24Option Review

24Option – Reviews & Ratings

24Option is a Cyprus-based forex broker that offers numerous bitcoin forex pairs along with the standard range of investment types. They have a reputation for great educational content, as well as a reliable customer service. The prices are higher than average if you don’t have a premium account, and the trading platform is mediocre.

Fast Facts

• Demo Account: Yes
• Account Minimum: $250
• Regulation: CySEC (Cyprus)
• Best For: Traders looking for good education
• Asset Coverage: CDFs, Forex, Crypto, Commodities, Spreads, Stocks

Ratings

• Commissions & Fees: 4/10
• Investment Selection: 7/10
• Account Options & Features: 5/10
• Usability: 6/10
• Educational Resources: 9/10
• Customer Service: 10/10
• Overall: 7/10

Visit 24Option on 24Option’s website

24Option is a forex broker, founded in 2010 and owned by a company from Cyprus called Rodeler Limited. A company from Cyprus might seem suspicious but many brokerages who deal in binary options are based there because of regulatory benefits.

In the world of binary options, 24Option was the second biggest player, outsized only by Banc de Binary, an Israeli company that was shut down due to fraud charges. 24Option has changed in the last couple of years, as it no longer offers binary options to its clients.

Recently, 24Option has added more investment types to its repertoire, and the customer service has also been expanded in order to better manage big investment portfolios and provide better technical support. The company is currently focused on Forex trades (including cryptocurrency forex pairs) and CFD trades.

Their website offers little information about the company compared to the sites of other notable forex brokerages. This lack of transparency, paired with the fact that 24Option is based in Cyprus makes the company look untrustworthy, however, that doesn’t seem to be the case. The Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission regulates 24Options.

24Option is not available in Canada, Israel, Iraq, Belgium, Bosnia And Herzegovina, Australia, U.S.A, Virgin Island, Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Algeria , Ecuador, Iran, Myanmar, North Korea, China, Panama, Uganda, Ukraine, New Zealand, and Japan.

Fraud Accusations: Is 24Option a Scam?

As is the case for many binary options brokers, if you type 24Option into your search engine, you will find a lot of articles and comments accusing them of being a scam company.

The thing is, many of 24Option’s clients have lost money either because of the company’s regulations or the very risky nature of trading binary options, not because they’ve been scammed.

Unclear Regulations – How Users Lost Money

In the past, the company used to incentivize its users by offering them the so-called  “24Option Bonus”. This means that clients practically got free money for trading, which would later incur commission fees.

Here’s the catch: users who accepted the bonus had to meet certain requirements in order to access the money they earned afterward. They had to upload personal documents to prove their identity and meet the wagering requirements.

The users who accepted the bonus and didn’t meet these requirements lost their earnings. Technically, this is not the company’s fault but this information is not in plain sight on their website or platform. Many users had no idea about these requirements because they weren’t properly warned by 24Option.

All the requirements and legalities concerning the current bonus scheme are thoroughly explained in the Trading Bonus Scheme on their site’s legal section. However, this is a legal document that uses complicated language, and clients shouldn’t be expected to go through all the details just to find an essential piece of information.

Fortunately, many clients got help from the customer service representatives, and eventually got their money back. Users also lost money simply through trading binary options, which are extremely risky if you don’t know exactly what you are doing. Even though 24Option may not be a scam, the company failed to make this crucial information apparent to users, who were left damaged by their relationship with 24Option.

The world of binary options has seen many instances of fraud and thievery, like the scandal involving the aforementioned Banc de Binary. Therefore, it is not unwise to tread carefully when looking for a good online forex broker.

Accounts and Pricing

Four Account Types

24Option offers users four different account types with account minimums ranging from $250 in the low end to $50,000 in the high end. The general offer and fees are better for higher-tier account types. Therefore, some are more suited for high-volume trading, while others are good for getting your feet wet in the forex market.

Basic

The best choice for new traders, as well a s those who want to try out 24Option is probably the Basic account. The minimum required balance is $250 and you get access to some educational materials.

Basic users get one free lesson but they do not have access to webinars. Basic account users also get a very good demo account with $100,000 to try the platform out (demo accounts are available with all account types). This account type also includes daily news and one free withdrawal.

Gold

The price of trading is better with the Gold account than with the Basic. Users also get two basic lessons and one monthly webinar. The minimum deposit is $5,000, and users can make one free monthly withdrawal.

Platinum

The Platinum option requires a $10,000 deposit and offers all the same perks as the previous account types, with slight improvements. The pricing is better, and users get three advanced lessons and two monthly webinars. Clients can also make three free monthly withdrawals from their Platinum accounts.

