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UK regulation changing
The UK is in the process of moving the regulation of binary options to the Financial Conduct Authority, rather than as gambling.[1]. This is to close a loophole. Some other EU countries regulate binary options via their financial authorities, and once allowed in the EU, binary option brokers can operate anywhere in the EU. This allows regulator shopping, where a binary option broker can find a friendly regulator country and then operate EU-wide.[2]. See Banc de Binary and these articles on binary options scams.[3][4]
This has not yet taken effect. The final rules are supposed to be published on 3 January 2016, to take effect on 3 January 2017. The binary options article probably should be updated early in 2016, when the new rules are out. John Nagle (talk) 20:49, 15 December 2015 (UTC)
Us Friendly Binary Option Brokers Video
151.47.66.63, what are you trying to do?
There have been many edits from addresses from Wind.it, an ISP in Italy. Someone seems to be trying to get a message across, but failing because of language problems. Can you tell us what you are trying to do? Thanks. John Nagle (talk) 21:38, 20 December 2015 (UTC)
Removing the equations
Someone has been removing the equations on grounds of "overkill". It makes absolutely no sense. This is an encyclopedia and we send students and trainees to get formulae from Wiki. When you google the page that's what you get. The formulas need to be reinstated. I will revert unless there is a specific spot where these formulas are found. Limit-theorem (talk) 16:10, 19 January 2016 (UTC)
Is the whole binary options industry a scam?
The Times of Israel just published an expose, "The wolves of Tel Aviv: Israel's vast, amoral binary options scam exposed" which indicates that the binary options industry is mostly a scam.[10]. Maybe we should take a stronger line in the lede.
We should distinguish between real options, where there's someone on the other side of the trade other than the broker, and bucket-shop operations, where the other party is the broker, acting as the "house" in a gambling transaction. The US doesn't allow those. See Banc de Binary. John Nagle (talk) 21:09, 10 April 2016 (UTC)
CFTC acting against two more binary option brokers from Israel, other crackdowns underway
Binary option brokers "Vault" and "GTC 365" (which, according to the CFTC, have common ownership) are in trouble. CFTC complaint.[17] Press coverage: [18] [19] John Nagle (talk) 19:04, 11 April 2016 (UTC)
Making the lede clearer about the binary
A binary option has a mathematical importance as the density of the risk neutral distribution. So the lede should distinguish between its theoretical and gambling roles. I teach students binary options and link to this page and want to make sure they do not get confused with this gambling and shady aspect of the binaries. Limit-theorem (talk) 10:20, 13 April 2016 (UTC)
Binary option convention
The binary options industry has a trade convention.[30] The Times of Israel sent a reporter. Misc comments: ""In Asia, the region is really growing in appetite for forex trading," Google executive Panos Lamprakos said in a presentation, while showing slides illustrating how the number of searches for "forex" and "binary options" in southeast Asia has skyrocketed in recent years." "We've worked very closely with the forex and binary industry over the last, I would say, six months," said Liset van Oosterhout, an account executive for Twitter's Israeli market, to a rapt audience. "We saw great results with a few of the advertisers, and it's really a growing industry for us." Mention in article? There was also a note that SpotOption (the binary option platform) invented binary options, but the cited source was anonymous.John Nagle (talk) 20:20, 21 August 2016 (UTC)
More Israel-based scammers
Reuters just exposed NRGbinary and Titan Traders as scams.[31] John Nagle (talk) 21:23, 8 October 2016 (UTC)
Undid big insertion of math by an anon
Undid a big revision to the math which was cited to a student site at the University of Waterloo. The anon IP resolves to the University of Waterloo. Possible WP:OR.
