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Focus Option Review 2024

Written By

William Berg

Written By

William Berg

William contributes to several investment websites, leveraging his experience as a consultant for IPOs in the Nordic market and background providing localization for forex trading software. William has worked as a writer and fact-checker for a long row of financial publications.

» William Berg Profile Page

Fact Checked By

Tobias Robinson

Fact Checked By

Tobias Robinson

Tobias is a partner at DayTrading.com, director of a UK limited company and active trader. He has over 25 years of experience in the financial industry and contributed via CySec to the regulatory response to digital options and CFD trading in Europe. Toby’s expertise and dedication to financial education make him a trusted voice in the industry, including a BBC investigation into digital options.

» Tobias Robinson Profile Page

Updated

Sep 13, 2023

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United States not accepted.

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Overall Rating

3.7 / 5

Focus Option is #17 in our binary options broker rankings.

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Customer Reviews

Minimum Deposit $10

Trading Platforms TradingView

Instruments Binary Options, CFDs, Forex, Metals, Indices

Regulators

Account Currencies USD

Payment Options Bitcoin Payments, Visa, Mastercard, Debit Card, Credit Card, JCB Card

Pros

• Good selection of cryptocurrencies available including Bitcoin
• Web-based platform provides a quick and easy way to access markets
• Binary options contracts from 30 seconds to 30 days

Cons

• Average trading terms on CFDs with spreads from 3 pips on GBP/USD
• Offshore regulation raises safety concerns
• Clients based in the USA cannot use the broker’s products

Focus Option is a digital options and CFD broker offering access to forex, crypto, commodities, indices and stock markets. The brokerage offers an in-house trading platform alongside TradingView and a downloadable mobile app. This 2024 review will analyse the services and products offered by Focus Option, as well as examining its authenticity. Find out whether to open a trading account today.

History & Overview

Founded in 2021, Focus Option is a relatively new broker. The company was established by “traders and industry leaders,” although none of the founders are publicly named.

Focus Option Ltd is registered in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, which means it is an offshore, unregulated brokerage.

The brand focuses heavily on digital options and CFDs, instead of vanilla options.

Apart from some restricted territories, the brokers trading products and services are open to investors around the world. Supported countries include: India, Singapore, the Philippines, Kenya, Japan, Malaysia, Australia, and the UK.

Trading Platform

Focus Option has its own in-house web trading platform, which means that no separate software downloads are required. The trading platform is compatible with any browser or system, including Windows 10.

While using the web trading platform, our experts found a range of useful features:

• News and market analysis
• High-low options for flexibility in predicting market movements
• Indicators such as Bollinger Bands and moving averages to interpret market data
• Various charts including candle and Heikin-Ashi with zoom in and out capabilities
• Sentiment indicator to help users to gauge market participant’s views on asset prices

Focus Option’s minimum trade amount is $1. Expiry times on options contracts vary from 60 seconds to 30 days. Although slippage can occur while trading, the broker’s VPS (Virtual Private Server) hosting may reduce this risk.

Focus Option does not support a broker API, which would allow clients to build their own trading bots using an open source programming language such as JavaScript.

Those who want to make use of a platform external to the broker to analyse the market in more depth may wish to use TradingView. However, users should note that Focus Option orders cannot be placed directly from external platforms.

Note, MetaTrader 4 (MT4) or MetaTrader 5 (MT5) are not supported by this broker.

How To Trade

While using the platform, we found the terminal user-friendly. To get started:

• Select the asset you wish to speculate on using the drop down menu in the top left
• Filter the contract duration using the time box in the top right
• Check the potential payout in the ‘profit’ box on the right
• Select ‘buy’ if you believe the price will rise and ‘sell’ if you think it will fall
• Monitor your position to see if you finish ‘in the money’

Markets

There are over 60 financial instruments available on Focus Option covering forex, crypto and commodities:

• 39 forex pairs including majors and minors such as EUR/USD and EUR/GBP
• 25 cryptos including Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH) and Ripple (XRP)
• 2 commodities (gold and silver (XAGUSD))

On the mobile app, stock and index CFDs are available, including the S&P 500 and DAX 30.

