Expert Option – Brokers Investment Master
Pros
- Advanced platform
- Multilingual customer support
- Asset Coverage
- Mobile and desktop clients
Cons
- Vanuatu Regulation
- Short expiration times
- No Bitcoin funding
In this Expert Option Review, we’ll take a look at a broker that offers clients a chance to invest.
The platform offers traders the opportunity to trade more than 100 different assets, including a number of different cryptocurrencies. They have been around since 2014 and have a wide range of reviews online.
The key question that most customers may have is whether the Expert Option is safe and reliable?
In this comprehensive review of the Expert Option, we’ll look at everything you need to know about the broker. We will investigate your history, regulations, customer service and fees.
Expert Option Overview
Expert Option was started in 2014 and is owned and operated by Expert Option Ltd.
The company is headquartered in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. The office location is 1510, Kingston, Suite 305, Griffith’s corporate hub. If you want to find more information, you can search for the company number with registration number 22863.
Expert Option also has a company that will process payments for the brand and that is Vestede Limited (company no 116061). They are based in Gibraltar.
The company offers trading instruments on several different assets.
What really stands out for Expert Option is that they have developed their own trading mechanism and platform. This is contrary to the usual practice in which brokers outsource their platforms to an external technology provider.
Is the Expert Option safe?
This is perhaps one of the most relevant questions when it comes to choosing a broker and completing a review. There are many examples of brokers in this industry that operated less stellarly.
There were some online concerns about the Expert Option, since the company was registered in São Vicente. We asked Expert Option about the reasons for this and they said it was for reasons of fiscal efficiency. If this is the only reason for this, we cannot say. However, there are many exchanges and brokers who have made similar choices.
For example, some of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges operate in offshore locations. The Binance crypto exchange is registered in Malta, while BitFinex exchanges, one of the largest, are registered in Luxembourg.
Expert Option Regulations
One of the most important factors that you need to consider when you are about to trade with a platform is your regulations. In which jurisdictions are they registered and what are customer protections?
In the case of the Expert Option, they are certified by the Financial Market Relations Regulation Center. This is a non-governmental voluntary oversight body that is located in Russia. You can see your license certificate here .
They are also regulated by the Vanuatu Financial Services Commission. This is a relatively new regulator that has started offering financial services licenses to offshore companies. You can read more about your customers’ protections on this website .
We were unable to find the Vanuatu license number on their website or check their registration independently.
Expert Option Site Security
Another very important factor when you are considering a broker is whether the information you submit is secure. Encrypted communication is now the standard between brokers and financial sites.
Why is it important?
Well, given the prevalence of sophisticated hackers nowadays, sending information like credit card details and personal documents is really risky. That’s why you need to make sure that the broker uses the latest standards in SSL encryption.
The Expert Option is encrypted by SSL and you can see this by looking at the green lock in the browser window. This means that all information sent to the Expert Option servers is encrypted using AES 256 encryption.
It is very important that, when visiting the Expert Option website, you see this green lock on the website to ensure that you are not a victim of a phishing attack.
Expert Optin Assets
As mentioned, Expert Option has a range of different assets that you can trade on. These range from the most traditional asset classes, such as Forex, Equities and Commodities, to the exciting new cryptocurrency field.
With Fiat currency exchange pairs, you have all the major crosses, including AUD, USD, GBP, NZD, CAD, EUR and CHF. With equity instruments, you have some of the most interesting companies, such as Amazon, Baidu, Coca-Cola and Tesla. There are three commodities that you can trade and they are gold, silver and oil.
On the digital currency side, it appears that the Expert Option went all-in. In fact, they have more cryptocurrency pairs than all other assets. Below are all the encryption pairs that they provide on their platform.
- Bitcoin (BTC)
- Ethereum (ETH)
- Ripple (XRP)
- Rope (USDT)
- Bitcoin Cash (BCH)
- Monero (XMR)
- ZCash (ZEC)
- Bitcoin Gold (BTG)
- Ethereum Classic (ETC)
- IOTA (MIOTA)
- Litecoin (LTC)
- Dash (DASH)
Expert Option Tradable Instruments
As mentioned, Expert Option is a trading platform. This means that marketable instruments are derivatives that derive their value from the price of the underlying asset.
Negotiations work similarly to traditional negotiations, as they have an asymmetric payment. This means that, unlike CFDs and Futures, your gain / loss is limited by a predetermined amount.
