The recent months have probably been the most difficult period for the binary options industry since its inception. Brokerages have been attacked left and right, both rightly and falsely, while regulators have been looking for ways to limit the product.
As a result of the changes to EU regulations, brokers have to completely change the way in which they on-board clients. The days of hot sales tactics and misleading advertising promising grand returns are now gone.
Toxic Traffic from Affiliates
Regulated brokers have recently engaged in an effort to filter the traffic that they receive from affiliates. The action comes as a myriad of websites have been advertising false gains and selling big dreams to unsuspecting people that end up investing their life savings into binary options.
Affiliate websites have typically been unregulated and are resorting to various measures to on-board clients. With the rise of regulated brokers, the messages that introducers have been selling to clients have become more and more aggressive.
Affiliates in the UK are , and websites targeting residents in the Far East are boasting fast speedboats and luxury lifestyles. Canadians and Russians are being from trades that are as easy to execute as putting two and two together.
All of these success stories have allegedly materialized by using binary options, using known and unknown methods of trading.
Selling the Big Dream
A number of affiliate websites have gotten into the business of selling dreams. There is no doubt that regulators have been flooded with complaints about the misleading ways in which clients of binary options brokerages have been persuaded to ‘invest’ in the product.
As long as the misleading advertising continues, binary options brokers will have to monitor their traffic at all times to ensure that their partners are not abusing honorable business conduct. The regulators might not have a far reaching stock to punish affiliates directly, but they can force brokers to stop accepting clients from websites that sell the fraudulent dream.
Brokers are starting a vetting process at a time when this term has become very popular thanks to Donald Trump. Companies in the industry are worried that regulators will go after the brokers instead of the affiliates, and rightfully so.
In order to achieve honorable business conduct binary options brokers will have to stop giving their clients unrealistic expectations and carefully monitor where their leads are coming from.
Regulatory and Legal Actions
Regulators are not the only worry when it comes to toxic traffic from affiliate websites that are misleading their readers. Soon companies that are providing unrealistic expectations might also face legal challenges due to the mounting pressure from firms that are regulated.
While affiliates can still be difficult to reach, binary brokerages are the direct risk-takers here, since their headquarters’ data can be public.
In all likelihood this trend is likely to further accelerate the return of the binary options industry to the Wild West days of unregulated targeting of clients. In the end, the product that attracts greedy and aggressive “investors” will be sold to them.
The best thing that the regulated industry can do is to tone down their promises and sell a solid and fair product so that clients can indulge in their chance-taking habits freely.
Be First to Comment