The Black-Scholes model math needs work. Currently, the article claims that a common binary option which pays out if the underlying asset is higher at the end of the option period should be valued at
But most binary options are valid for less than a day, some only for minutes. So , the risk-free increase in the value of the funds bet invested, is effectively zero. So the formula simplifies to
I think that for , and this is going to simplify to , which is what you'd expect. Unless the option can be exercised at any time (as in "American-type options"), it's just a bet against a random walk. For a short period, the Black-Scholes analysis isn't useful. All that math kind of hides that basic fact. John Nagle (talk) 06:56, 12 October 2016 (UTC)
Merger?
Someone proposed a merge, but didn't start the discussion. Does anyone want to make a case for a merge with index trading? Merging index trading into Stock market index option might be more useful. John Nagle (talk) 19:57, 21 November 2016 (UTC)
Simplifying language
I'm doing some editing to try to make the article less jargon-y and more understandable to a broader audience. However, my technical knowledge in this field is not great and I encourage subject matter experts to determine if I've made anything wrong by accident. Coretheapple (talk) 15:29, 17 December 2016 (UTC)
It wasn't my intent starting out, but I wound up doing a BOLD rewrite of the whole article. Again, would appreciate it if subject-matter experts would review my edits. I had several objectives: first to simplify and remove jargon, secondly to make the organization of the article more logical. We talk about the regulatory action against binary options before describing, clearly, just what they are and where they are traded. Coretheapple (talk) 16:53, 17 December 2016 (UTC)
The Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission, as part of their belated crackdown on the binary option industry, has issued a list of domains they know about which are doing binary options business but are not regulated by them.[34] Quebec's financial regulator also has a list.[35] If any of these have Wikipedia articles, that's worth a mention there. Banc De Binary is on the Quebec list, and that's already covered. John Nagle (talk) 18:08, 18 December 2016 (UTC)
More news reports this week
"The greed of the crooks in the binary options sector knows no bounds and their long claws reach every corner of the earth. ... We have joined together, all the enforcement agencies, to combat this ugly phenomenon. We have declared an all-out war against binary options. We hear dreadful testimonies and stories about people being persuaded to enter this arena. Not Israelis. I make it clear all the time that see these operations as forbidden and akin to extortion and exploitation of the public by greedy charlatans, that phone them up and take their money. We are doing everything that we can today to stop this." - Israel Securities Authority chairman Shmuel Hauser.[41] It's still legal in Israel to run a binary options scam against non-Israelis; he can't stop them unless the Knesset changes the law. John Nagle (talk) 07:21, 29 December 2016 (UTC)
New blacklists of binary options brokers from France's financial regulator [42], Swiss financial regulator [43], and Italy's financial regulator[44]. New statement from Singapore police.[45] John Nagle (talk) 07:21, 29 December 2016 (UTC)
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ See also [48]. Coretheapple (talk) 17:15, 15 February 2017 (UTC)
New names for binary options: "Digital 100s", "Binarex".
One binary option operator has renamed binary options "Digital 100s". Another name is "Binarex". [49] Probably worth a mention once there are more sources, and redirects to binary option would be appropriate. John Nagle (talk) 18:19, 12 January 2017 (UTC)
Adding a link under for "further reading"
I request to add under "further reading" the following: "Behind the Scenes of Binary Options" with Simona Weinglass, Invastigative Reporter for the Times of Israel, on the podcast Two Nice Jewish Boys, December 2016. Hativa1 (talk) 17:46, 30 January 2017 (UTC)
New IQ Option article
A little off topic on this page, please forgive me, but a new article at IQ Option could use a once over by people familiar with this topic area. Wikipedia already has a bit of a history with IQ Option - their website is on our spam blacklist. - MrOllie (talk) 17:19, 15 February 2017 (UTC)
New section on FBI investigation
