UBinary Review
Ubinary was founded in 2011 and operated by PPT Capital Ltd (98519), Belize, a company that is not regulated. The address listed on their website is 43-45 Portman Square. London W1H 6HN, UK. Notice! This broker changed ownership again and is now operate by UB Innovative Partners LP – Suite 2, 5 Vincent Street, Edinburgh, EH3 6SW, Scotland, UK.
Update 2017: Ubinary can be considered a closed broker and we urge you to not invest there.
Is Ubinary a Scam?
Ubinary is not regulated and this should be a warning sign. The second warning sign is the continuous changes in operating company and address. Sure, changing operating companies and address alone doesn’t make them a scam but the increasing amount of complaint, the third factor, should really raise an alarm. If you do decide to trade with them, you should do a thorough assessment of their conditions and user ratings below and decide for yourselves if it’s the right broker for you.
Update 2017: There are yet more reasons to be added to the list of “Reasons why not to do business with Ubinary”. First, according to press reports the people in charge of UBinary have been caught and arrested for tax fraud after they were discovered using shell companies in Scotland to hide millions. Second, their traffic has dropped by around 15 times since near the period of the arrests which indicates they are to be considered closed – but whether the cease of operations are related to the firms owners or not we cannot confirm but it is very likely.
Editor’s Note – Why Ubinary doesn’t Suck in 50 Words
Advanced charts! Ubinary recently started using a proprietary platform, developed in-house and the best new addition are their advanced charts. Basic technical analysis can be conducted through this new platform; trend lines, oscillators, moving averages and you can even choose your time frame. Unfortunately you cannot trade directly from the advanced chart and you will have to switch back to the normal view of the platform.
Why Ubinary does Sucks?
The bad reputation gained lately by Ubinary really sucks. People complain a lot about not receiving their withdrawals and that unauthorized trades are being placed in their accounts. Update 2017: Based on the many serious complaints, authority warnings, tax fraud arrests and the fact that they are no longer to be considered an active broker – we can say they suck.
Should I Open an Account with Ubinary?
Definitely not. UBinary has been operating and even been charged for being a fraudulent company and are to be considered shut down. When we first reviewed them, the website and platform looked mediocre. Now they have totally revamped their style, bringing a fresh and more polished approach. Their Frequently Asked Questions and Glossary are pretty helpful and a newcomer can get an idea about what are binary options, what are the returns and the risks. Of course, they don’t emphasize too much on the risks because that wouldn’t be good for business. Instead, they focus on how fun it is to trade Binary Options and how you don’t need any experience to trade them…Here is where I don’t fully agree with them. If I want something fun I watch a movie, play a video game or do anything else that entertains me. They also explain to me that I don’t need any experience. Hmm, maybe I don’t need any experience to get started. After all, everybody is a newbie when they start to learn a certain activity, but in order to become a real trader, experience is definitely needed.
The Economic Calendar is nicely structured, informing me about the importance of each economic indicator or event and some short explanation of the event. The website does not contain any major spelling mistakes, any broken links and gives an overall professional feel…or at least more than others do. A great addition since our last visit is the Advanced Chart that gives you the feel of being a real trader by allowing the use of basic technical analysis tools such as trend lines, moving averages, RSI, MACD, etc. It’s great to finally see a broker who recognizes the importance of technical analysis charts and more than that, it’s great to see that Ubinary improved since our last visit (at least from a technical point of view). Speaking of improvements, recently they’ve introduced Social Trading in order to align with the “follow-mania” trend. I don’t believe that following others is the way to go (especially as long as you don’t know who and how skilled they are), but it’s worth mentioning.
2017 more updates: The overly ridiculous and exaggerated advertisements are still there such a the laughable “Amazing money machine, just press the button and live out your fantasy”… A regulated broker would today get fined for such statements but Ubinary is still not regulated of course. Moving on, their financial calendar that worked so well before does not work despite trying to open it in 3 different browsers. There is no one answering the live chat either which further confirms the fact that UBinary is closed down.
Ubinary Complaints
Let’s talk about the elephant in the room: our Comments section below this review is full of people who complain about the fact that Ubinary managers trade the clients’ funds without approval and lose them all. Also, withdrawal requests are not followed through and people don’t see any of their money. Our website is not the only one where people complain and if you want more information, you may check forexpeacearmy.com, a well known forum for user reviews and scam findings among other things.
Update 2017: Checking the comments section alone strengthens the fact that UBinary has been running a scam. However, you no longer need to dig too deep to confirm this since they are closed after the involvement in tax fraud and not to mention the warnings from authorities found below.
Ubinary Regulatory Announcements and Warnings
27.07.2016: FINMA in Switzerland issues a public warning which includes UBinary. Source: FINMA.ch
09.03.2015: CSA in Canada issues an investor alert on unregistered binary options brokers, UBinary.com included. Source: Lautorite.qc.ca
04.03.2015: AMF in France warns against UBinary.com for unauthorized activities. Source: AMF-france.org
Ubinary Bonus
The bonus offered differs depending on your initial deposit but here are some guidelines for the volume needed in order to withdraw (keep in mind that bonuses can be different, depending on your particular case): 30 times the bonus amount for a 30% bonus and 20 times bonus + deposit if you’ve received a 100% bonus. If you accept a bonus, you won’t be able to withdraw until you meet the trading volume requirements. We recommend checking these requirements prior to opening an account and depositing because changes may occur.
Ubinary Withdrawal
The minimum withdrawal is $50, which is good because it gives the traders control over their money. The time needed is 3-7 business days for credit cards and up to 10 business days for wire transfers. As usual, identification documents must be submitted.
Ubinary Extras
The Advanced Charts are a great addition, one which I believe should be made available by all brokers. Recently they’ve added “The Flip” which is a feature that allows you to reverse your trade before expiry time.
Ubinary Ratings
User Friendly 15/20
The platform is intuitive and easy to use. The site is available in just 3 languages. US customers are NOT accepted as of late or from any other country because as of this update in 2017, Clients should consider this broker closed. Their recent face-lift makes the website more eye pleasing but slows it down considerably and there is a graphic illustration inside the platform introducing you to how taking trades works which is great.
Number of assets and expiry times 14/20
Their trading basket contains 30 currency pairs, 6 indices, 6 commodities and 17 stocks. Expiry times range from a quick 60 seconds to the end of day and recently long term options have been introduced, as well as an option builder.
Commissions, Support and Effective return 15/20
There is no commission to open an account. They don’t offer information about withdrawal fees but a $50 fee will be deducted every 100 days from accounts that have been “neglected” (whatever that means). Live Chat is unresponsive and it took me close to half an hour to get a 4 letter answer (“$250”) to the simple question: “What is your minimum deposit”. The advertised return is up to 95% but of course, not all assets will offer such a high payout (at the time of writing most assets had a payout around 70% but Apple and USD/HKD were at 90%).
Update 2017: The chat doesn’t answer at all but it’s not strange considering they are shutting down their operations.
Deposit, Payment and Bonus 16/20
Minimum deposit is $250 and can be made through credit card, CashU (and other e-wallets) or bank transfer. Minimum withdrawal is $50 and is stipulated in their Terms and Conditions (previously this wasn’t mentioned). Bonus ranges from 30% to 100% and certain trading volume requirements must be met before withdrawing (see above).
Website Extras 15/20
The Advanced Chart is a very good and much needed addition and the same is true for their “Flip” feature.
Ubinary Overall Ratings = 75/100