarter serves, so this must be a website bug. Hopefully they will fix it soon; otherwise they will probably have a tough time getting new customers.
Deposit options include credit card, local payment, Skrill, and wire transfer, and you may deposit in USD, GBP, or EUR. The minimum deposit is listed as 250 GBP, EUR, or USD. We found a blog entry stating in 2011 that the minimum deposit had been reduced to 100 USD, but if that is still the case, they haven’t updated their FAQ to reflect it. After your first deposit you can deposit as little as 1 USD on your next deposit, which we have to admit is very flexible and friendly.
TradeSmarter does offer bonuses to traders who have turned over 15 times the amount of the bonus. The wording in the FAQ implies that you literally cannot get the bonus until you unlock it with that turnover, so it seems to be a genuine cash bonus, as opposed to the leverage style bonuses most brokers offer. Leverage bonuses can help you build up your account, or they can help you to go broke more quickly, so they come with two edges. An actual cash bonus on the other hand is literally a positive reward for doing business with the company.
The maximum payout per trade is 85% and the average out of reward money may vary from 0-10%. The trading platform is also called TradeSmarter, and is proprietary. There is a blog entry from a couple years ago stating that the company was working on a mobile application, but no indication that the mobile application was ever finished. Sadly there is no way to view the trading platform on the website (except in screenshots) if you can’t register, though this could be because we stopped by on a weekend. Call/Put trades are available, though oddly there aren’t any indications that other types of trades are offered. The website says “Over 90 trading instruments,” but we only counted 55. The minimum trade size is 10 USD and the maximum is 2500 USD, which is a pretty good range.
An old blog entry mentions that TradeSmarter offers a demo account, though there was no separate page that discussed the details surrounding the demo offer. If you decide to join TradeSmarter, be sure to ask customer service about how you can demo before you go live, since demo testing is a very important step to take in your trading.
Customer Service and Trading Resources
Customer service is offered via email, phone (not toll free), and live chat. Live chat does not staff the desk on weekends, so we didn’t get a chance to say hello. Trading resources include an FAQ (though this is for the site, not for trading education), a blog (includes some updates on financial news to help with fundamental analysis, as well as sections on technical analysis and types of trades), an economic calendar, free and live webinars, a glossary, and a binary options wiki. There is free training included for account holders who deposit more when they open their accounts. Honestly, there is not a whole lot on the site, at least not much that is comprehensive, but it seems like they may offer more to their VIP account holders.
Conclusion
TradeSmarter has a few things going for it; they’re operated by a regulated company, which is a huge plus, and they also seem to take a reasonable stance on bonuses, deposit minimums, and trade sizes. Given the flexibility on deposit minimums and trade sizes, it’d be hard to be completely negative about this broker. Plus, they apparently offer a demo account, and that’s great.
The company’s website is the main reason we don’t feel very confident while visiting. The site gives every sign of being operated by a company that has started to let things slide. Most of the information we were able to find was literally contained in the blog entries, and most of them were dated. The FAQ linkups don’t work. The registration form is broken. One of the trading resources pages leads to a page which states, “Page not found.” The site provides contradicting information about the number of assets available to trade and the minimum deposit for a first time customer. In general, it’s really hard to find information while attempting to navigate the website, and it’s especially difficult to get a good look at the platform before trading.
To be reasonable, there could be explanations for this other than the company letting business go. Perhaps they’re in the process of doing a massive overhaul or update on their site, though if so, there is no clear notice about it. Still, we like to give people the benefit of a doubt. Right now however there are other binary options brokers we’d be far more likely to recommend. If a company is so slow to update its site and fix site errors, it’s hard to imagine they’d be any hastier to resolve any problems you might be having with your account.
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