Trading, unlike futures, gives the holder the right, but not the obligation, to buy or sell an asset at a predetermined price in the future. If you enter a CALL option, you are buying the underlying asset and, if you enter a PUT option, you are reducing the underlying price.
With a trade, your payment is defined as a percentage of your invested capital or is set to 0. In terms of payment rates in Expert Option, they vary. They range from 70% to 90%.
There are also two expiration times in the Expert Option. Expirations are 1 minute and 2 minutes. We would have liked to see a slightly longer option, like 1 hour or daily options.
However, if you are a day trader who likes to embark on scalping tactics, shorter expiration times may be to your liking.
Expert Option Jurisdictions and Languages
The Expert Option is restricted in certain jurisdictions and is not open to investors from the following countries: USA, Canada, European Economic Area, Switzerland, Israel, New Zealand, Australia, Japan, North Korea, Puerto Rico, Sudan.
This is probably related to individual regulations in states that do not allow offshore platforms, such as Expert Option Ltd, to solicit customers.
For the regions where Expert Option operates, they have translated their website and platform into several different languages. These are given in the image on the right.
In terms of phone support, this is only available in English, Thai and Hindi.
Expert Option Demo
At Expert Option, you can trade in a demo account with $ 10,000 of demo money. An Expert Option demo account is a great way for the trader to get a better sense of how the platform works and whether they could really see themselves using that platform. It is also something that many cryptocurrency exchanges will offer their traders.
What we really like about the Expert Option demo account is that there are no obligations on the trader’s side. You don’t even have to sign up and you can practice demo trading anonymously on the Expert Option to your heart’s content.
This is a big difference from the other older platforms that used the demo account as a way to drag customers, manipulating them to deliver more funds. The Expert Option demo account also has all the same prices that you will find in the active account below.
Expert Option Live Accounts
Something we haven’t seen that often in the CFD broker and cryptocurrency exchange space is the range of different types of accounts that are offered by the Expert Option.
Of course, in some cryptocurrency exchanges you will have staggered account levels, but these are merely determined by how much you are willing to spend on the exchange. At Expert Option, layered accounts are determined by how much you invest.
What does this mean for you?
Well, clearly, as shown, accounts that have more money will have more benefits. However, we suggest starting small. This is because you need to make sure you need to make sure you are completely comfortable with the platform before committing to a large share of funds.
In addition, you may want to consider the bonus options that may be presented to you. That’s because bonus terms are incredibly costly and have turnover requirements that are almost impossible to meet.
So, even if the prospect of “free money” is great, you should realize that it is far from free and that it includes terms and conditions that can restrict withdrawal.
Expert Option Financing / Withdrawal
There are a few ways in which you can fund your Expert Option account. Undoubtedly, the easiest way for customers to choose is to use a credit or debit card. In terms of the types of cards they accept, they are Visa, MasterCard and UnionPay.
The minimum deposit on the Expert Option is $ 50 that they have in their first level account. They also have a maximum deposit of $ 3,000. This probably has to do with the payment processor limits imposed on them.
There are also several options for financing electronic money, if you prefer that. They accept payments via Neteller, Skrill, WebMoney, Qiwi Wallet, Yandex Money and Payweb.
If you want to withdraw money from your account, the minimum withdrawal amount is $ 10. This is probably because of the fees involved in withdrawing.
If you are withdrawing funds, the Expert Option may withdraw you only from the same account with which you have funded. This is to avoid money laundering concerns.
Expert Option Customer Support and KYC
This is obviously a really important consideration for platforms and exchanges. There is nothing more frustrating than having to wait days for customer support.
Expert Option claims that they have 24/7 customer support. You can access these support agents directly from the trading platform. When we tried to contact the support team, it took about 10 minutes to receive a response that is not so bad. You can also contact them at your dedicated support email at help@expertoption.com
There are also numbers that you can call your local offices. This is useful for marketers who would like to speak to someone. Here are the local numbers
- United Kingdom (English): Number: +44 20 3868 3160, email: english@expertoption.com, available 24/7
- India (Hindi): Number: 000 800 443 0002, email: hindi@expertoption.com, available from 10:30 am to 7:30 pm (India time)
- Thailand (Thai): Number: +66 6000 35 407, email: thai@expertoption.com, available from 10:30 am to 7:30 pm (Thailand time)
In KYC terms, the Expert Option is required to complete a series of steps to make sure you are who you say you are. This is the standard protocol in today’s markets to avoid the risks of money laundering and fraud.