@Smartse, Nagle, and Brianhe: I've added the new section at Binary_option#FBI_investigation, but understand that this is not the usual type of material you see on Wikipedia, and would like somebody to review it. For example, for some reason I am hesitant to name the FBI agent who was quoted, even though it's right there in the Times of Israel. It just seems that the important thing is his position within the FBI, not his name. But whatever people think best. Another example is whether to include the FBI's complaint website address. Thanks in advance for any help. Smallbones(smalltalk) 17:22, 15 February 2017 (UTC)
Knesset considering shutting down entire industry
The bill to ban the binary option industry in Israel has reached hearings in the Knesset.[52] The arguments from the industry are, well, striking. "At Knesset session, supporters of widely fraudulent industry that fleeces victims worldwide say bill to ban it would put 80,000 Israelis out of work." "Shutting down the binary options industry could lead to terrorism and the collapse of the real estate industry and possibly the entire economy. ... (There are) 20,000 people employed in binary options in Israel, and 60,000 people indirectly. ... You see the building boom right now in Tel Aviv? Well, you can just say goodbye to that because most skyscrapers in Tel Aviv will be empty. There will be no one to fill them up." - binary option lobbyist. The main argument for shutting down the industry was "Because this industry gives Israel such a bad name and inflames anti-Semitism, we must uproot the phenomenon." - head of Israeli Securities Authority. John Nagle (talk) 07:31, 3 March 2017 (UTC)
Reminder
Any contributor to this article or this talk page who is paid to contribute needs to declare their paid status according to our Terms of Use. See WP:Paid. Reading WP:COI would be useful as well. Unfortunately pages related to binary options have had lots of paid editing (both declared and undeclared) and lots of disruption has resulted from that. Examples might include Banc De Binary, and deleted pages on IQ option, and anyoption.
I've been bold in removing a post here that seems to have been advertising (See WP:NOADS) or paid editing for a publication that seems to promote binary options trading from certain firms. If anybody objects to my boldness, you can certainly add back the section using the the history page.
Note that I do not blame the editor, he may have been acting in good faith without knowing our sometimes complicated rules. But I do think it is up to us to actively let people know what our rules are, and when they seem to be violating our rules. Smallbones(smalltalk) 17:29, 3 March 2017 (UTC)
Arrest in Israel.
@Nagle and Coretheapple: Yesterday there was an arrest of an binary options firm *owner* with multiple reliable and unreliable sources giving basic details. Times of Israel gives a name, but it's not a name I'd recognize. One semi-reliable (??) source suggests that this is just the start of owners getting arrested. Others have said this was from an undercover operation by Israeli police. So it seems this might be more than a simple single arrest. We can probably put the owner's name up as soon as another source confirms it. Smallbones(smalltalk) 16:17, 16 May 2017 (UTC)
CFD
Contracts for differences are not in the same category, from a payoff standpoint, as Binary Options as 1) they have no strike, hence are not options, 2) pay continuously (binary options by definition are in {0,1}). However there may be a similar problem to binaries in the sense that they can be used by bucket shops. Limit-theorem (talk) 12:17, 17 May 2017 (UTC)
Times of Israel
The Times of Israel has done an investigative series on binary options, and has mentioned this very article in so doing. I think this needs to be incorporated in this article. See http://www.timesofisrael.com/wikipedia-vs-banc-de-binary-a-3-year-battle-against-binary-options-fake-news/ for the Wiki article, quoting from our very own Smallbones. I think it deserves a brief mention. Sometimes editors go overboard in such situations, but let's not. Coretheapple (talk) 16:20, 31 May 2017 (UTC)
Israeli cabinet vote
Please see Israeli ministers approve bill to outlaw entire binary options industry. Not that it's a done deal. The law could take over 6 weeks to pass, as I see it, even if everything goes smoothly. Smallbones(smalltalk) 02:05, 19 June 2017 (UTC)
Issue in the "How binary options work" section
"and because they require little or no knowledge of the markets."
I can't see how binary options are any different than traditional trading in this regard. Anyone can open a brokerage account and start trading without knowing what moves whatever they're trading. It's not like brokerages require their clients to take a test before they can start trading. -- Preceding unsigned comment added by Xzxfff (talk o contribs) 00:58, 28 August 2017 (UTC)
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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