June may be months away, but the binary options industry is already busting out all over. In an increasingly competitive market, online Forex brokers worldwide are stretching their boundaries in search of ways of adding binary options to their rosters to expand their offerings and to attract a new trader base. Gaming websites are also expanding in the binary arena, branching away from traditional gambling enterprises towards options with a stronger financial slant, while binary options brokers that have been in business for years are expanding their enterprises into manifold different brands without publicly addressing these relationships.
Binary options trading as a way of generating income is not a new phenomenon. In fact, it has been practiced for over 30 years, showing up from time to time on certain trading platforms in closed markets. Those incidental binaries were nothing like the modern binary options that are popping up on a grand scale throughout the investment arena.
Only since 2008 have binary options been offered in major markets. Until that time, lack of standardization and regulation prevented this instrument from moving forward. When the SEC finally allowed the Options Clearing Corporation to offer them to the public, the investment community took notice. The American Stock Exchange was the first to offer binary options and the other markets were not far behind.
In addition to the limited sense of security implied by the recently introduced rules and regulations that were absent over the years, investors are drawn to binary options because of the transparency of the trading system which, by its very nature, tolerates less swindles and frauds than other financial vehicles. That being said, it should be noted that scams have been reported in the binary options industry, as in all financial markets, and traders should trade cautiously.
Technology has also played a key role in the popularity of binaries. And it is due to today's simplicity in trading and the quick profits that can be made that what was once its own separate investment concern has now become entwined with a variety of other enterprises.
From Gaming to Binaries
Moving from the world of online gaming to binary options trading would seem to some as taking a huge step out of the box. But several casino sites have made the transition safely and judiciously. Some companies, such as affactive.com, which has recently introduced its new binary options site, Brokerage Capital, have elected to add binary options to their already existing gaming sites as an appropriate addition to their clients' portfolios.
Other gaming sites prefer to keep their binary options site completely separate.Winner.com chose to keep things discrete when it introduced its binary options site, winner-option.com. One has to look very carefully for a mention of binaries on its gaming site.
With gambling laws differing from regulations governing binary options, one would think that these two ventures need to be kept totally separated. And indeed, despite the seemingly available option of opening up a binary option account through a gaming site, the account is in fact opened under the gaming site's subsidiary binary option company, which appears to be regulated by CySEC and the FCA under the company name of Safecap Investments Ltd which also operates several other trading entities
The crossing of lines between gambling and binary option sites seems to be a logical progression in today's trading arena as both are speculative and involve making wagers of some sort. From a broker's standpoint, the combination of the two spheres and the additional opportunities it offers his clients, directly impact on his financial bottom line. For the investor or the gambler whose psychological penchant towards chance and risk taking motivate him towards both venues, the enhanced probabilities for profit are both attractive and enticing.