Why Ioption Closed Doors – We Know, What about You?

Last updated on November 18, 2013

Ioption is going Out of Business – The Full Story

Ioption is going out of business. Employees report of massive dismissals, yet there’s no official confirmation of this by the company officials. This surprising news was also confirmed by well established sources within the Binary Options industry. At the moment their websites remains active, and there’s no notice of any problem. Our team is positive we can expect official announced in the following days.

These news hits many traders as well as the ThatSucks.com (former BinaryOptionsThatSuck.com) team with absolute surprise. We know Ioption for quite a few years now, as this broker was among the first brokers to offer binary options to traders. This SpotOption’s white label was here long before the 2012 boom of new brokers and made itself quite known among binary options traders and affiliates. Therefore it is not surprising I sent my team sniffing around any pieces of information, instead of having fun this weekend. This of course includes myself; what a lovely Sunday for work.

The Ship Goes Down – How the Problems Begin

So how comes that a well known broker goes out of business? We had to poll some strings and bather some friends and colleague in their weekend rest, yet it was worth it. Eventually, what we have here is a story of “thing went wrong”, oh, such unlucky.

First thing we found out was that for over a month now, Ioption clients simply can’t trade. It turns out that in order to comply with the new regulations in EU, Ioption asked their trading platform provider, SpotOption, to create some changes in their platform so it’ll suit the regulator requirements. Appranalty those neccessery upgdates in software took too long, causing many problems to existing and new clients. One thing every vendor knows is never be closed to business. Ground rule.

In a nutshell, this service break for over a month now was just the beginning of this saga. Hold on, there’s more to come

Murphy: Anything That Can Go Wrong, Will Go Wrong

Second rule every vendor knows is, spear some liquid capital. Unfortunately for Ioption, Netpay and Liberty Reserve are about to bankrupt. These e-wallet companies are holding thousands of dollars of Ioption capital in dead accounts. And if that’s not bad enough for Ioption, several sources told BOTS team Ioption’s new partner was unhappy about the situation of the company. The new partner, who invested up to a six figures in the company, claimed that after signing the contract, he noticed the company was not doing well and he was represented with false information about the company’s situation. As a result he decided to freeze his investment and to prevent the company from using this cash. The only option left for Ioption’s management was selling. Every captain knows that when the ship goes down, he needs to pick an enthusiastic sailor as the new captain, and bail out. But as Murphy likes to say, when things might go wrong, they go wrong. Negotiating with BBinary regarding a possible purchase was never ripen following BBinary’s past engagements in the US. No other Binary Options broker had any real interest in taking over this sinking boat. The Beatles call it yellow submarine.

Apparently, being first is not always a receipt for success. Way I see it, there are 3 more important things a company must have to succeed: Luck, luck and luck, again. This is a wakeup call for all binary options brokers out there – Even the best binary options brokers could go bankrupt sometimes.

posted in Binary Options News • 2 Comments

2 Responses to “Why Ioption Closed Doors – We Know, What about You?”

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Martin
11/18/2013 10:48

You're correct Andrew
You’re correct Andrew, that’s my interest as well. Ioption were among the “pioneers” yet failed to become a leading broker. Nevertheless, the business model of too many white labels is simply to catch new traders in their net by adding too many shady release clauses such as high bonus wager. It’s our obligation as community and bloggers to spot those rotten grasshoppers right from the beginning. It’s not always possible. Actually its almost impossible. Brokers must start to understand that eventually, the house wins. It’s human nature and common sense, that’s the reason why Forex is such a Hugh industry and Casinos are here for decades. Same goes to BO. Nurture your clients-traders-gamblers instead of tricking them into a small $200 loss. As you said, think for the longer term. Cheers.
Andrew
11/14/2013 01:38

Thank you Martin
Thank you Martin, for bringing [the beginning] of this story to light.
One would think that to succeed in this young industry (binary options), broker/managers would do anything to build a strategically progressive company with “all their ducks in order” , positioned for continued growth and future reputation — especially with the explosive emergence of countless new competitors (some that “suck”, others that don’t). Here, client/traders will be left behind with a sour taste, not to mention a distrust of other brokers. I personally looked at iOptions in the past, and thought them to be a solid broker, albeit not open to US traders. My interest is not in short-term trading, but long-term growth.
Best wishes.