No ETFs are offered by Focus Option, unlike with other brokerages such as eToro or Zerodha.

Fees

Although many traders will look at commission rates when comparing brokers, the way that online brokerages earn money through digital options is slightly different. There is no commission per lot size at this broker. Instead, investors should focus on the payout or profit percentage. Payouts are usually between 70% and 95%, which is competitive.

For example, Bitcoin currently has a 96% potential payout whereas GBP/USD is much lower at 63%. As an example, a profit percentage of 70% would mean the trader would make $70 if they risked $100 and their prediction turned out to be correct.

While the profit percentage is important, remember that higher payouts are not everything. For example, brokers may offer high payouts on certain crypto markets because they are so volatile. This unpredictability can make it difficult for investors to make consistently profitable trades, which benefits the broker.

Importantly, when trading digital options, if your prediction is incorrect, you lose your entire stake. However, if your prediction is correct, brokers will almost always offer payouts less than 100%. This means you would still end up losing money to the broker if you made an equal number of winning and losing trades. These factors highlight the importance of following an effective trading strategy that leads to more winning trades than losing ones.

When trading margin FX contracts and CFDs on the mobile app, expect spreads of around 3 pips for GBP/USD and 1 pip for EUR/USD. These are relatively high as Focus Option is a market maker broker. You can find tighter spreads at an ECN broker, but commission will likely be charged.

Those holding CFDs (contracts for difference) overnight may also have to pay interest. This is why some traders may prefer short-term binary options.

Leverage Review

CFDs are a leveraged financial instrument, so trading on margin is possible with Focus Option. This means greater exposure and higher profits if the market moves in the right direction, but larger losses if the market moves against the trader.

Investors may need to deposit more with the broker to keep their leveraged position open if the required margin drops below certain levels. The initial margin on CFDs is typically between 2% and 5%.

Note, this is not relevant for binary options traders.

Mobile App

Focus Option has a mobile app available for download on Google Play (for Android (APK)) and the App Store (for iPhone and iPad iOS). This means clients at this broker can trade on the go. The Focus Option mobile app also offers alternate CFD markets including stocks and indices.

When using the mobile app download, we found the terminal reliable and user-friendly. Investors can also make deposits and withdrawals from the application and manage their account.

Deposits & Withdrawals

Focus Option does not impose an additional charge on deposits for options or CFD trading. The minimum deposit is $10, and processing times are instant. The following deposit methods are available:

• Bitcoin (BTC)
• Tether (ERC-20)
• Tether (BEP-20)
• Ethereum (ERC-20)
• BinanceUSD (BEP-20)
• Visa and Mastercard
• JCB card

Funds must be withdrawn using the same method as the deposit. Withdrawals are also not charged a fee by Focus Option. Withdrawal processing times are 24 hours.

Demo Account

A free $10,000 demo/practice account is offered by Focus Option. Although use of the account is limited to 30 days, this should be sufficient time to test a digital options trading strategy or to get to grips with the platform.

Whether you’re based in Europe, Asia or elsewhere, Reddit can be a useful place to research binary options strategies, prior to either using a brokers demo account or backtesting systems using historical market data. Discord servers are another example of a useful community discussion space.

Bonuses & Promotions

Although there are not any particular promotions or no deposit bonuses advertised by Focus Option, reference is made to trading credits for new and subsisting customers. Some traders may, therefore, receive a trading bonus when they open an account.

In recent years, brokers with no deposit bonuses and similar promotions have been clamped down on by certain regulators such as the Cyprus Securities & Exchange Commission (CySEC). Though as an offshore broker, it is unlikely Focus Open would be affected by this.

Regulation & License

Focus Option Ltd is registered in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and is therefore under the jurisdiction of their laws. However, our experts were unable to find confirmation of an actual regulator or body that licences this broker. Therefore, it is not likely that any protection schemes and other regulatory protections are offered to clients.

As an offshore broker, Focus Option offers far less consumer protection than a European broker regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) or Cyprus Securities & Exchange Commission (CySEC), for example. This means that client funds may not be recoverable.

Additional Features

Focus Option does not offer many additional features. There is a small education section available on the trading platform dashboard, but this is limited to a guide on how to trade binary options rather than in-depth tutorials.

