Beware! TradeBitOptions is an offshore broker! Your investment may be at risk.
RECOMMENDED FOREX BROKERS
Don’t put all your eggs in one basket. Open trading accounts with at least two brokers.
TradeBitOptions is supposedly “one of the largest stock exchange-listed FX & CFD brokers in the world, providing retail traders instant access to hundreds of global markets” – but we had never heard of such a company. We did not get to learn a lot about it either since no specific company data was provided. The broker does not seem to be regulated. Moreover, to start trading with them, you would have to provide sensitive personal information.
Our advise is to avoid such shady companies altogether and only choose legitimate, licensed brokers.
TradeBitOptions REGULATION AND SAFETY OF FUNDS
TradeBitOptions did not explicitly state that it is licensed and did not provide any sort of license number – which means that there is a huge likelihood that they are, in fact, unregulated. Legitimate brokers will always ensure that you are able to check license numbers and see that you are actually dealing with someone reliable. This broker, on the other hand, did nothing of the sort. They claimed to be based in the US without a US license and proclaimed that they are one of the best brokers in Poland without a Polish or EU license.
Turning to a broker who is actually regulated is a much smarter decision. UK and EU brokers are a good choice because they have to answer to strict authorities and meet many requirements. Such brokers have to report to authorities on a regular basis, maintain a minimum operational capital to prove their financial stability – €730 000 – and participate in compensation schemes. Your money would be ensured up to £85 000 in the UK, and €20 000 in the EU. Negative balance protection is another vital perk – you could never lose more money than you have in your account.
If you want to be sure that you will not become a victim of scammers, turn to a legitimate, licensed broker.
TradeBitOptions TRADING SOFTWARE
TradeBitOptions claims to offer access to TradeBitOptions 5 – a web-based trading platform that also has a mobile version. The broker promised an “easy-to-use platform is designed to deliver results” – but we could not actually test any sort of platform. In order to do anything – trade, deposit, get access to account information and settings – our account had to be verified. We did not intend to provide unreliable brokers with copies of our personal documentation – they might use that information in all sorts of ways but definitely not in your best interests. Identity theft is one option, the scammers claiming that you were informed about the risks and the losses you have suffered were the result of your own mistakes is another.
Better find a broker who offers what is widely regarded to be the best platform in the industry – MetaTrader 5. MT5 offers some amazing features like Expert Advisors, VPSs, customizable signals (as well as the chance to subscribe to those set by others), multi-threaded Strategy Testers, a community chat where you could exchange strategies, a built-in economic calendar, hedging and netting options, and much more. All of this is in addition to a full charting package – there is nothing the platform’s creators have not thought of. There are plenty of great, licensed brokers who can offer the full MT5 experience – open an account with one of them instead.
TradeBitOptions TRADING CONDITIONS
TradeBitOptions gave a decent amount of information about trading conditions – but without a functional account, we cannot truly say if this information was accurate – take their offer with a grain of salt.
The broker states that you would be able to trade more than 2100 instruments across various markets – Forex, Commodities, Indices, Cryptos, Stock CFDs, and ETF CFDs. This is an excellent, wide range of markets. There are two account types – a Standard one and a Swap-free one. The broker failed to mention what the minimum deposit amount for either of those was – not a slip-up most brokers would allow. Check out our list of affordable forex brokers.
The spreads on the Standard account and on the Swap-free account were 0.5 pips and 0.7 pips – those numbers are great but since we did not get the opportunity to trade, we cannot confirm that they are accurate. The maximum leverage was supposed to be 1:500 – which once again proves that this could not be a US broker. US companies cannot offer leverage higher than 1:50 on forex majors because of the existing leverage cap. Similar leverage caps exist in the UK, the EU, and Australia – 1:30 – Japan – 1:25 – and Turkey – 1:10. The reason for these restrictions is that leverage – when not applied cautiously – could lead to enormous losses. In case you would like to trade with higher leverage, you would have to meet the additional experience or capital-related conditions and qualify as a professional trader. Another option would be to trade with a legitimate broker licensed outside of these jurisdictions. However, we would still advise caution and warn you to only trade with high leverage if you are sure you can handle it.
TradeBitOptions DEPOSIT AND WITHDRAWAL METHODS AND FEES
Supposedly, TradeBitOptions accepts multiple deposit solutions – credit/debit card, wire transfer, Skrill, Neteller, and SafetyPay. The broker itself does not charge fees on deposits and withdrawals made via wire transfer or card. If you are using an e-wallet, however, you would have to pay an additional percentage fee – 1% of the transferred amount for Neteller, 1.5% for SafetyPay, and 2% for Skrill.
All of this sounds reasonable but considering that we could not deposit with the broker because our account was not verified, we cannot confirm if this information is accurate or not. The deposit methods mentioned might turn out to be unavailable – many scammers make all sorts of promises but the truth turns out to be completely different once you actually start trading. You might be asked to deposit in crypto – a favorite payment method among scam brokers. The reasons for scammers’ love for crypto are simple – such payments are both anonymous and irreversible.
HOW DOES THE SCAM WORK?
This type of scam is really not that complicated – but it has proven to be quite effective and has managed to trick quite a few people. Given such schemes’ growing popularity, it is important to know how to avoid them – so reading the following paragraphs carefully is vital.
The scam starts with you seeing an ad on the Internet for a certain broker’s website. Such websites usually promise amazing conditions and extremely fast profits – but offer very little in terms of license and company information. However, sometimes scammers can be very elaborate in their promise – so you fall for it and provide them with a phone number or an email. There is another option – they might have stumbled upon your contact details somewhere and are the first to make contact. After that, a game of cat and mouse begins – you will be asked to open an account and make a deposit. Keep in mind that these are professional scammers who convince people to transfer money for a living – they will sweet-talk you into depositing by talking about profits and opportunities.
After that, you might indeed see profits and deposit even more money – but all of this is smoke and mirrors, scammers often manipulate results to make you transfer bigger amounts.
At some point, of course, you would want to withdraw your money – and the problems will start. Additional fees or unfulfilled clauses in the Terms and Conditions will appear, and you will be denied access to your money. At this point, you will probably discover something is wrong – and this is when the scammers will drop out of sight.
WHAT TO DO WHEN SCAMMED?
There are a few things you could do if you discover you have been scammed. Chargebacks are possible in some cases depending on the payment method you have used to deposit. Both Visa and MasterCard allow such chargebacks within 540 days while bank transfers and cryptocurrency transactions are irreversible.
Make sure to change all banking passwords. If you have installed any remote access software, remove it immediately – scammers ask their victims to install such software under different pretexts but their endgame is to just get access to your banking accounts and steal even more money.
Notify authorities and share your story with as many people as possible – the more people know about such scams, the less they will fall victim to fraudulent schemes.
Last but not least – don’t trust any so-called “recovery agents” that offer to retrieve your money for a fee – this is just another type of scam, sometimes even conducted by the same people that stole your money in the first place.
