Is Binary Options Legal in South Africa?

Yes,BUT maybe No. 

Binary options trading is at this moment legal in South Africa. This is because there is no law that states that it is illegal. In fact, at this moment there is actually no law at all that refers to online investing. This means that traders can do what they want in this regard.

They can register at binary options brokers that accept South African traders, deposit real money and withdraw the money they have won. This is 100% perfectly legal and safe to do. There will be no legal consequences at all if traders trade at options brokers.

However, the South African binary options market is not regulated. This means that companies located in the country are not allowed to offer financial trading services. A company cannot offer services that are not officially recognized in a country (contrary to people who are allowed to do what they want).

As such, at this moment there are no genuine South African binary options brokers. Fortunately, there are multiple companies located outside of the country, which are able to access the South African market. These companies are legally allowed to offer options trading services to clients in the country.

Offshore brokers are allowed to access the market

As explained above, binary options traders living in South Africa will at this moment have to register and trade at offshore brokers. This is the only legal way of investing in financial assets in South Africa until the country will regulate online financial betting.

At this moment there are many financial service providers located on the market. Most of them operate from Europe or other jurisdictions. It however matters a lot what kind of brokers traders choose to register at. Not all brokers are safe.

Are offshore brokers safe?

This depends what kind of brokers we are talking about. Some binary options brokers that accept South African traders have a valid license issued in a reputable jurisdiction, however there are also brokers that do not have any licenses of any kind.

Obviously those that do not have any licenses are not safe and cannot be trusted. Usually there is a very good reason why a broker doesn’t have a license. Most of the time this is because the broker didn’t even apply because then it would have not been able to continue to scam traders.

But it also matters what kind of license a broker has. The most reliable licenses are those issued in Europe. At this moment Europe and European countries are the jurisdictions with the strictest online investing trading laws and regulations.

It doesn’t really matters what European Union country has issued a license. All EU countries that offer financial service provider licenses have the same laws because they are forced by the European Union to harmonize their legislations.

Trade at European binary options brokers

So, if you are a financial investor from SA then you should always register and trade at brokers licensed in Europe. These are the only legal SA brokers available at this moment. All other kinds of brokers are most likely fraudulent.