Redwood Options Review
Editors’ Note – Why does Redwood Options Suck in (or more than) 50 Words?
I didn’t have to look long to find something that sucks about them: *Edit, last time it was the Daily Market Review that didn’t make sense, this time it’s a webinar confusion. I was just going to say how great that they finally fixed the Market Reviews until I scrolled down and saw this “How to Trade Using the TradeRush Platform @ 12 2015.06.24”. TradeRush? I had to check my eyes to see if I came to Redwood Options or TradeRush… I know they both share the same virtual address but this is strange. By the way, it’s from 2015 06! In the time of writing this, it has been a year. No one updates the site?
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Why doesn’t Redwood Options Suck?
I like the design of their website, although it is very similar to other brokers. What makes the difference is the fact that it doesn’t seem clogged. Moving on from the design, they offer 81% payout on binary options, which is quiet good in relation to other brokers. Another plus is that their live chat was actually live, although support didn’t solve the mystery of the “TradeRush” sneaking in their webinars… At least they didn’t beg me for a phone number or email address! All in all, this is not a scammy broker, they have been business for a long time without major issues. But they aren’t a great one either.
Redwood Options Review – Another “Leading Binary Options Broker”
Redwood Options is owned by Hampshire Capital Ventures Ltd. Their new virtual address is Cavell House Stannard Place, Crispins Road, Norwich, NR3 1YE, the old one used to be: Strada Mason Complex, Nr 25 BI Stoney Gro The Valley, Al-2640, Anguilla. I guess they are on the bandwagon of brokers using virtual addresses to make them look like a UK business.
They consider themselves a leader in this industry, just like almost any other broker out there… nothing new here and throughout my stay on their website, I realized this is the main drawback of Redwood: they don’t bring anything new but they want to be a leader of the industry. They were around for several years but only opened for the large public in March 2013 according to Yahoo Finance. I expected them to come out with something fresh, new and innovative but that is not the case and they even use the same old and overly used slogan “We focus on what really counts. You…”
Speaking of being the leader in the industry, did I mention that maintenance seems to be an issue on the site? I tried three different browsers, IE, Chrome and Firefox to read the FAQ but only the questions under the “Platform” section were clickable. Now that I am complaining, let’s move on to the minimum deposit: 500$ for the standard mini account is way too much! Okay, at least the minimum investments are low, 10 for long term and only 5$ for 60 second options. Lucky you get some starter webinars too for that price, oh wait that reminds me, are these TradeRush or Redwood options webinars? You don’t even want to know the dumb answer I got for the webinar broker name confusion. I suppose these “errors” occur when you copy paste too much info, just like the overly used slogan we mentioned above. Let’s just move on…
On a more cheerful note, I like the payouts they offer and how they make use of the SpotOption platform which is widely known for its ease of use and high level of functionality. It is true that a lot of shady brokers use this platform, but I don’t think “shady” applies to Redwood Options. Everything about them is easily found and they don’t try to keep normal things a secret. When it comes to policies, they seem honest in their terms and conditions. For example, regarding that their financial information made by them (like account managers etc) and their site might not be accurate and that you probably should be advised by someone with no conflict of interest. On the other hand, the bonus terms are not entirely clear and not in accordance with CySEC but then again, Redwood Options is not regulated.
Taking a look at their educational material, I found some good tips and many video lessons, but only 2 of them are available to users who don’t have an active account. Anyway, the information contained in those 2 lessons is good and can give you an overall idea of how the market works. Without considering them a low-quality broker, overall Redwood doesn’t stand out in any way and they don’t bring any improvements to the Binary Options industry.
Is RedwoodOptions a Scam?
Redwood has been around for quite a while. They may not be a scam but they certainly aren’t one of the more respectable brokers The only real problems I see with Redwood Options seems to be connected with accepting bonuses due to their non-CySEC bonus terms.
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Redwood Options Complaints
It’s quite an easy task to search for Binary Options Brokers complaints – Go to Google or whatever browser you’re using, search for RedWood Options complaints, scam, fraud etc and start searching. The search part is the easy one, now you need to dig dipper into the web and look for real comments. We couldn’t find any unsatisfied customers. Most complaints are regarding bonus lucks. If you don’t read the terms and conditions, withdrawals will be problematic or impossible if you want to pull out before you have reached the required bonus volume.
Redwood Options Bonus
Their Bonus differs depending on the deposited amount. The mini account at 500$/€ is rewarded with a 25% bonus but the bonus rate grows if you deposit more. For example, a 100% bonus is offered to Platinum members with a 25,000 deposit. Once you have accepted a bonus, you cannot withdraw your deposit or future additional deposits either. Unless you reach a certain volume of trading of either 30, 40 or 50 times the bonus. It’s unclear when each of the steps is applied. If a bonus is a refund however, the volume is 20 times the bonus amount.
Redwood Options Withdrawal
You will have to provide some identification documents in order to withdraw funds from your account, you will not be charged any fees for withdrawing using a credit card, but you will have to pay $30 for bank wire withdrawals. They will process the request within 3 business days and another 5 to 7 business days must pass until you will receive the payment. You can’t withdraw earnings below 100, whichever the currency, which could be a problem for some traders.
Redwood Options Ratings
User Friendly 12/20
The Spotoption platform brings the user easy access to all features and improved functionality. The website is offered just in English which is a major drawback for a lot of customers. The FAQ does not work properly and you can get confused due to copy pasted material on the site. Moreover, the bonus terms are not clear and user friendly, especially for a beginner.
Number of assets and expiry times 13/20
The advertised assets under “Asset Index” are many, 114 stocks, 32 currencies, 9 commodities and 37 indices. Unfortunately, I could not find that many assets in the trading platform itself. From what I can tell, there are around 28 currencies, 15 Stocks, a handful of commodities depending on what type of options you want to trade and around 5 indices. I suppose the “Asset Index” was copy pasted too. The expiry times are enough to choose from, ranging from 60 seconds to an hour or to the end of the day, week, month and next month. You can make use of the Option Builder tool to add more flexibility to your trades and you can also use One Touch Options, Pairs (only Gold VS Silver), FX/CFD and ladder.
Commissions, Support and Effective return 16/20
There are no commissions in order for you to register but you will have to pay a $30 fee if you withdraw using bank wire. Credit card withdrawals are free of charge. Their customer support is quite polite and helpful and the effective return goes as high as 81% so the overall conditions are competitive.
Deposit, Payment and Bonus 10/20
The minimum deposit is $500 and can be made using credit cards or wire transfer (some fees may apply to wire deposits). The payment request will be processed by Redwood within 3 business days and it will take an additional 5 to7 business days until the money will reach your account. For the exact size of the Bonus you will have to check under “Account Types”.
The required volume to be generated before withdrawals differs from case to case and it’s not clearly stated in their terms and conditions. You probably need to ask your account manager about it. Remember that once you have a bonus, you cannot withdraw your deposits until you have reached whatever the volume they demand from you!
Website Extras 13/20
This is a weak category for them and although they are not exactly “extra”, the Video lessons are worth 12 points.
Redwood Options Overall Rating: 64/100
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