Is IQ Option Legit?

Traders get scammed by brokers often, so it is not uncommon to wonder whether one of the most popular brokers worldwide, IQ Option, is yet another scam – but this time, a famous one. So, has IQ Option gotten away with it or is this broker worthy of its name? We have been reviewing binary options brokers for 7 years and we have made a verdict. Read more in this article to find all the answers.

IQ Option Scam

We can confidently say that through our careful investigation into this broker, we have concluded that IQ Option is not a scam. Quite the opposite – it is truly one of the best and most professional brokers for traders in South Africa. We have listed a few reasons and metrics below to decide whether a broker is trustworthy or a risky business to get involved with. It is not common for a legit broker to hold a valid license especially not in a jurisdiction in the European Union if it was a complete scam. If you are set out to scam and rob people you prefer not to disclose the ownership of a company. It is not possible to obtain a license from CYSEC on Cyprus, a EU member state, if you do not wish to disclose who is the Ultimate Beneficial Owners.

IQ Option Legit Binary Trading

The first thing to look at when considering trading with a new broker is whether this broker is regulated and licensed.

IQ Option is a legit, fully regulated broker with a license in the EU issued by Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC).

IQ Option takes this regulation very seriously, which is an immediate sign of a trustworthy broker that prioritises the safety of its traders. Scam brokers are often non-regulated, fraudulent companies that comply with no rules whatsoever. We do want to point out that IQ Option is not regulated by the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA). When you are trading, transparency is key to a company being considered safe and trustworthy.

Why is binary options broker regulation important?

Regulation implies a set of rules that a brokerage needs to comply with when dealing with your money. Also, regulation implies oversight over business conduct of the broker dealing with your money. It is a promise that you can rest assured when entering a business relationship with a regulated broker such as IQ Option – there is an institution that did the due diligence on the Company operating the broker. This institution checked if they have the resources, the finances, the legal framework and the technological capacity to perform the trading you are about to undertake. If they made a long-term commitment to transparency and following through the regulations.

IQ Option ensures full transparency throughout their entire site with clearly detailed information, a well-explained regulatory status, extensive terms & conditions, data protection principles and banking services.

Is IQ Option Safe?

Yes, we believe it is safe to deposit and withdraw money on IQ option. Do not mistake IQ Option safe as a broker with a safe investment. IQ Option is legit and has a great binary options trading platform. So it is safe you ask? Yes, it is safe to deposit. Your money is available to you at all times and you can withdraw your funds anytime you like. Do not accept any cash bonuses anywhere you trade as it will prevent you from withdrawing at your own convenience. We would like to stress that investing in binary options, cryptocurrencies, binaries, digital options and forex is not by any means safe or secure. Do you understand the difference?

• Yes, IQ Option is legit
• Yes, IQ Option safe to deposit
• Yes, IQ Option safe to withdraw funds from
• NO, trading binary options, in general, cannot be marked as safe and a guaranteed way to (only) earn money. It involves a great risk of the funds you invest. You might predict the wrong direction or trend in the market.

IQ Option turns traders’ safety into a mission

IQ Option makes sure their business model, compliance and terms and conditions are clear and available for anyone to read.

All relevant information is organised and divided into the following categories:

• Terms and Conditions
• Risk Disclosure
• Privacy Policy
• Payment Policy
• Cashback
• Anti-Money Laundering and Know Your Customer policy
• General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)
• Complaints Policy
• Iq option practice account

IQ Option Terms and Conditions – every trader’s must-read

Commonly, South African traders deposit first and then read the Terms and Conditions, if they even read them at all. IQ Option encourages South African traders to first gather all the necessary information prior to investing their money. Terms and Conditions contain all relevant Company information that operates this brokerage and its trading platform. Also, it clarifies all the commonly used terms, that are of importance to all aspects of the trading relationship. Have in mind that opening an account with every broker, including Iqoption, in reality, creates a business relationship, which is defined and regulated by an agreement. This agreement is outlined in the Terms and Conditions so that South African traders can find valuable information regarding binary options trading, different policies and the risks it may entail even before opening an account, thus entering into a business relationship with IQ Option. IQ Option Terms and Conditions, aside for its legal repercussions, are a valuable set of rules and information on the nature of your future relationship with your broker.

