Nadex review

Nadex, or North American Derivatives Exchange, is a Chicago based exchange. Founded in 2004 as HedgeStreet Plc, it was bought over by London’s IG Group and was renamed as Nadex in 2009. It is regulated by CFTC (Commodity Futures Trading Commission).

Nadex allows you three different options to trade in – binary options, touch brackets, and call spreads. It is the first regulated US trade exchange that allows you to trade on all the three options mentioned above, based on forex, commodities, and stock indices.

Unlike unregulated offshore trading entities, Nadex offers a transparent and legal way to trade in binaries. It prides itself for offering a transparent, stable and a reliable platform which at present offers more than 5,000 contracts on a daily basis. 

What does Nadex offer?

Nadex welcomes users from over 41 countries worldwide and offers a demo account with $25,000 virtual funds to test the platform before signing up. It offers only one type of account for all the traders regardless of the fact that you’re US citizen or an international trader, individual or a corporate firm. 

The account can be opened with a deposit of $250, which is actually way less than the industry average. Low initial funding makes Nadex a preferred platform for beginners who are not willing to commit a huge amount right at the start. Interestingly, Nadex allows users to keep their demo account even after they’ve signed up with the live account.

US citizens can open an account using a debit card, ACH, wire transfer, or a paper check while non-US users can use a debit card or an international bank transfer to fund their account. Once your account is funded, you can start trading immediately. 

Since the platform does not allow you to invest more than the funds in your account, the losses are automatically limited to the amount lying in the account.

To start, you need to provide: 

• Date of birth
• Permanent residential address
• Social Security Number or National Identification Number

Types of trade

Traders can trade binaries and spread on stock indices, forex, commodities and crypto. It also allows you to trade on macroeconomic indicators and events.

The platform offers you three different type of accounts:

Binary Options: This is more or less like a bet where users speculate where an asset or market will be, at a specific time or date. These are simple yes or no bets which just have two possible outcomes, you win or you lose. 

Touch Brackets: More like a stop-limit trade in the stock market, Touch brackets lets you enter into a trade at your pre-decided price point and automatically execute the trade. 

Call spreads: These are a variant of Touch Brackets however; the trades have a time-based expiration rather than price-based.

All three variety trades are available in four different types of trading options. The list is as below:

• Indices: US 500, Wall Street 30, US Tech 100, US SmallCap 2000, FTSE 100, Germany 30, Japan 225, China 50
• Forex: EUR/USD, USD/JPY, GBP/USD, USD/CHF, AUD/USD, EUR/GBP, USD/CAD, AUD/JPY, GBP/JPY, EUR/JPY
• Commodities: Crude Oil, Gold, Silver, Copper, Natural Gas, Soybeans, Corn

Since Nadex is an exchange rather than a brokerage, orders placed here are submitted directly to the exchange rather than through an intermediary. Hence no brokerage or commissions need to be paid.

It charges a fixed fee of $1 per transaction, per side with a cap of $50 for a single purchase. This fee is Nadex’s only source of revenue as it does not trade against their traders. In binary options, Nadex waives the settlement fee in case the trade expires. 

The fee structure here is very transparent and apart from the transaction fee it only charges a $25 fee for returned deposit. The platform keeps running promotional offers running free trading days where you will not be charged any fee for trading. These offers are regularly updated on the website.

Nadex allows you to trade via their website on the computer or mobile phone. The mobile app is called NadexGo and is available directly from the website rather than either the iOs or Android app stores. It offers a sleek user interface and a neat design. The design is kept quite similar to the web platform. Since this is a web app and opens on any web browser on your mobile regardless of the OS, it is highly responsive and loads very quickly.

While other platforms offer many more options to trade in, one of the biggest limitations of Nadex is the number of assets available to trade on the platform. Though the presence of a unique product like binary options is good enough to offset the disadvantage.

Support and reputation

Support on Nadex is available between 3:00 PM EST Sunday through 5:00 PM EST Friday. The support team can be contacted via a US toll-free number, an international number, or email. Unfortunately, there is no live chat option for new users who need hand-holding or users who have some urgent queries.

As a platform, Nadex is one of the most trusted and recognized brands. It has even received multiple awards from industry watchers for its transparent and reliable binary options platform. Nadex was also awarded as best US broker for the year 2016 by Fair Binary Options.

Final verdict

Nadex offers a level playing field for all the traders and is the best option in case you want to start trading in binary options. While the web platform is fairly simple and doesn’t have the most modern design and features, it still does what it is supposed to do. Missing native mobile apps is a disappointment. If you’re in for a high-risk high-reward sort of trading, then Nadex is the best platform for you.

• You can sign up for Nadex here

• Best forex trading platform: trade and invest on your Android or iPhone