Singapore agency warns investors on unregulated binary options trading platforms

By：Xinhua Update：2017-03-15

Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) on Tuesday warned investors on the trading of binary options, a type of option contract that references stocks, commodities, currencies and interest rates, with unregulated platforms.

MAS said unregulated platform providers often use marketing catchphrases such as "trading with zero risk", "trading amounts of as little as 1 Singapore dollars", and "profit payout of 500 percent per trade", to entice investors to invest.

"Contrary to promises of low investment risks with exceptionally high returns, binary options are in fact, speculative and risky investment instruments," the authority said.

MAS cautioned that many of these unregulated binary options trading platforms are fraudulent and based outside Singapore.

There is possibility that investors who choose to trade with these platforms are unlikely to recover any monies lost, it added.

MAS's statement comes in the wake of an increase in the number of complaints from investors who suffered financial losses from such investments.