IQ Option Risk Policy

Though it seems like a handful or much “too legal” to read, every IQ Option trader should take a read into their Risk Disclosure. As we already mentioned, trading binary options entails risk. To be precise, trading on financial markets of any kind entails risks. To learn what sort of risks you are willing to take by registering an IQ Option account and placing your trades on their trading platform, make sure to at least browse through IQ Option Risk Disclaimer. This document will give you a broader picture of the risky nature of binary options trading. Contradictory as it may sound, all this adds up to considering IQ Option safe.

IQ Option Data Protection Policy

One of the very important criteria when choosing a safe broker is their Privacy policy and its general data protection principles (GDPR). IQ Option continually raises its data protection standards, in terms of traders’ general and personal data they gather. This means they pay much attention to security protocols applied to your personal information and documents gathering process, and once gathered, to how your personal data is stored, protected from misuse and more importantly, how your personal data is being used.  When applied, the general data protection policies follow several key principles:

• Lawfulness, fairness and transparency
• Purpose limitation
• Data minimisation
• Accuracy
• Storage limitation
• Integrity and confidentiality (security)
• Accountability

IQ Option Privacy Policy

Given the nature of your business relationship with IQoption, data exchange is expected and perfectly in place. You will be asked to interact with IQ Option, and so will your device. Some of your communication is obligatory, some is optional and some of the data exchanged is there for the purpose of optimizing your trading experience with IQoption. Here are just some of the data categories you will be exchanging with IQ option:

• Identity Data and KYC Data, such as your full same, date of birth,  gender, identification documents etc
• Contact Data, such as your full place of residence, email address and telephone numbers etc.
• Financial and Banking Data, that includes bank account and payment card details, wallets etc.
• Transaction Data, such as details about on payments, withdrawals, exchanges, trading history, profit, balance, deposited and withdrawal amount methods etc.
• Technical Data includes internet protocol (IP) address, your login data, browser type and version, time zone setting and location, browser plug-in type and versions, operating system and platform, and other technologies on the devices you use to access your IQ Option account and use of cookies stored on your device
• Profile Data includes your Client’s account details, username and password, feedback and/or information received you interacted with IQ Option
• Marketing and Communication Data includes your preferences in receiving marketing from IQ Option and your communication preferences.
• Special Categories of Data/ ‘Sensitive’ Data includes details about your religious, annual income, biometric data, and/or criminal convictions and offences.
• Location Data such as residency country, time zone, and the interface language.
• and many more, all being listed with explanations in the IQ Option Data Protection and Privacy Policy.

IQ Option Payments Policy – every trader’s most beloved rulebook

Next in line of the valuable documents is the IQ Option Payments Policy – a document that contains provisions on the most desired aspects of binary trading – the payouts. Payouts mean profits, or very simple – you traded well and there is a positive balance on your trading account that you can withdraw. All your questions regarding how to deposit, what is the procedure, what payment methods are allowed, how does withdrawal works, how long does it take, what fees are applied – all and much much more is detailed in the Payment Policy document. If there is anything that you might have doubts about or not sure if you understand properly, make sure to contact IQ Option Customer support for a swift helping hand. They are glad to help you grasp all the information, regardless if you are already a client or not.

IQ Option Cashback Policy

This broker does not only care for your data protection, but also cares about your loss protection. Every trader that deposits, can enjoy the benefits of Iqoption Cashback Caps – a handy  safety pin for your potential, and given the risky binary options trading nature, very probable losses. Make sure to check just how Cashback Policy applies to your account, if you decide to register one.

Every relevant document is made public and with a clear purpose – transparency and safety, on both ends – the broker’s and the trader’s side.

Scam brokers, on the other hand, tend to have vague sites with no real information about how they work and whether they comply with any rules. This is intentional, of course, and users are often misled by professional-looking sites and do not seek this type of information when in reality it is extremely important.

IQ Option Complaints

In our 7 years of reviewing binary options brokers we have not received IQ Option complaints. The binary trading platform is very advanced compared to most brokers. The years we offered live support on this site never once did we receive a complaint about IQ Option. Naturally, traders both win and lose money on the platform. You can encounter people on forums and social media complaining that they lost money, but that is because of their trades were not successful and didn’t result in high yields. This we do not consider a complaint but simply part of the risk of trading binaries and CFDs online.

