Most binary options trading beginners will rush to find the broker that offers the biggest welcome bonus. This is a major mistake. The critical point you need to check is if your binary options broker is regulated. Otherwise, you face multiple threats regarding your trading account and your deposited funds. We will try to present you the biggest advantages of regulated binary option brokers in Europe.

What is a regulated binary options broker? A regulated broker is a company that provides online binary options trading services and that has been granted an operating license by one of the main European financial regulator. In Europe, most binary option brokers are regulated in Cyprus by the CySEC (Cyprus Securities and Exchange commission). The CySEC delivers CIF (Cyprus Investment Firms) trading licenses to binary option providers that comply with the Cyprus financial law.Indeed, a regulated broker has to comply with strict rules imposed by European regulators. A regulated binary options broker thus presents a lot of operational and security advantages compared to non-regulated ones.

The broker has to comply with a list of really strict measures and control processes. Client funds have to be segregated from the broker capital, it means that the broker cannot use clients funds for any other activities than replicate the client positions and that the client funds are held by separated and respectable financial institutions. The broker also has to comply with multiple procedures regarding the reliability of asset quotations (real-time data), the authentication of clients to avoid money laundering, the robustness of the platform and the security of individual investors through warnings of the risk of binary options trading.

If your broker is regulated by the CySEC and authorized by the financial regulator of your domestic country (AMF in France, FCA in the United Kingdom, CONSOB in Italy, Bafin in Germany...) it is de facto a member of the European Investor Compensation Fund. This State fund guarantees your deposits up to 20'000 euros.