Rating section:
- Bonuses: n/a
- Software: 90/100
- Customer Support: 90/100
- Options Choice: 85/100
- Overall: 88/100
Summary
BDSwiss’s CySEC regulation prevents it from offering traders any bonuses making the bonus rating non-applicable. Powered by SpotOption software, the biggest binary options software provider on the market, BDSwiss’s trading platform is of a very high quality and comes with an impressive range of value-added trade features and tools. Customer support meets CySEC regulation levels and multi-lingual assistance is available 24/7 by live chat, telephone and email.
A choice of over 100 tradable instruments across forex, commodities, indices and stocks, as well as innovative binary option ‘pairs’ that match two instruments together provides for plenty of choice.
Reaching a decision on a binary options broker to work with is the first step new binary options traders have to make in their trading career. Those who have been trading for some time are also best advised to keep their eye on the market if they wish to feel confident that their current broker is providing them with the best product and service available to them. However, with so many brokerage options available, assessing them all can be time consuming!
That’s why we’ve taken the time to cover the main criteria important to traders in our review section. We’ve put together all of the crucial information on company background and regulation, trading platform, pricing, payment processing and customer service for you, covering as many of the binary options brokers out there as possible.
In this particular review, we take a look at BDSwiss, a forex, CFDs and binary options broker operating internationally.
Company Information
BDSwiss is one of Europe’s biggest and most well-known financial derivatives brokerages. As well as the company’s binary options product, the brokerage also offer forex and CFDs trading, with over 700,000 client accounts across its trading platforms.
BDSwiss is regulated in Europe by CySEC, the Cypriot Financial Services Authority. CySEC regulation is the most stringent in Europe for binary options brokerages and the company operates throughout the EU under the financial regulation passport policy.
Trading Software
BDSwiss’s binary options trading platform is a white label product powered by SpotOption, the market’s leading software provider. As might be expected from software that is estimated to be used by up to 40% of the binary options brokers on the market, and many of the biggest, the trading platform provides a smooth, attractive and usable trading experience.
As well as classic binary options, the trading platform additionally provides several binary option trading variations and plug-ins which allow Forex brokers offering the MT4 platform, such as BDSwiss, to add the binary options offering to their platform.
The desktop trading platform is browser-based so doesn’t require the download of software and users can log in to their account from any device that supports one of the popular browsers such as Internet Explorer, Mozilla or Chrome among others.
Mobile
Traders can also take full advantage of the mobile trading apps that SpotOption-powered trading platforms come with as standard. Android and Apple (iOS) users have their own native versions of the app downloadable for free from the Play and App Store respectively.
The platform has been nicely adapted to mobile app format and the entire range of functionality is retained while being as convenient to use as via the larger-screen desktop version. The mobile app and desktop versions of the platform are also synced so it is possible to open a trade on one and manage it from the other.
Assets available
BDSwiss provides traders with a tradable assets list of over 100 instruments spread between forex pairs, commodities, international indices and individual company stocks. The range is relatively good and will satisfy all but the most demanding of binary options traders. Indices represent a nice international mix across Europe, the U.S. and Asia and stocks also have geographical diversity.
Trading Features, Fees and Payouts
The BDSwiss trading platform supports five different varieties of binary options as well as classic call/put (up/down) binaries where the trader simply calls whether the instrument’s price will be up or down on its starting level at the point the binary option expires. The other binary options formats offered are:
OptionBuilder – works the same was as classic binary options but the trader chooses the expiry time rather than from the set expiry times offered by the broker, which is the case in classic options.
One Touch – the binary option needs to ‘touch’ a strike price at any point over the lifespan of the option, regardless of where it finishes. The binary option automatically closes in the money if the target price is touched.
60 Seconds – works the same way as classic binary options but has a micro timeframe of 1 minute.
Ladder – the binary option has tiered strike prices with the value of the payout rising depending upon how far up the ‘ladder’ the instrument’s price is at the option’s expiry.
Pairs – a binary option format where two instruments, such as stocks, commodities or indices are paired in a similar way to forex pairs. The trader predicts which of the two will see a greater price rise or drop in relation to the other by expiry.
SpotFollow – this is less a binary option format than how the trader decides to take a position. SpotFollow is a social trading functionality that allows traders to ‘mirror’ the binary option positions taken by other traders using the platform. Particularly useful for beginners looking for support.
No fees are charged for opening an account or general trading. However, if a count is dormant, classified as such when no transactions have been made for at least 12 months, an ‘account keeping’ fee of 10% of the accounts balance, with a minimum of €5 is charged each month until such time as the account is closed. It is closed automatically at the point no funds remain, or they are less than €5.
A handling fee of €25 is also charged for withdrawals of less than €100.
Binary options payouts standardly reach up to 85% of investment stake though this can reach as high as 1000% in the case of some ‘Ladder’ binary options.
€5 is the minimum trade value supported BDSwiss.
Bonuses & VIP programs
Because BDSwiss is regulated by by CySEC the broker is not, under the terms of its regulatory regime, permitted to offer bonuses to traders.
Deposits and withdrawals
Deposits and withdrawals are as a general rule exclusively in €, though $ accounts are supported for traders from certain territories. BDSwiss offers a strong variety of deposit methods such as credit card, bank transfer, direct deposit, Skrill and several other prominent e-wallet and payment processors.
The minimum deposit that can be made into a BDSwiss account is €100. While there is no minimum withdrawal value, a €25 handling fee is applied to withdrawals of under €100.
Customer Support
Mult-lingual customer support is provided via email, telephone or live chat for any assistance required in day to day trading or any other general issues around an account.
Extra features and resources
BDSwiss’s SpotOption-powered binary options trading platform offers several additional trading features that traders can take advantage of:
SpotWiz – an algo-trading system for binary options which allows traders to build their own trading strategies via a strategy creator wizard.
Rollover – allows traders to extend an open binary option’s expiry time at the cost of an additional investment.
Double Up – allows traders to double their investment size on an open binary option at whatever the payout being offered at the time of the double-up is set at.
TradeOn – allows binary options to be opened after market trading hours in the evening over the weekend. The expiry point of the option and settlement will be after markets have re-opened.
Sell – this final function allows traders to sell an open binary option back to BDSwiss at any time up to 5 minutes before its expiry at a reduced payout, if it is in the money, or smaller loss if it is out of the money.
Verdict
With CySEC regulation of its binary options offering and a significantly sized brokerage also offering CFDs and forex trading behind it, traders can consider the BDSwiss binary options trading platform both safe and as providing a high-level trading experience. The range of instruments offered and additional trading features and binary options formats will appeal to more experienced traders while the overall simplicity of the platform makes it accessible to beginners.
BDSwiss is one of the most reputable brokers offering binary options trading on the market and can generally be considered a solid choice that will meet the requirements of the vast majority of traders across the platform, features and quality of customer service.
Pros
- CySEC Regulated
- Established broker also providing forex and CFDs
- High quality trading platform
- €100 minimum account deposit
- €5 minimum trade value
Cons
- 10% monthly charge on account balance of dormant accounts
- €25 fee on withdrawals under €100