ExpertOption Review - Is it Safe and Legit or a Scam? (2025)

ExpertOption

Our Rating

We don’t recommend trading on ExpertOption, here’s why:

  • ExpertOption is not regulated by any financial regulatory authorities.
  • The broker offers unfair trading conditions that are designed to make traders lose money.
  • Bad reputation, many negative user reviews about buggy apps and withdrawal request difficulties.

We consider it a SCAM

NOT Recommended

We recommend Olymptrade instead:

ExpertOption is an unregulated, offshore binary options platform that lets you trade over 100 assets across various financial instruments, including currency pairs, indices, stocks, commodities, and ETFs. The broker claims to be providing “the fastest trading using cutting-edge technologies” and does “more than anyone else to satisfy the needs of our clients”.


But as we show you in this review, ExpertOption is not as innovative or safe as it claims to be, and it’s not easy to earn profits on their platforms. Let’s see why.

ExpertOption website

Quick Facts About ExpertOption

To get a better idea about ExpertOption, here are some important facts and figures about the broker based on their official website:

  • The platform was launched in 2014 and is currently owned by EOLabs LLC, a company based in Kingstown, St. Vincent and the Grenadines..
  • ExpertOption is available in most countries around the world, including South Africa, and most countries in Asia and South Africa. However, it is not available in the USA, Canada, Singapore, Israel, Russia, and most European countries.
  • The broker has over 70 million active users worldwide, and the ExpertOption mobile trading app has been downloaded over 100 million times from Google Play and Apple App Store.
  • ExpertOption has over 112,000 affiliates that earn 40-80% on revenue share and 2.5%-4% turnover share.
  • The minimum deposit is $10 and offers a $10,000 demo account.

Based on the above facts, you could think that ExpertOption is an established broker, but before you open an account with them, let’s analyze how safe the broker is.

SCAM

Is ExpertOption a Scam?

Yes, we believe ExpertOption is a scam and you should not open an account with them.


Their trading platform, trading tools, and service agreement are designed to make traders lose money in the long run. ExpertOption is not a member of any regulatory body so it is not a safe and legit broker and nobody is protecting the trader’s interests against shady, unfair business practices.


We suggest you trade on more trustworthy platforms like Olymptrade or Exness.


Let’s take a closer look at some of our strong arguments for why we think that ExpertOption is not a safe broker.

1. Not Regulated at all

ExpertOption is based in St. Vincent and the Grenadines and has no regulatory framework for online trading brokers. While ExpertOption is a member of the International Financial Commission (IFC), the IFC is only a compensation fund, not a regulatory body, so it cannot enforce strict operational standards, conduct regular audits, or penalize ExpertOption for non-compliance.


ExpertOption is also listed as an unregulated and potentially scammy trading platform by several regulatory authorities, like the Securities Commission Malaysia, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

ExpertOption is is on the RBI alert list
ExpertOption warning

2. It’s Easy to Lose Money While Trading with ExpertOption

ExpertOption exclusively offers binary options trading, a high-risk high-reward trading type that makes trading exciting, but also risky. It’s very hard to profit at binary options trading, even for experienced traders, because asset price movements are almost unpredictable in such short timeframes.


ExpertOption does not offer other trading instruments, like contract for differences (CFDs) or traditional stock trading, where you can open longer trades, choose leverage levels, and set stop-loss take-profit levels according to your personal risk tolerance. 

3. Misleading Marketing Tactics and Trading Tools

ExpertOption uses misleading marketing tactics and questionable trading practices that attract new users by making potential traders believe they can make easy, quick, guaranteed money on their platform. Here are a few examples we found of such unethical business practices:

Shady Deposit Bonus Terms

ExpertOption offers promo codes and deposit bonuses to new traders up to 120% on first-time deposit, but hides important conditions from them like the fact thatthese bonuses can't be withdrawn and are subject to very high turnover requirements.

Brokers often use these marketing tactics to attract new users and prevent easy withdrawals to lock traders’ funds in their platform.

ExpertOption “Guaranteed” Winning Strategies

ExpertOption became famous because of the many YouTube videos promoting "always winning strategies," "secret trading methods," and other claims of "easy ways to make money on the platform."

We understand that these claims came from ExpertOption affiliates and not from the broker directly, but as explained in our ExpertOption affiliate program overview, the broker don't control or sanction their affiliates with misleading marketing tactics. ExpertOption even provides an increased affiliate commission of 70-80% exclusively for social media influencers (on YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, Stream, etc) to convince their followers that trading on ExpertOption is fun, exciting and profitable.


