Interested in binary options trading, but thinking about maybe doing Forex trading instead? One unique broker which bridges the gap between the two is InstaForex. When you first visit InstaForex’s website, chances are good you will feel a bit lost. You will notice right away there are features of binary options trading as well as features of traditional FX trading. It takes some time to learn the ropes, but it seems like this is a website with a very interesting service to offer.
About InstaForex
First, you probably want to know a little more about InstaForex. This website is operated by a company called InstaTrade Investment, which is based in Russia. At one point, the site was regulated by the Federal Financial Markets Service (FFMS). That agency dissolved in 2013 however, so currently InstaForex is unregulated.
While InstaForex is promoting its services largely toward customers in Russia and Asia, you will find that they are accessible to traders all around the world (with the exception of the USA). You can view the site in 33 different languages, which is pretty impressive.
Getting Started on InstaForex: Flexible Accounts
If you check out the accounts page on InstaForex, you will find several different types of accounts available:
- Insta.Standard Trading Accounts
- Insta.Eurica Trading Accounts
- Cent.Standard and Cent.Eurica trading accounts
These different account types exist to provide you with rather unique flexibility. Unlike a lot of binary options brokers, InstaForex does not offer commission-free trading. This is not a bad thing; it actually is generally indicative of a trustworthy service.
You do get to decide how you want to pay for your trading. If you prefer fee-free trading, you can open an Insta.Standard Trading Account. With this type of account, you pay a fixed spread. If you would prefer to pay commissions instead, you can choose the Insta.Eurica Trading Account, which functions without a spread. Cent.Standard and Cent.Eurica accounts are the same thing, but they are built for traders with very small bankrolls.
In fact, the minimum deposit size is just $1. The minimum trade size is only 0.01 of the lot (the maximum being 10,000 lots). So even if you have very little to trade with, you can get started on InstaForex with minimal risk.
When you make your deposit, you will have a chance to claim a bonus. Either you can go for a 30% welcome bonus, or you can select a $100 no-deposit bonus. There are also numerous other promotions which come and go throughout the year, a club card you can sign up for, and plenty of contests you can participate in for prizes.
On top of that, InstaForex provides a demo account which appears to have no restrictions or strings attached. This means you can practice as long as you need to before you trade with real money. This is an excellent feature which should be standard everywhere—but many binary options sites do not offer it.
One-Click Trading
There are a number of different ways you can trade on InstaForex, but what you are looking for as a binary options trader is the “one-click trading” service.
If you visit the link above, you will see exactly how One-Click trading works. First, you need to pick a trading platform. InstaForex offers three: MetaTrader 4, MetaTrader 5, or a proprietary web platform. I am a big fan of MetaTrader 4, which is free to download, comes with a ton of indicators, and is amazing for planning your trades. All of these choices are fantastic. Note that you can also trade on your mobile device; Android and iOS apps are available for MT4.
Once you have your platform set up, you download the One-Click Trading interface from InstaForex, install it, and launch it through your trading platform. Once you open it, you will see familiar green and red buttons for “Buy” and “Sell” as you would with any High/Low binary options trade.
There are a ton of trading instruments on InstaForex. It is probably the single largest selection I have seen to date of currencies, commodities, stocks, and indices on any binary options website.
It is difficult to find information about payouts, but I was told that winning trades with One-Click Trading pay out “1.80,” which I assume translates to 80%—pretty standard for binary options. There is no out-of-money reward. There is Early Close, however, and you can use it anytime you like.
Customer Service and Resources
As you browse the website, you will find there are a lot of articles and videos about trading, as well as a number of different analytic tools you can use—including some special indicators. All of these resources are great.
I did have a chance to talk with customer service. You can access the team via numerous different channels. Along with the typical channels (telephone, live chat, email), you can try Twitter, Skype, Viber, ICQ, Whatsapp, and AOL IM. I checked in on a Sunday, so I was impressed somebody was there.
Initially I was not all that impressed; when I asked a question about payouts, the customer service person originally seemed to think I was asking about something totally unrelated (withdrawals). This was probably a language barrier issue.
Either way, I was impressed when he took the time to actually go and find the proper answer after I asked again, explaining he had not helped yet. While this would have been an easy question at another site (one I would expect an instant answer to), on this site it did not surprise me he needed a few minutes to look something up. He did get me what I needed.
Overall, I am impressed with what I have seen of InstaForex. The only things that bother me are 1-the site is confusingly structured and it is hard to figure out what you are doing, and 2-there is still an outdated claim the site is regulated by the now-defunct FFMS. Aside from that, it seems like a great service, one which unites the best of both worlds—binary options and Forex.
