Binary options

[AngelaTN]

Hi, Newbee Angela here.

Any opinion about binary options? I heard this is good for people who has no knowlege about stock market.

[RetireJapan]

Hi Angela

Welcome to the forum!

I don't know anything about binary options. Investing is actually fairly simple so my standard advice is to invest in low-cost index funds.

Anyone else?

[adamu]

I'd say people who don't know anything about the stock market shouldn't put money in anything containing the word 'option' because it's too complicated to understand.

Rather than risking your money on something you don't understand, take some time to first invest in your knowledge of saving and investing - it'll probably save you way more in mistakes not made than if you jump into potentially shady deals that you "heard" were good.

Here's a quote from the 2nd paragraph of the wikipedia page about binary options:

While binary options may be used in theoretical asset pricing, they are prone to fraud in their applications and hence banned by regulators in many jurisdictions as a form of gambling.

[captainspoke]

Yeah, wikipedia:

While binary options may be used in theoretical asset pricing, they are prone to fraud in their applications and hence banned by regulators in many jurisdictions as a form of gambling.[5] Many binary option outlets have been exposed as fraudulent.[6] The U.S. FBI is investigating binary option scams throughout the world, and the Israeli police have tied the industry to criminal syndicates.[7][8][9] The European Union is publishing regulations that will ban binary options trading.[10] ASIC considers binary options as a “high-risk” and “unpredictable” investment option.[11]

That said, I do have a couple pimco CEFs that do a long/short dance.

[AngelaTN]

Thank you very much to all. It’s good to have forum like this, I can get good informations.

[KyushuWoozy]

my standard advice is to invest in low-cost index funds.

Anyone else?

Agree 100%. You can just buy and forget them. Only 'rule' is don't panic and sell when the market crashes (it's the worst thing to do).

[zeo]

How much about options do you understand? If the answer is, "not much" then I'd suggest taking a step back and learn more about them.

Options are generally an advanced trading instrument meant hedge your position, not something for beginners, but IMO binary options are generally more like gambling than other options. Seriously the contract is based on if the price of the underlying instrument is either above or below a certain price. Having said that you can purchase "naked" options where you don't own the underlying instrument.

Can you purchase US based options? I'd recommend those as opposed to the foreign ones, in the US options are regulated by the SEC. Outside the US they're often not regulated.