We think that a responsible trading platform that you can trust should be able to control and punish its affiliates for using unethical and scammy promotional methods (just like Olymptrade or IQ Option are doing) and not reward them with higher commission rates.

ExpertOption Winning Strategies

Questionable Social Trading Feature

ExpertOption offers a social trading feature that allows you to copy other users' trades, the platform does not provide any way to verify the traders you are supposedly copying—there are no account profiles, trading histories, or relevant details available. Instead, you only see a constant stream of executed trades with profit amounts randomly appearing on your chart.

ExpertOption Social Trading

Even if the social trading feature were real, it would still be practically useless. The platform gives no meaningful information about the people you are copying—there is no way to assess their strategies, risk management, past trades or how they achieved their displayed profits. This means you are essentially selecting a random name with a high-profit number next to it, with no real understanding of whether their success is sustainable or even genuine.


We think that social trading feature on ExpertOption is fake and is clearly designed to give traders the illusion of easy profits and false sense of security, rather than providing a real opportunity to follow and learn from experienced traders.

4. Bad reputation, Many Negative User Reviews

ExpertOption receives many negative user reviews about its lack of trustworthiness, difficulty in winning, unreliable customer service, and difficulty in money withdrawals from its users on Reddit, Trustpilot, Apple Play Store, and Google Play Store.


Here are ExpertOption ratings across scam detection and investing-related review platforms. 

  • Trustpilot: 4.1/5 Trustscore
  • Google Play Store: 4.1/5
  • Apple Play Store: 4/5
  • Traders Union: 1.1/10 on regulation & safety, 5/10 on customer support, and 4.25/10 on deposit & withdrawal

Here is an actual review from a verified ExpertOption trader from Trustpilot:

ExpertOption user review from Trustpilot

Is ExpertOption legal?

ExpertOption is illegal in many countries, including the USA, India, Pakistan, Singapore, and most European countries, because it only offers binary options trading, which is explicitly banned in these regions. Additionally, ExpertOption is not registered with the local financial regulatory bodies in these countries, so the platform is not allowed to provide financial services within these jurisdictions.


As a trader, ExpertOption lets you open a trading account from many countries (including India and Pakistan), but you could violate local financial laws for doing so.


Overall, we consider ExpertOption illegal in most countries, so we suggest you trade on other alternative platforms like Exness or Olymptrade because they are internationally licensed and offer broader trading options.

Trading Platform Overview

The ExpertOption trading platform has the usual, simple, clean, and very intuitive interface optimized for beginner traders, just like the platform of other typical binary options brokers. Below are some of the main features of their trading platform:

  • ExpertOption offers trades with fixed 5-35 seconds and customizable (from 5 seconds to 24 hours and 59 minutes) deal durations. Profits you can earn vary across different assets, ranging from 10% - 84%.
  • ExpertOption offers free technical analysis tools sufficient for beginner traders.
  • The trading chart is customizable, featuring 4 chart types and trend lines. The chart also features 15+ trend indicators, like RSI, Parabolic SAR, and Stochastic Oscillator.
  • ExpertOption hosts trading battles where you can earn rewards if you win against competing with other traders. If you earned the highest, you could receive up to 50% more profit. Mechanics and winning prizes vary from each battle type but usually lasts 10 minutes. For example, in Social Race to Success, you compete with 10 other traders and win up to 50%.
ExpertOption trading platform

Assets

ExpertOption offers over 100 tradable assets from various financial instruments, including currency pairs, indices, stocks, commodities, and ETFs.

 
Here are the assets you can trade with ExpertOption along with some examples:

  • Currency Pairs: EUR/USD, GBP/CAD, AUD/JPY
  • Indices: Top Crypto Index, US Dollar Index
  • Stocks: Apple, Google, Procter & Gamble, Microsoft
  • Commodities: Silver, Gold, Platinum 
  • ETFs: S&P 500 ETF, Russell 2000 ETF, QQQ Trust Series 1

Mobile App

ExpertOption offers an official Android and Apple app for mobile traders, but it also faces technical issues, particularly with withdrawing funds, where it’s easy to deposit funds but withdrawals require multiple verifications that will eventually lead to delays. Some users also report delays in trade executions and sudden internet disconnections.


