Forex Magnates checked in with Alexandre Beliakov, President of Lionstone Investment Ltd for his perspective on the binary options industry and the broker's exposure in the Russian and CIS markets.
1. Lionstone was one of the first brokers to introduce binary options to the Russian & CIS market in 2010. What prompted you to take this step?
Lionstone did indeed introduce the Russian & CIS market to binary options 4 years ago. The fact of the matter is that back in 2009-10, the instrument was growing steadily in popularity throughout the globe. Additionally, we wanted to diversify our services offered to traders at the time and introduce something new and fresh. However, in Russia, as we found out was a different situation. Around binary options there was confusion and chaos in regards to classifying the instrument as they began to be compared to gambling games and roulette in particular. As a result of this, the popular opinion of binary options was, to put it mildy, one of distrust. In other words, the market was not yet ready for binary options. We put in a lot of time and effort to educate traders and interested parties to create a correct understanding and perception of the instrument.
2. How did your traders react to the new product? Also, what is the ratio of forex and binary option traders? Which product is more popular now?
Our clients reacted to binary options with enthusiasm, many have heard about them before and some had even traded them. When launching the product, our main goal was to make it reliable and easy-to-use for clients. Taking into account that to trade binary options our clients do not need to open a separate account, their familiarization with the new product is a process that takes only a couple of minutes. Regarding the ratios of binary option traders to forex traders, at the current moment, not less than 80% of our clients have tried binary options, with around 30% trading constantly. We also have clients who specialize on binary options trading.
3. Where can one find a demo version of the platform?
On our binary option site https://lisfx.com you can try trading in a demo environment with market pricing. Trading history is available with a live account.
4. Why do you think that forex traders have been increasingly choosing binary options? What trading instruments are currently available for them?
I believe this is due to a few key advantages of binary options. First being the simplicity of opening a trading position and knowing beforehand when your trade will close (option expiration). In addition, traders know beforehand their potential profits and loss in case of an incorrect forecast.
Currently we offer most major currency pairs as well as gold. We are planning to add more instruments in the near future and we are basing what will be added on client demand. The amount of instruments available for binary options trading is directly tied to client interest and demand. If there is interest – we will add new instruments.
5. Alexandre, on lisfx.com there is only high/low binary options available. Will this be expanded, as there is one touch, range, no touch and many other types?
The main advantage of high/low binary options is in fact their simplicity, and being straightforward to learn and understand. The large variety of different types of binary options shows that the instrument has great prospects and possibilities, but again, the biggest appeal is still the simplicity and being easy to understand. The more complex an instrument is, the less popular it becomes. This is why we will be launching more complex features and offerings a little bit later, based on client inquiries and requests.
6. Is it possible to use PAMM accounts to trade binary options at Lionstone? Do you have PAMM accounts trading binary options?
At the current moment, no we do not offer our PAMM account service for binary options. However, we are looking into add PAMM accounts to binary options, provided there is a significant demand for such a service, then it will be offered relatively quickly.
7. Why did you choose Binarystation as your binary option platform?
Our choice of Binarystation technology is largely due to the fact that it is certified by the Financial Commission for binary option trading, and this means that it went through all the necessary tests and checks. Taking into account that this is a complex technological solution, the guarantees of the Financial Commission play a very important role, especially since Lionstone has been a member broker from the organization's inception.
Also, a large factor of our choice was the ability to install the solution on our servers, flexible configuration, regular and automatic updates of the system, and integration with MetaTrader 4, which we already offer.
8. On your company's binary option website it says “integrated with MT4”, does this mean that it is a plugin? Is it necessary to install the platform? Is this convenient?
Technically speaking the platform for binary options is an entirely separate solution, but all operations on the account are directly mirrored on their MetaTrader 4 account. Due to this, with just one account a trader can work with currencies on MetaTrader 4 as well as binary options on the web platform or mobile applications simultaneously. The balance of the account is updated in real time. It is very convenient from the point of view of a trader who would like to hedge their risks on forex with short-term binary options without touching his or her long-term positions on a currency pair.
Another important point of this integration is the transparency of pricing for binary options. The pricing comes directly from our MetaTrader 4 server, which allows traders to analyze their positions and plan binary option trades beforehand basing off the market situation.
I would like to add that to work with binary options a trader does not need to install MetaTrader 4, they just need an account on the system and all trading is conducted through a browser from any point in the globe.
9. There is an article that was published in the Forex Magnates Experts section regarding binary option Regulation . How are they regulated in Russia & CIS?
Due to the growing popularity of this relatively new financial product, there is active discussion in Russia regarding it's regulation, but there is currently no dedicated or specialized government agency to do this yet. As far as I know, the Financial Commission is developing a structure to effectively regulate this market and has seen success in the execution of some of the elements of it's strategy.
10. Recently, there have been active discussions on the internet and comparisons of binary options with roulette or other gambling games. There are grounds for this, as the principals of “all or nothing” are part of binary options. But are they so?
I've said it before and I will say it again. Binary options are a game, an intellectual gambling game with elements of risk. I recommend approaching this matter objectively. Take for example stocks or forex, traders risk money for uncertain profit. If we take a look at real estate investment, here risk exceeds all imaginable boundaries, yet no one calls real estate investment a gambling game. Any financial investment can be classified as a gambling game. Even a savings account in a bank can be called a binary option, since there is both a fixed percent of profit and risk factor.
However you would like to call binary options, an extremely important point in any activity is to minimize risks and correctly manage them. In the case of binary options, the amount of potential profit and loss is always fixed and known before you enter into a position. You will not lose more than you initially invested into a single position.
11. What determines the profitability of a binary option for a trader?
The profitability of binary options is determined firstly by the duration and secondly by the type of option. As a rule of thumb, the riskier the type of option or strategy then the higher the potential profit of a binary option.
