Forest Park Review
| Broker | Forest Park |
|---|---|
| US Traders Accepted | |
| Company Name | Ambassador Capital Management |
| Headquarters | USA |
| Regulation | Registered with CFTC and NFA (#0457189) |
| Max Payout | 84% |
| Out-of-Money Reward | 0% |
| Trading Platform | SpotOption |
| Early Closure | |
| Deposit Options | Wire transfer, e-check |
| Deposit Currencies | US dollar |
| Minimum Deposit | $100 |
| Minimum Trade | $1 |
| Online Since | 2015 |
| Trading Instruments | Currencies, indices, commodities |
| Number of Trading Instruments | 7 |
| Binary Option Types | Ladder-style High/Low trades |
| Customer Support Types | Web form, email, phone |
| Education Offered | Glossary, FAQ, how-to pages |
| Tools Offered | Market reviews, early close |
| Languages | English |
| Demo Account | No |
Forest Park is very different from most of the binary options brokers you may have encountered in the past. Whereas the majority of these sites are based in Europe (particularly in Cyprus), Forest Park BX is based in America, owned by the same company that runs Forest Park FX, a business that links up traders with Forex brokers.
Forest Park BX is also unusual in a couple of other respects. First is the fact that they only accept traders from the USA. If you are located anywhere else in the world, you will have to look elsewhere for a broker. Second is the fact that they are regulated by the CFTC and NFA, license #0457189. This is really quite incredible, as it makes them the first binary options broker to earn this distinction.
At first I was not going to recommend Forest Park BX, because I thought that the site was hanging up on me. But then I figured out what was going on, thanks to awesome customer service.
Fee-Free Deposits and Withdrawals
Your deposit options are pretty limited here; you need to use wire transfer or e-check to pay (no credit or debit cards). USD is the only account currency, though that is just fine since this company only accepts US traders anyway. The minimum deposit is $100, so this company is aiming its services at traders with small bankrolls. Right now there are no account tiers. There are no fees for deposits or withdrawals at all, which is excellent, though there is still a $50 withdrawal threshold.
The registration process is pretty straightforward, but more in-depth than you may be used to. You fill out the form to provide your basic information, and then you are taken to another page where you fill out a questionnaire which covers legal aspects of your history. Then you provide information about your occupation and your finances, and then you can finally make a deposit if you wish (the FAQ claims that a deposit is mandatory to register, but it isn’t).
Not a Lot of Bells and Whistles
Forest Park BX is severely lacking when it comes to educational resources and trading tools. Aside from market reviews and the ability to close out of trades early if they are not working out for you, there is nothing in the way of tools to manage your trades or plan them. Educational resources are limited to a glossary, FAQ, and a really basic page discussing what binary options are and how to trade them. While I do not think this is Forest Park BX’s top priority area, it would be nice to see some videos and tutorials and maybe some account tiers that offer more services.
I also would like to mention that there is no demo account provided on this site. While demo accounts are a sadly lacking feature throughout the binary options world, they should be present everywhere. It is extremely important to practice first with virtual money before you trade with real money.
What bothers me about Forest Park BX is that there is actually a page where they try to convince you that demo testing is something you should forego, and that you can only really learn by trading “small amounts” of real money. This is irresponsible advice, and surprises me coming from a CFTC-regulated company. Even if they do not want to offer a demo account, they should not try to defend that decision by telling traders that they should skip demo if they want to succeed.
Some Site Defects
I thought I was having a problem at first. The platform is SpotOption. But it did not load. In fact, if you try to hit the mobile version of the site (which does exist), it does not load at all—they are probably still working on this. But on a laptop, I could not get the regular trade page to load on Chrome or IE. I just get a series of blank tabs and an indication that “Ladder trading is not available right now.” I’ll come back to that in a moment.
The site only lists seven assets to trade at this time. This list will presumably grow in the future. Ladder-style High/Low options are available to trade. The minimum trade size is $1. This is actually denoted as “1 lot of $1.” This takes some getting used to, but it is easy to learn and calculate what you would be investing.
Also noteworthy is the fact that this adapted SpotOption platform has a few other distinctions from European counterparts as well. For example, instead of listing that a trade pays out 84%, you might see it listed as paying $0.84 cents on the dollar. This requires some adjustment in thinking if you are used to trading on European broker sites, but the basic principles at work here are all the same.
Awesome Customer Service
What if you need help with your account, or have a question about trading? There is no live chat for customer support, which is unfortunate, but you can contact customer via telephone, paper mail, or email. I filled out the form with a few questions, including about the non-loading platform.
Now, normally binary options brokers completely blow off my emails, forever. Imagine my shock when within five minutes, the owner of the company personally wrote me and answered all my questions. As it turns out, the platform loads blank like that during off-hours. In a few minutes, it was up and running and looked great. I am seriously impressed with this kind of swift communication. He didn’t hard-sell me either, and he wrote several helpful follow-up emails.
Conclusion: An Exciting Work in Progress
This is a broker that shows unique promise. It is an experiment in CFTC-regulated binary options, and that is laudable. It is a work in progress, and could still use major improvements in some areas. But in general, I am really pleased with what I have seen, especially when it comes to customer service. I particularly have high hopes for Forest Park because their FX site connects traders to reputable brokers which offer great flexibility and reliable trade execution. If Forest Park BX seeks to emulate those same high standards on their own binary options site, they could have a bright future ahead of them.