When you fund your account with the Expert Option, they usually ask for proof of identity, as well as proof of address. They should take a day or two to check these documents.
Expert Option Platform
One of the most interesting parts of the Expert Option package has to be its trading platform. As mentioned, this platform was built at home and is therefore unique among the other option and CFD platforms.
There are several different ways to trade on your platform, including using the web-based platform, a PC program, or through applications for mobile devices.
Let’s take a deep dive into the web-based trading platform.
Expert Option Web Based Platform
The web-based platform appears to be well designed with numerous tools available to the professional. Everything related to the administration of your account is on the left of your screen. Here you can fund your account, monitor your past business or make use of your extensive educational material.
In the middle you will have all your graphics and markets. You can choose a layout that works best for you and you can split the chart between more than one asset. This is beneficial for traders who like to trade more than one market at a time.
In terms of the chart tools themselves, there were all the standard studies and indicators that most traders could find useful. These include all of your standard moving averages, your Bollinger banks, RSIs and Parabolic SAR among others.
Something more interesting about the chart is that they associate it with their social trading function. So basically, you can see on the chart where the other traders entered their positions. We find them a little distracted, but they can be useful for some traders.
Speaking of social trading, you can see all the previous trades and general market sentiment, as well as returns in the “social” tab on the right. Here, the platform combines all the latest trades from the various traders and is able to provide an effective overview of what other traders are doing and how they are working for them.
Above social trading you can also observe the trends in the market for the various assets over the horizons of 1 min, 2 min and 5 min.
If you wanted to place an order on the Expert Option, you would adjust the order form on the chart. Unfortunately, the functionality of the order is quite basic. There are only three order parameters that you can change. These are the strike, the notional and whether to buy or sell (CALL or PUT).
Expert Option PC Client
While the web-based platform is great for convenience, the most ideal trading experience comes from PC customers. This is because you will be using your PC to trade instead of your web browser. This is naturally more efficient.
In addition, because your order is shipped directly from the desktop client to the Expert Option servers. This means that it will run much more efficiently.
The desktop client is available for download on Microsoft Windows as well as on Mac OS. After downloading the programs and uploading them, you will be asked to provide your Expert Option login credentials.
Expert Option Mobile Application
For traders who are always on the go, Expert Option also has a mobile app that is available for download on iOS and Google Play.
The application is very well defined and it is clear that the Expert Option spent a lot of money developing it. Obviously, there is a lot of functionality that you will lose compared to web or PC based clients.
We also think that mobile trading is not ideal if you are a technical analysis trader. Therefore, if you are using this form of analysis to inform your trade, we prefer to suggest that you use the PC or the web-based interface.
Expert Option Education
This is another place where we think that the Expert Option tends to stand out. They have quite extensive educational material for traders.
This is accessible through the platform on the “education” tab or on the footer home page. If you’re browsing to the education guide, you’ll see the various topics they cover. These include the following:
- Fundamental analysis
- Technical analysis
- Graphical Analysis
- Psychology of Negotiation
- Trading Strategies
- Glossary of terms
There are also a number of videos that they have for marketers. These are useful for new operators who need guidance on how to get the most out of the platform. These are all on the “Getting started” tab.
Expert Option Reputation
Compared to all other Expert Option brands, it appears that Expert Option has a relatively clean online reputation. However, we noticed that there were some issues raised with the location of the company. Some traders were uncomfortable with the São Vicente registration.
There were, of course, some customers who disagreed with the bonuses they had accepted. As we said above, the bonuses come with costly terms and conditions and these customers probably did not read them or did not know them.
There were also one or two complaints about the payment index being adjusted for those customers who had a strong history of negotiations. Of course, this can be difficult to verify, as the reviewer left no evidence of the claim.
Finally, there were some complaints that traders had about withdrawal requirements. They were claiming that the Expert Option was not authorizing their orders. However, after an examination, it appears that they had not properly authenticated their accounts.
What we don’t like
Although the Expert Option platform is highly efficient and there are a multitude of features that are available to traders, there were a few things that we think could be improved.
First, we have to question your regulatory license. While this is not a measure against Vanuatu’s regulators, a license in Europe is much safer. If Expert Option wants to obtain the full confidence of its European customers, then they must seek to become regulated in the EU or an equivalent.
