Binary options are not prohibited in South Africa. They are treated as OTC derivatives, which means the counterparty needs an ODP licence — and no binary options provider currently holds one.
Archive notice: this page was written in 2012, before binary options were banned for retail clients across the EEA, the UK and Australia. It is kept for reference. For the current position, see Legal status by country.
Binary Option Brokers with Skrill
Luckily, there are many different Binary Option Brokers that support Skrill. From the broker's perspective it makes perfect sense because Skrill is one of the largest eWallets and collaborates with virtually every industry. That’s why Skrill is used in eCommerce, Forex, online gambling and other industries. Even though there are many brokers that support this eWallet, you should take a closer look at these brokers and not just pick the first one. Here is our top Skrill broker that we recommend:Start trading using Skrill at IQ Option
Who should deposit with Skrill?
Skrill is an eWallet designed for traders of all skill levels. You can handle large payments without a problem and you can also deposit small amounts of money easily. Transferring money with this eWallet is very cheap compared to Paypal as an example. When you make your first transaction with Skrill, you will see that it is not worse than Paypal and some experts even say that the Skrill interface is even better and easier to use. The bottom line is that we can highly recommend deposits with Skrill at Binary Option Brokers whether you’re an inexperienced trader or professional. As long as you have enough money in your account or have no trouble funding your Skrill account,you should definitely consider making a deposit with this payment option.Skrill and Moneybookers
Many traders are confused because they read Skrill over and over again and do not recognize the brand. The reason is that Skrill was called Moneybookers for several years but Moneybookers decided that it’s time for a re-branding and introduced Skrill in 2021. This is a incremental re-brand and they are trying to introduce the new brand slowly. In some spots, you will still read Moneybookers and not Skrill. This will change soon once everything is updated and everybody who recently wrote about Moneybookers recognized that there’s a new brand.Funding and withdrawals in South Africa
Local rails here are instant EFT, card, and local bank transfer through Ozow or PayFast. Deposit method decides whether money can come back out: card payments carry a chargeback route with a time limit, transfers to an offshore entity generally do not. Confirm the withdrawal method, minimum, fee and stated processing time in writing before funding an account. Profits are generally taxable, with SARS the relevant authority.
Brokers accepting South African clients
Ranked by our published methodology, which weights licensing at 35% — on an unsupervised counterparty every other quality is contingent. Ratings are derived from the sub-scores, not assigned.
| # | Broker | Rating | Entity holding your funds | Min. deposit | Payout | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Deriv | 7.9 | Deriv (BVI) Ltd / Deriv (V) Ltd | $5 | up to ~95% on synthetics | Visit |
| 2 | IQ Option | 5.1 | IQ Option Ltd (international) — unregulated | $10 | up to ~95% | Visit |
| 3 | Pocket Option | 4.7 | Gembell Limited (Comoros) | $5 | up to ~92% | Visit |
| 4 | Quotex | 4.6 | Awesomo Ltd — unregulated | $10 | up to ~98% | Visit |
| Regulated alternative — does not offer binary options | ||||||
| — | Exness | 8.8 | FSCA (South Africa) — ODP · FSP 51024 | $10 | n/a — CFDs and FX only | Visit |
Advertiser disclosure: buttons marked ad are affiliate links and earn us a commission if you open an account. The others do not. The ranking is derived from the published sub-scores either way, which is why the highest-rated provider here is not the one that pays us.
Risk warning: binary options are high-risk speculative instruments and most retail accounts lose money. Nothing on this page is investment advice or a recommendation to trade.