Pocket Option

In 2017, a group of skilled IT and FinTech experts created Pocket Option. They aimed to show that anyone can make money in financial markets without giving up convenience or enjoyment. Some people doubt this broker because of its regulatory status and practices. However, we found some critical issues when we carefully looked into the Pocket Option. After analyzing them, we don’t suggest opening an account with them. It’s crucial not to overlook the warning signs we discovered during our evaluation, which we’ll discuss in this review.

What is the Pocket Option?

Pocket Option is an online broker that’s not regulated. It only deals with binary options, a kind of money thing where you either win all or lose all within a time you choose. For example, if Apple’s price is $100, and you think it’ll go up in the next 5 minutes, you bet on it. If it goes up, you get your money back plus anything extra. But if it goes down, you lose all your money. That’s how it works.

🏢 Headquarters	Marshall Islands
🗺️ Regulation	FCA (Financial Conduct Authority)
📊Account Types	Demo, Novice trader, Beginner, Experienced, Master, Professional, Expert
💻 Trading platform:	МТ4, МТ5, proprietary platform
💰 Account currency:	USD
💵 Withdrawal:	Bank transfer, WebMoney, Perfect Money, Payeer, Advcash, Jeton, VLoad, Visa, Mastercard, and Maestro cards
🚀 Minimum deposit:	$5
⚖️ Leverage:	1:1000
📈️ Min Order:	$1
🎮 Demo Account	Yes
💱 Spread:	1.1 pip
🔧 Instruments:	Currency pairs, commodities, cryptocurrency, OTC (currency, commodities, stocks)
☎ Customer Support	Around the clock 24/7
📚 Education	Beginner guides, Advanced trading strategies

Fees 

Pocket Option has a good rating for its fees and costs because it offers competitive payouts and keeps non-trading fees low. Like most binary options brokers, Pocket Option doesn’t take a commission on trades. Instead, the broker makes money mainly when clients lose trades. If your trade ends ‘in the money’, Pocket Option will give you a fixed payout, but if it ends ‘out of the money’, you’ll lose your investment. It’s nice that there are no charges for depositing or withdrawing money or fees for not trading, which can discourage occasional investors.

Pros and Cons

Pros	Cons
The website is easy to use, making it great for beginners who want to trade in financial markets quickly.	Any reputable regulator does not license it.
MetaTrader platforms provide useful technical analysis for short-term traders.	The maximum length for binary contracts is 4 hours, which isn’t suitable for longer-term trading strategies. Other platforms, like Videforex, offer binaries for up to 1 month.
It offers a variety of payment methods, making deposits fast, secure, and convenient for traders in most countries.	To trade forex using MetaTrader 5, you must deposit at least $1000.
Traders who deposit $1000 or more can get a payout boost of 2% or more, access to more assets, and exclusive benefits.	Customer support takes 24-48 hours to respond, which is too.
Signing up is very quick and easy, taking less than 2 minutes.

Pocket Option Regulation and Security

When we looked at Pocket Option’s website, we noticed a big problem: they aren’t approved by any financial regulators. When we review brokers, we first check if they’re regulated by trusted authorities like the SEC or FCA in the US, EU, or UK. Pocket Option didn’t meet this important requirement.

Instead of being regulated by a trusted authority, Pocket Option is overseen by an offshore group called the Mwali International Services Authority. Over the years, they’ve also registered in other offshore places like the Marshall Islands.

It’s common for companies like Pocket Option to change their names a lot.

Pocket Option tries to seem safe and trustworthy by saying the Mwali International Services Authority regulates them. But this authority isn’t official.

Deposits and Withdrawals

Deposits

Pocket Option offers more than 30 payment methods, which is more than most other brokers. Funding your account is quick, and there are no transfer fees.

You can deposit money using debit and credit cards, wire transfers, or electronic payment options like Fasapay. They also accept cryptocurrency transfers.

What’s great is they have local transfer options, making it easy for traders in different countries. For example, in Vietnam, traders can use MoMo Pay, the country’s popular digital wallet.

One downside is that only USD is accepted as the base currency, so there might be conversion charges.

Withdrawals

You can withdraw money using the same methods as deposits, and there are no fees. The minimum withdrawal amount is $10, with no maximum limit.

Is Pocket Option safe?

No, it’s not safe. When you practice on a demo account, everything seems okay. You win or lose, and you can figure out why. But when you switch to a real account with real money, problems start. You see a certain type of graph or candle, and you base your predictions on that to decide whether to buy or sell. But as soon as you do this, the candles change. Not just the current one, but even the ones that were already there. The chart suddenly looks completely different, and you end up losing. They don’t change the prices, but they mess with the candles right after you make a move. And when you complain to customer support, they act like they don’t know what you’re talking about.

Many people face this issue. We’re not talking about people taking crazy risks; we studied the candles and invested small amounts of money, carefully analyzing the charts. We knew losses were part of the game, but losing because they mess with the fixed candles turns the stock market into a casino. That’s a scam.

The Pocket Option website is run by Infinite Trade LLC, based in San Jose, Costa Rica. The person who owns Pocket Options often changes the name. Before, it was called “Gembell Limited,” registered in the Republic of the Marshall Islands, a place known for avoiding taxes. This company isn’t watched closely by the most trusted regulators. If the company goes broke, there’s no promise that investors will get their money back. There are good plans to protect investors in the US, EU, or UK, but not in places that dodge taxes.

