Have you heard of trading binary options through the media, your friends, or other traders? Especially as a beginner, you might ask yourself, “How do binary options work?”
This is a legitimate question that we want to answer in this article.
What even is trading binary options?
Nowadays, more and more people talk about trading binary options, but what even is this new trend? Binary options trading is a trading method that gained popularity due to thehigh returns. But don’t let it fool you because with a high return also comes increased risk. As you might have already figured, trading binary options deals with two possible outcomes (hence the name “binary”).
The goal of the trader is to predict an outcome. Let’s say the trader predicts that the S&P 500 stock will gain in value over the next 5 hours. If the trader is right, they will earn a return of about 75% (depending on the broker), but if the trader predicts wrong, they will lose all their money. It is an all-or-nothing trading method.
Learn how binary options work
Compared to many other trading methods, trading binary options is quite simple and easy to understand. In fact, we know the principle behind trading binary options already. Maybe you have experience betting on sports teams; if so, you won’t have an issue understanding how binary options works. As we already mentioned, it is the goal of the trader to predict right, but this doesn’t mean they should just guess. Like betting on a sports team, a trader needs to analyze the market, learn about how the asset works, practice and get a good feeling for the timing.
You also wouldn’t bet on a sports team without looking at past games, the competitor, and the league. A trader collects all this information and uses it with their experience to make a prediction. But trading binary options doesn’t stop here; there are plenty of strategies a trader can use to gain an even higher return. One of them is the so-called “double-up” strategy. Depending on the broker, the trader has the option to double their investments about 15 minutes before the trade ends. This way, they might gain a higher return or lose a more significant investment.
Is trading binary options gambling?
But if trading binary options is so similar to betting on a sports team, doesn’t this mean it is gambling? This is a common misconception that a lot of people have. To answer this question, we need to look at what gambling is:
Gambling is playing games that depend on luck. You don’t have an impact on the result and, therefore, your success. For example, gambling is putting money into slot machines. The outcomes of these games are more or less unpredictable.
Even though trading binary options is a high-risk trading method, you can lower the risk significantly by gaining experience and expertise. Many brokers even offer demo accounts. These demo accounts are great because they allow you to trade with fictional money and help you gain experience. The more you know about this trading method, the better you can predict the right outcome and lower the risk of losing your money.
Sure, you can just guess an outcome when you trade binary options, and then you might be gambling with your money, but that’s not the way to do it if you want to be a successful trader.