IQ Option Complaints Policy

Along with other corporate policies and taking into account that there is not going to be only successful traders, Iqoption designated a part of their corporate structure to deal with incoming complaints and traders’ grievances. Every received complaint is handled with utmost care, attention and in full discretion. You can submit all your complaints, free of any charge

• by email to [email protected]
• by post to Yiannis Nicolaides Business Center, 33 Agiou Athanasiou Avenue, 4102, Agios Athanasios, Limassol, Cyprus.

Your complaint or grievance will be handled immediately and will be followed up on in due course.

IQ Option Compliance Team will examine all the facts and conduct a thorough investigation, resulting in a mandatory conclusion. Check their full Complaints Policy on details on the Complaints Form and the filling the complaint procedure.

During our IQ Option review we have received no complaints regarding this broker, so we can confidently say that IQ Option is not a scam. South African investors can trade in peace knowing that they are trading with one of the most famous, regulated and licensed brokers worldwide.

Withdrawal and Deposit Experience with a safe broker

Many traders know that the process of withdrawal is commonly a frustrating and long procedure. Some brokers, especially unlicensed companies, do not ever allow users to withdraw their money, which is part of the scam.

IQ Option is one of the only brokers that allows users to begin trading with only $10. They do not call you 20 times to suggest you to deposit $1,000 and offer to trade on your behalf. In essence they do not lie and scam on the phone when you signup. You will have your own time and space to get started.

Low IQ Option minimum deposit in South Africa of $10 is not only rare to find, but speaks deeper into what IQ Option’s priorities really are. You can also withdraw your winnings using the Skrill withdrawal to bank account South Africa as a popular withdrawal method for South Africans. You can also find other non-scam brokers such as binary.com minimum deposit of $5. They want to make binary option trading easily accessible to anyone and even offer a free binary options demo account which allows all South African users to practice before investing any money. This means you can practice on the IQ Option platform for free.

They also have several video tutorials available you can use to understand the process.

What to expect from a scam broker?

Scam brokers never allow users to begin trading with such low minimum deposits and often ask for outrageous sums to only access their platform. This is because their main goal is to scam people into giving money – which they never see again.

Their websites have little or close to no information on the company operating the brokerage. Scam broker usually hides their Terms and Conditions or has none made public. None of the corporate policies we listed in this article exists, or if they do, they are hidden from the traders, and applied to the scam brokers advantage in case you should file a complaint or try to investigate any relevant fact. Also, scam brokers usually do not have a dedicated Customer support service – perhaps an email address that is rarely checked, if at all.  You can actually expect all sorts of lack of transparency, vagueness, lack of open and straightforward communication and lack of support. You can expect a rat race in withdrawals. Most certainly – you can expect super-swift deposit processing, as that is the purpose of their “business model”.

IQ Option a Scam?

The conclusion is that that IQ Option is not a scam, but one of the best brokers for traders in South Africa and the entire African continent. We have no reasons to question the legitimacy of IQ Option and to everyone who asked: “Is IQ Option a Scam?” We can say no. We do not promote or encourage people to trade on scam broker platforms.

In addition, they have a fast-growing online trading platform that caters to absolutely anyone. Don’t believe us? Let the numbers speak for themselves:

IQ Option is home to more than 20 million active traders worldwide. Their platform processes around 3 million transactions per day, while the money withdrawn by traders every month has risen from $500,000 in 2014 to $9.7 million by the end of 2019.

The IQ Option trading platform does not work with any 3rd party binary options robot and not even the best binary robots can compare themselves with IQoption. We saw a few years ago that IQ option wanted to ride the wave of binary robots with their IQ Option Robot but it was quickly decided to close it down again. We believe it was due to regulatory reasons and issues with traders essentially betting against the house based on the “house robots”.

No one can deny the sparkling reputation IQ Option has built throughout the years as one of the best binary trading brokers.

IQ Option is an award-winning broker that is fully regulated, transparent and prioritizes trader’s safety above all else. They are considered one of the top and safest brokers for everyone trading binary options South Africa.

Now even though a broker’s reputation is not an immediate indicator that the company is really trustworthy, IQ Option continues to prove its excellent reputation every day.

We can personally state that we have received absolutely no complaints regarding IQ Option throughout the years, but only satisfied customers that recommend IQ Option themselves.