The lack of extra features is a real downside, especially for beginners new to the industry. This review would like to see the online broker bolster its suite of training materials.

Accounts

Focus Option offers four trading accounts: Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum. Each account offers full access to the broker’s suite of assets and tools. However, the Silver account offers larger trade sizes plus faster payments. The Gold account then also provides an account manager, live signals, plus market insights. Finally, Platinum account holders benefit from all of the above, plus enhanced payouts up to 95% plus VIP events.

Trading Hours

Focus Option’s trading services open on Sunday at 17:00 EST and close on Friday at 17:00 EST. Trades cannot be placed with this broker outside these hours. Investors should also check the opening hours of individual markets as there will be variations here too.

Customer Support

There are good customer support options, including live chat and a contact number/helpdesk offered by Focus Option. The team can help with questions about account error codes or if the platform is not working or failed.

The full list of support methods is as follows:

• Live chat
• WhatsApp
• Online contact form
• Phone (+(62)21 2002-2012)
• Email (support@focusoption.com)

Focus Option has created accounts on various social networks including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and a YouTube channel, although these pages have almost zero content. There is also limited information on the broker’s FAQs page.

Safety

Focus Option states that client funds are segregated from funds belonging to the broker at all times. In theory, this helps to protect trader funds from any mismanagement of the broker’s finances. Despite being an offshore broker, funds are stored in a European bank.

In relation to the broker’s account security, clients can enable two-factor authentication on their account through the Google Authenticator app.

Focus Option also undertake the usual KYC (Know Your Client) name and identity verification as part of their anti-money laundering obligations. ID such as a passport is required as part of the sign-up process with this broker.

Because this brokerage is offshore and unregulated, there is no guarantee that they will store your KYC data securely.

Should You Trade With Focus Option?

Whether you are from Germany, the UK or Canada, the online brokerage provides a simple way to speculate on various markets. Although the binary options offering is focused heavily on currency pairs and cryptos, the CFDs available provide access to a broader range of markets.

On the downside, there is limited publicly available information about the company’s founders. The fact that the broker is keeping the names of its team members anonymous raises concerns about its legitimacy. Only invest what you can afford to lose.

FAQs

What Is A Spread On Focus Option?

The spread is the difference between the bid and ask prices i.e the difference between the price the asset is selling at/can be bought at and the price you as the customer can sell it at. Spreads are how many market maker brokers like Focus Option generate profit.

Can I Choose How Long A Digital Option Lasts On Focus Option?

Yes, the trader can set the expiry time on the digital option. Expiry times generally range from 60 seconds to 30 days.

Do I Need To Download Any Software To Trade On Focus Option?

Focus Option’s trading platform can be run on any browser, which means that no separate download is required. A free mobile app can also be downloaded.

What Happens If The Focus Option Strike Price Is Not Met Within The Relevant Period?

This would result in you losing 100% of the amount you risked. This underscores why having an effective strategy for trading digital options is important.

Top 3 Alternatives to Focus Option

Compare Focus Option with the top 3 similar brokers that accept traders from your location.

1. World Forex – World Forex is an offshore broker registered in St Vincent and the Grenadines, offering commission-free trading with a $1 minimum deposit and 1:1000 leverage. Digital contracts are also available, offering beginners a straightforward way to speculate on popular financial markets.
   Go to World Forex
2. Videforex – Launched in 2017, Videforex offers access to stock, index, crypto, forex and commodities markets via binary options and CFDs. The proprietary platform, mobile app and integrated copy trading are user-friendly and will suit new and casual traders, and the market analysis tools and trading contests provide good ways to improve your trading skills.
   Go to Videforex
3. RaceOption – RaceOption is a binary options broker operating from the Marshall Islands. With over 1,500 clients, the broker aims to offer fast funding, low fees and a secure trading environment. Traders can access over 100 binary options and CFDs, plus copy trading and weekly prizes.
   Go to RaceOption

Focus Option Comparison Table

Compare Trading Instruments

Compare the markets and instruments offered by Focus Option and its competitors. Please note, some markets may only be available via CFDs or other derivatives.

Focus Option vs Other Brokers

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