Many websites try hard to make you feel like you’re missing out if you don’t spend money quickly. They do this by showing pop-up messages and making it hard to avoid signing up. These tactics are not common on regulated websites. FCA warned that the company can’t legally offer any financial services or products in the UK.

For example, Pocket Option, a trading website, uses pop-up messages to make you feel like you’re wasting time if you’re not signing up. They even tell you how long you’ve been on their site to pressure you into signing up faster.

If you look at reviews of Pocket Option on Trustpilot, you’ll see they have an average rating of 3.3 stars out of 5, with thousands of reviews. But after reading many of these reviews carefully, it seems like many positive ones might not be real. They often don’t give much detail and are written by people who haven’t reviewed anything else on Trustpilot.

It’s also suspicious that Pocket Option has no verified 5-star reviews. This makes us doubt how happy their customers are.

The negative reviews of Pocket Option follow a pattern: people have trouble getting their money back, notice price differences, and think the charts are being changed unfairly.

Pocket Option Account Types

Novice Trader

A “Novice Trader” account has less than $100 in balance and allows a maximum transaction amount of $1,000.

Beginner

The “Beginner” account starts with $100. It offers access to crystal lotteries, express orders, and trading achievements.

Experienced

With the “Experienced” account, you can increase profitability by 2%. It begins with a balance of $1,000 and provides a wider variety of positions in the company’s own Market.

Master

Starting with a balance of $5,000, the “Master” account offers returns on transactions with a difference of 1 pip, up to $10. It also prioritizes withdrawal processing and allows transactions up to $2,000.

Professional

The “Professional” account allows transactions up to $3,000. It offers transaction returns with a difference of 1 pip, up to $50, fast withdrawal processing, and a personal manager. The starting balance is $15,000, with a 6% increase in profitability.

Expert

With the “Expert” account, clients enjoy an 8% increase in profitability, returns on transactions with a difference of 1 pip up to $100, priority withdrawal processing, premium gifts, and personal discounts in the Market. The maximum transaction amount is $5,000, requiring a starting balance of $50,000.

MT5 Forex

MT5 Forex is a trading platform available for different levels of experience: “Experienced”, “Master”, “Professional,” and “Expert”. You can use leverage ranging from 1:10 to 1:1,000, and the floating spread starts from 1.1 pips. Clients who have deposited more than $1,000 can open a currency trading account.

If you want to practice trading or test new strategies without risking real money, a demo account is available. It lets you explore the platform without losing actual funds.

The broker Pocket Option provides various trading accounts suitable for traders at any level, whether they’re dealing with binary options or Forex.

Trading Platforms

Pocket Option stands out from most other binary brokers because it offers its web platform and gives access to two popular third-party software: MetaTrader 4 (MT4) and MetaTrader 5 (MT5).

We tested these trading platforms for several days, and here’s what we found:

• Pocket Option’s in-house platform is perfect for beginners. It has an easy-to-use design that makes trading enjoyable.
• The MetaTrader platforms are better suited for more experienced and comfortable traders with MT4 and MT5. However, you won’t get all the advanced charting features.

The web platform is specifically designed for beginners. It has a simple layout and provides basic tools necessary for making short-term trades. You can use the web platform through your internet browser or the mobile app. During our testing, we found both options to be smooth and free of glitches.

Education

Pocket Option gets a high rating for education because it does better than other similar platforms. It has lots of educational stuff you can find on another website. This includes things like pictures, videos, tutorials, and books. Plus, there’s a bunch of helpful educational stuff on the platform. You can learn how to use the platform, understand the forex market, and get some useful tips and tricks.

Customer service

Pocket Option has a good customer support rating because they’ve had many positive interactions during tests. You can get help from their support team on weekdays, Monday to Friday, from 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM (GMT+2). However, they don’t work on weekends; after 6:00 PM, you can’t request a callback.

Final Thoughts

We strongly believe that investing your money in the Pocket Option is unsafe. We’re holding back from calling it a scam, but it seems very skeptical. However, it operates suspiciously. It’s best to steer clear of Pocket Option because a top-tier regulator doesn’t regulate it. We advise against investing in companies like this, no matter how tempting their offers may seem, such as their minimum deposit, demo account, or promo code. Instead, go for trusted brokers like eToro or Interactive Brokers, where your money will be safer.

FAQs

Is Pocket Option a trustworthy website?

Pocket Option isn’t a trusted broker because it doesn’t have approval from a strict financial authority. We suggest using brokers regulated by a top-tier authority.

Can you earn money on Pocket Option?

Trading on platforms like Pocket Option carries risks, and making a profit isn’t guaranteed.

Is Pocket Option reliable?

A top-tier financial authority doesn’t regulate Pocket Options. However, it has a large user base and has won industry awards, like our Best Binary Broker 2022. Still, online trading involves risks, especially with offshore brokers. Invest only what you can afford to lose.

Can I take out money from Pocket Option?

Pocket Option offers various withdrawal methods, including crypto, Visa, MasterCard, wire transfer, and e-wallets. Choose the most convenient method for you.

Do trader reviews affect Pocket Option’s rating?

Reviews from traders can affect any broker’s rating. To see reviews about Pocket Option, visit the broker’s profile.

Which countries are banned from Pocket Option?

You cannot trade on Pocket Option if you’re from Israel, Japan, the United Kingdom, or the USA.