In addition, if Expert Option managed to obtain a European license, it could take customers from the continent. This would serve them well, as it could increase their user base.
On the platform side, we would have preferred them to have more options in terms of expiration times. Some customers prefer not to trade with such short maturities, and this is especially true for customers who do not use technical analysis for their trades.
Finally, we would like to have seen some options for cryptocurrency financing. After all, they offer a range of different cryptocurrency assets to trade, so it stands to reason that they also offer financing options.
There are also several other brokers that offer this option, as it allows you to manage accounts anonymously, reduces fees and is quick and effective. Perhaps the Expert Option will include this at a later date.
Expert Option Sell Multitude of Coins
Another thing we came across in this Expert Option analysis was the large crowd sales or ICO that the broker was embarking on. This is still in progress and allows participants to purchase the EO currency, which will be the utility token in the Expert Option ecosystem.
The main idea behind the sale of crowds is to bridge the gap between traditional trading and cryptocurrency blocks, incorporating the four platforms.
One of the platforms of the Expert Option ecosystem will be the current Expert Option platform. They intend to introduce “token-based accounts” on the ExpertOption platform. This will allow traders to fund their accounts with EO Tokens instantly through blockchain transactions.
The main benefits of token-based accounts over traditional Expert Option accounts are that there will be much higher profit percentages along with instant deposits and withdrawals. In addition, given that these are blockchain-based businesses, execution will be much faster than on the platform today.
The other three parts of the EO ecosystem that will use EO Currencies are as follows:
EO.Trade
This will be the cryptocurrency exchange of the Expert Option ecosystem. This will be built to support the current cryptocurrency markets, as well as the demand for future currencies. One of the main characteristics of this exchange will be the development of one of the most sophisticated and efficient trading mechanisms.
EO.trade is also looking to make the KYC crypto exchange process as fast and efficient as possible. They also want to try and make the exchange withdrawal process as fast and efficient as possible. The user interface of the EO.trade encryption exchange will be as advanced as anyone sees today.
Many exchanges these days are struggling to meet the excessive demand that traders have placed on them. Given that Expert Option has been operating a broker for several years with similar volume levels, EO.trade crypto exchange will leverage that experience to provide super efficient processing.
EO.News
Another part of the Expert Option ecosystem will be the EO.News service. This will be a news portal that will be designed to assist traders with market news, technical analysis and financial updates. This will be made available both to operators on the EO platform and to non-users.
EO.Finance
EO.finance will be the portfolio in the EO ecosystem that will allow traders to store all amounts of coins and fiat currencies. They can easily exchange for each other and make transactions with cryptocurrencies.
This will be developed as a mobile wallet so that it can be used anywhere. EO Coin can also be used in this wallet as a utility token for purchases. When using EO currency, fees for transactions will be lower than for other currencies.
EO Currency Milestones
Currently, the EO ecosystem has managed to raise about $ 12 million, which will be sufficient to cover the costs of developing the EOfinance portfolio, at least. Once they have managed to raise $ 35 million, they will have sufficient funds to start development on the EO.trade exchange. In total, they want to raise about $ 70 million from the sale. You can read more on your Whitepaper .
So, should you participate in the public sale? We don’t think so.
This is because they are entering a very competitive market and there are already exchanges with a much greater competitive advantage than they do. Although they want to ship customers much faster, exchanges, like Binance, have already become quite efficient.
Wait for the purchase of any EO currency until you see some of the products they are building actually released.
Conclusion
As we show in this analysis of Expert Options, the broker is undoubtedly a great option for traders who want advanced trading software, as well as extensive education.
They will also appreciate the variety of different accounts that they can open with varying levels of support and trading functionality. It also helps the operator who is new to using the demo account completely free and anonymous.
We also liked the fact that there was responsive customer service that handled all of our inquiries promptly. Those in other countries will find it helpful that they have translated the site into several different languages and have customer support available in three.
As mentioned, there were a few places that we thought the Expert Option could improve. These are mainly related to your regulations, platform and financing options. We hope that the Expert Option can take this into account.
In addition, our analysis found that while Expert Option operates in an industry that has faced many problems in the past, they appear to be completely above the board and have a relatively clean reputation.
So, is the Expert Option the broker for you?
We encourage you to do your own research. But if you are interested in a strong platform with multiple cryptocurrency assets and are in a country where Expert Option operates, then, in fact, it may be a solution.
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