Alternatively, ExpertOption also has a lite version of the mobile app, which is even more simplified and only occupies about 2mb of your phone storage. ExpertOption Lite requires lighter processing, which makes the version ideal for devices with lower processors and for casual trading.


So if you really want to trade on ExpertOption (despite we recommend to choose a different broker) we suggest you use the official Desktop app for Mac and PC, or the web-based version as long as you use reliable browsers, like Google Chrome, Safari, or MS Edge, because these alternatives offer a more stable trading environment.

Account Opening

If you want to open a trading account with ExpertOption despite our warnings, go to their official website or download their mobile app from Apple Store or Google Play Store. Then follow the steps below:

  1. Register a new ExpertOption account by entering your email address and password. You can also register by linking your Google, Facebook, or Apple ID.
  2. Complete email verification and captcha if asked.
  3. Practice ExpertOption with a demo account.
  4. Make your first deposit and start trading.

After creating your trading account, we suggest you set up a 2FA and other security measures to protect your ExpertOption account and prevent unauthorized people from logging in.


That’s it, after these simple steps, you can already start trading with a free demo account.

Account Types

ExpertOption offers two account types, a real account for trading with real money, and a demo account with a free $10,000 virtual fund for trying out their platform and practicing trading strategies without risks. Here’s an overview of each account type:

Demo Account

ExpertOption demo account allows you to try out binary options trading without risking your real money. This allows you to check the tools featured by the broker and practice whether your strategies would work with ExpertOption. The demo account provides you with virtual money for practice, where you can use the same indicators and other charting tools on real accounts.

Real Account

The real account provides you access to all features of ExpertOption trading platform, where you use your real money to make actual trades for profit. The real account is comprised of six status levels determined by your maintaining balance:

  • Micro: From $10 deposit amount, ideal for beginners and light trading.
  • Basic: From $50 deposit amount.
  • Silver: From $500 deposit amount, ideal for active traders and pro traders.
  • Gold: From $2,500 deposit amount, with up to 2% increased asset return and priority withdrawals.
  • Platinum: From $5,000 deposit amount, with up to 4$ increased asset return and unlimited number of simultaneous open deals.
  • Exclusive: Invitation only, with up to 6% increased asset return.
ExpertOption real money account types

Money Deposit and Withdrawal

ExpertOption offers a wide selection of deposit and withdrawal methods including credit cards (Visa and Mastercard), cryptocurrencies (e.g. Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, etc), e-wallets (e.g. Perfect Money), and local payment options in emerging countries.

Note that the available transfer methods vary based on your location (e.g. Philippines supports Coins.ph, Paymaya, or GCash, but not Visa).

The minimum deposit at ExpertOption is $10 for most countries and payment methods (similar to most binary options brokers) and the broker does not charge any deposit or withdrawal fees.

The withdrawable amount is limited to the total amount you deposited using that same card. If you want to withdraw money from your ExpertOption account that is more than the total amount you deposited, you have to use a different payment method. Money withdrawal requests can take up to 2 business days.

ExpertOption

Our rating

Final Verdict: Not Recommended

We don’t recommend you to trade at ExpertOption because it offers nearly the same features and trading interface as other major binary options brokers but with much higher regulatory risks. ExpertOption is flagged as a scammy broker by many countries, like India, Malaysia, Australia, Italy, Portugal, and the US.

 Regulation & Security: 1/5
Current Progress
Current Progress
Current Progress
 Ease of use: 4/5

Current Progress
Current Progress
Current Progress
 Effectiveness of features: 2/5

Current Progress
Current Progress
Current Progress

Looking for a more trustworthy broker that offer similar functions?

Check out Olymptrade review (our #1 recommendation) or IQ Option review!

ExpertOption FAQ

Is ExpertOption real or fake?

ExpertOption is a real offshore trading broker where you can trade binary options, however, it’s unregulated and many users have complaints about its withdrawal issues and algorithms designed to make traders lose money on their platform.

Is ExpertOption halal or haram?

ExpertOption is considered haram because it only offers binary options trading, which is often maysir (gambling) based on Sharia law because it involves a high degree of uncertainty and speculation. It does not have an Islamic account as an alternative for Islamic traders and it offers unfair trading conditions.

Can ExpertOption make you rich?

No, it’s very unlikely that ExpertOption can make you rich, so we don’t advise you to treat it as either a primary or passive income source. While it is possible to make money on ExpertOption in the short term, binary options are naturally high-risk and extremely unpredictable.