Binary Options Platform
All binary options trading is conducted on trading platforms. The trading platforms in the binary options market can be classified in 2 ways:
- Classification According to Ownership of Platform Software Technology
- Classification According to Trading Device
It is important to know which type of trading platform you are using because this will ultimately affect the trades that can be performed, ease of use as well as certain trade conditions peculiar to each type of platform.
Classification 1: Platform Technology
When it comes to platform technology, platforms can be further subdivided into two. There are platforms which are designed by the broker’s in-house software development team, built uniquely for the brokerage firm to offer its own binary options contracts. In this class, we have brokers such as AnyOption, NADEX and Betonmarkets, as well as the various brokerage firms that offer exchange-traded binary options on the US options exchange. This permits traders to trade some unique binary options contracts as well as be able to customize their expiry times the way they want.
On the other hand, we have platforms that are designed as turnkey solutions. They are created by independent software developers and configured for binary options trading operations. Each broker now pays some money to these software developers to have the software customized for them. This creates a situation where there are fixed trade types and fixed expiry times. You are therefore likely to come across several brokers with the same trade contracts and expiry times. In this class, we have majority of market operators such as Cedar Finance, 24Option, OptionFair, etc. The software developers are SpotOption, Hello Binary, MarketPulse, Tradologic and Tech Financial.
Classification 2: Trading Devices
When binary options platforms are classified according to the trading devices that they work on, we are simply referring to the availability of the platforms on mobile/hand-held devices, as well as other conventional devices. Binary options platforms are typically web-based, requiring login to a unique URL with a username and password to get access to the trading platform. More recently, the trading platforms have been developed for use on hand-held devices such as tablets and smartphones. Mobile trading platforms can come in the form of trading apps which can be downloaded from the relevant app stores (iTunes store and Google Play store), or they can come as mobile versions of the web-based platforms, which only require signing into the mobile sites using a unique mobile URL. Mobile binary options platforms allow traders to trade on the go.
Which Platforms Should a Trader Be Using?
Traders should give careful thought to the kind of platform that they will like to use, because this can radically affect their trading outcomes. There are traders who are very busy and will have to wake up early and get back home late at night, with a lot going on in between. Such traders may benefit from the mobile trading platforms which allow a trader to catch a breath between tight schedules to place trades on the smartphone or tablet. Other traders who do not have such busy schedules may opt for the conventional desktop or laptop computers to do their trading.
Then there are traders who prefer flexibility in trade types and expiry settings. For these traders, the turnkey platforms may not be the most ideal. These traders can decide to opt for the proprietary platforms. For traders who may want to trade more conventional contracts, they can use the turnkey platforms.
The location of a broker may also be a determinant factor. For many brokers, the cost of developing their own unique software is prohibitive. This is where turnkey platforms come into play. If we look at the areas where binary options is now regulated, we see that many of such brokers use turnkey platforms. Does the trader use an unregulated broker with a proprietary platform, or will it be a better choice to use a regulated broker with a turnkey platform? In this case, regulatory status and location may be more relevant factors influencing which platform a trader uses rather than the specific type of platform to be used.
Ease of use is yet another determining factor for traders. The turnkey platforms are generally easier to use than the proprietary platforms. However, for technical analysts, proprietary platforms may be more suitable because the charting tools they provide are more advanced than what obtains on turnkey platforms.
Conclusion
All that can be said here is this. Know your personal preferences, and see which platform types match those preferences to the best degree. This should be the deciding factor which affects the choice of the binary options platform to use for your trading.