VIP

The best and most expensive option is the VIP account, which requires a $50,000 deposit. The VIP account has the best pricing by far and offers five advanced lessons as well as five monthly webinars. Users can withdraw unlimited amounts from their VIP account without fees.

The more you deposit, the more you get. More expensive accounts offer better prices and more valuable educational resources. All account types give users access to daily news as well as Trading Central – a great tool for advanced market analysis.

What 24Option is Great At

Education

24Option has a well-rounded offer of high-quality educational resources. Their website has articles on topics like daily market analysis and technical analysis, which can be viewed  for free. You can find everything you want to know about their trading platform from the website.

There are free webinars as well as those you can only get as a member of 24Option. Members also get access to some excellent video lessons. These lessons explain both basic and advanced concepts like basics of CFD trading, calculating pips, managing risk, different kinds of analyses, etc.

There is also content focused solely on forex trading for beginners, that includes a glossary. All in all, 24Option has outstanding educational resources, valuable for newbies, as well as intermediate traders.

Customer Service

Users, as well as potential users, can reach 24Option via phone, email, and live chat. The company’s customer service seems to be very responsive and ready to help, however, they are not available during the weekends.

The customer support representatives can be reached 24 hours a day from Monday through Friday, but the live chat only works during work hours. In general, the customer service is competent and very ready to help users.

When I tried the live chat, a representative responded in about 30 seconds and answered my questions immediately. The speed and competence of the customer service representatives is truly praiseworthy.

However, the live chat doesn’t seem to work on Mozilla but it works on Chrome.

Range of Offerings

24Options has changed a lot in the past couple of years, as they stopped offering binary options, which were once their focus. Now, the company offers a broad spectrum of cryptocurrency pairs like BTC/GBP, BTC/EUR, BTC/USD, etc.

However, there are not as many available currency pairs as you might find with other forex brokers, and other products like oil and gold have the average price. Whether it’s commodities, currencies or spreads, 24Option keeps up with the competition.

Where 24Options Can Improve

Average Trading Platform

The company offers two desktop platforms as well as a mobile one. The available research tools are good but not extraordinary. The same goes for all aspects of 24Option’s trading platform.

Desktop Platform

24Options has a good, intuitive platform. Users can place trades and make watchlists with ease. The platform has great charting tools and its interface is very customizable. Users can also see the positions of other traders.

By seeing the positions of their fellow traders, users can predict the general tendency of the market at the given moment, and place prudent conditional orders. The company also offers users the MetaTrader 4 software, which is very common in the industry, although, the company’s desktop platform seems to be better.

Mobile Platform

The mobile app is good enough but it doesn’t stand out among the competition. The software is optimized for Android and iOS, the latter of which has fingerprint authentication. The mobile version has just about the same functionality as its desktop counterpart.

Many of the features like charting and streaming quotes are very accessible, and adding data like moving averages to your charts is simple and quick. Users can maintain a good level of control over their positions on the mobile app.

There is no daily news on the mobile app, and it’s also lacking in alerts compared to other mobile  platforms. All in all, it is a good, user-friendly app with some very good features, but it pales in comparison with the top-tier trading apps.

Prices are Higher Than Average

24Option doesn’t have the lowest fees. Actually, they are higher than average. Getting a premium account can dramatically decrease the cost of trading in higher volumes, but aside from that, there are no discounts for high-volume trading. The fees for inactive accounts are also pretty high.

If an account is inactive for six months, it can be charged up to $200 per month. Account maintenance costs $10 a month, and the withdrawal fee is 3.5%. However, users get a number of free withdrawals each month, depending on what account type they have. The VIP account has an unlimited number of free withdrawals.

Even though you can find better prices on other platforms, 24Option has no financing or commission fees. The minimum required deposit for the Basic account is $250, which is quite reasonable.

Conclusion: Who is 24Option Best For?

As far as pricing is concerned, you can find superior offers among the best forex brokers in the industry. The lack of transparency is also a bit concerning, even though there haven’t been any major problems regarding the trustworthiness of 24Option.

Since 24Option has a relatively low minimum deposit for their Basic account and fantastic educational resources, it is a great platform for learning to trade. The customer support is reliable and the demo accounts are top-notch.

24Option and the Competition

See how 24Option compares to the top options platforms by reading one of the reviews below.

• eOption Review
• IQ Option Review

About the author

Tim Fries

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Tim Fries is the cofounder of The Tokenist. He has a B. Sc. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Michigan, and an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. Tim served as a Senior Associate on the investment team at RW Baird's US Private Equity division, and is also the co-founder of Protective Technologies Capital, an investment firm specializing in sensing, protection and control solutions.