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.
The market of crude oil
The share of crude oil in the entire global production volume of commodities is nearly 45 percent. This makes crude oil the most important commodity by far. There are a couple of dozens varieties which are distinguished by the deposit location, the weight and the viscosity. WTI (West Texas Intermediary) is produced in Midland, Texas, and is the most popular futures contract in the US. Crude oil is a limited resource and it is getting more and more difficult to exploit new oil fields. The supply gets shorter but the demand rises continually. The increasing living standards and the economic growth in countries like China or India creates a rising demand. This has a huge impact on the future development of the oil price.Binary options and trading oil
Binary options are perfect to trade oil. The main advantage, in comparison with the futures market, is that you aren’t affected by the high volatility of this commodity at all. This is because you can’t be stopped out from your position like in the futures market – simply because you don’t need stops. Basically you are just betting on the direction of the oil price development until the option expires. If your prediction comes true, you win.Where to trade oil binary options
Our recommendation for trading oil binary options is the brokerage house 24Option. With 24Option you can put all different kinds of trading strategies in place while trading different various kinds of options.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.