Nadex, the North American Derivatives Exchange, is a platform and exchange for short-term traders looking to make a profit in the investment markets. Through a Nadex account, you can trade binary options, touch brackets, and call spreads.
Nadex is available only through an online trading platform and mobile app which allows you to trade for $1 per contract. This type of trading is legal and regulated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, but it is a high-risk trading method and recommended only for experienced, expert traders.
Nadex is an exchange that allows trading in binary options, touch brackets, and call spreads. Unlike most platforms you will find, this one not a broker that gives you access to another market or exchange. Nadex matches you with another party in the transaction and never holds any securities itself.
Binary options are similar trading vehicles derive their value from the movement of other assets, such as stocks, currencies, commodities, economic data, or even Bitcoin. It is important that you fully understand this type of derivative before trading. Both short-term trades and derivatives can be very risky, so make sure you know what you’re doing and proceed with caution.
If you want to learn more about this type of trading, Nadex offers an excellent way to get started: a fully functioning demo platform that gives you $25,000 in practice funds to test and learn. This helps you learn how to limit your risks, test out trading strategies and theories, and learn how the Nadex system works for free.
The Nadex trading platform works through most modern web browsers and a mobile version. There is no desktop application or platform to download. Just log in and you’re off and running.
☑️ Regulations | CFTC (United States) |
🗺 Supported Languages | English |
💰 Products | Crypto, Currencies, Indices, Commodities |
💵 Min Deposit | $250 |
💹 Max Leverage | 1:50 (CFTC) |
🖥 Trading Desk Type | Market Maker |
📊 Trading Platforms | |
💳 Deposit Options | ACH, Credit Card, Wire Transfer |
💳 Withdrawal Options | ACH, Wire Transfer |
🤴 Demo Account | Yes |
🗓 Foundation Year | 2009 |
🌎 Headquarters Country | United States |
“Nadex is regulated in the United States by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. This company runs a transparent operation but it is important to understand how these complex products work before trading.”
Nadex itself runs within Federal regulations and undergoes regular compliance reviews with the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission, or CFTC. You can read the results of a recent CFTC review at the CFTC website.
The CFTC points out that, when working with binary options, “the payout structure has been designed in such a way that the expected return on investment is actually negative, resulting in a net loss to the customer.” Read the entire CFTC fraud advisory on binary options to learn more.
“Nadex offers accounts for individuals, trusts, and US businesses. International users from a select list of countries can also open an individual account at Nadex with a minimum $250 opening deposit.”
For US residents, Nadex offers both individual and business accounts. Nadex also offers individual accounts for international users from 41 different countries.
Individual accounts require your personal information including name, address, date of birth, and Social Security number. Foreign accounts require the user’s national ID number or similar.
Business accounts are available for trusts, LLCs, partnerships, and corporations. Opening this type of account requires additional documentation including a W-9 and government ID from each account signer.
In either case, you can fund a new account with a debit card, ACH transfer, or bank wire. Debit cards are the easiest in most cases, as the transfer is free and funds are available almost instantly. Accounts require a $250 opening deposit.
If you want to try it out for free, you can open a demo account to access $25,000 in play money funds. Opening a demo account requires a name, email address, and phone number.
Funds are held through accounts at BMO Harris Bank and Fifth Third Bank, two reputable North American financial institutions.
“Nadex offers three types of options trades based on popular underlying assets including stock indices, forex, and commodities. Binary options, touch brackets, and call spreads are the only types of trades available at Nadex.”
Nadex supports three types of trades:
For binary options, the most popular investment at Nadex, the price is always between 0 – 100% and $100. You are able to exit an option before the contract expiration date by closing a position on the Nadex platform. Each trade has it’s own maximum profit and loss. Typically the most you can make or lose on a single Nadex binary option is 100%.
Trades are available focused on these market indicators and assets:
“Nadex offers a web-based trading platform that works on any computer with an internet connection. It also offers a mobile version, also web-based but optimized for a mobile screen. A free demo account lets you test it all with no risk and no cost.”
A big downside to Nadex is the lack of a desktop-based platform. That is a powerful feature that can give some professional traders an edge with slightly better performance. However, every trader that trades on Nadex uses the exact same platform, so you know you have a level playing field.
The web-platform offers search features to quickly reach any asset you want to buy or sell. It also includes a handy box to fund your account without leaving the platform. Similar to buying more chips when you’re down in Vegas, you can top up your account from a debit card or ACH deposit without ever leaving the page.
A powerful benefit of the platform is an instant calculation showing the maximum profit and loss from a specific trade before you enter. For example, I queued up a trade for 100 a market order to buy 100 options for the EUR/USD currency pair. As the price moves, the max profit and loss at the bottom of the trade window update on the fly.
Nadex charts are not customizable to the extent you get from some professional-level tools, but it has all of the important information for supported options.
The Nadex web platform gives you window-style controls. You can open and resize multiple charts, lists, and other views on your screen so you can view everything important in one place.
While there is no native Android or iOS app, you can trade on a mobile version of the platform through your phone’s web browser on any operating system. This gives you maximum compatibility across all devices and screen sizes.
“Nadex charges $1 per option per trade. Options that expire in the money require an additional $1 settlement fee. There are no additional commissions or charges.”
One thing Nadex does very well is fees. The fees are simple, straightforward, and easy to understand. It isn’t the cheapest options trading platform around, but remember that there are no third-parties or brokers in the middle.
Contracts cost $1 per trade.
When your options expire, you pay a $1 per option “in the money” fee to cash out. Contracts that expire out of the money do not incur a settlement charge.
The only other costs most people will see are a $25 returned deposit fee and a $25 wire withdrawal fee. Those transaction fees are easily avoidable.
Some special accounts (FCM members and Market Makers) may have access to lower fees.
Nadex does not currently offer any new account bonus or promotion. All new accounts get the same standard terms.
“Nadex offers customer support by phone or email , six days per week. Accounts are mostly self-service.”
Nadex is headquartered in Chicago and offers new account customer support by phone Monday-Thursday 7:00 am to 8:00 pm Eastern and 7:00 am to 4:15 pm on Friday by phone.
For general member support, you can get help via phone or email from Sunday at 3:00 PM Easter through Friday at 5:00 PM Eastern.
Nadex typically gets average to slightly above average ratings on customer service. It gets above average reviews for the overall platform and user experience.
“Both new and experienced traders can learn a lot from Nadex resources. Nadex offers courses, articles, videos, webinars, and a demo account to learn more about how this type of trading works.”
If you are new to options trading, the value of a demo account can’t be understated. This is a useful resource that anyone can enjoy for free without a paid Nadex account.
Outside of the demo, Nadex offers a range of educational resources through the Learning Center section of the website. That includes the following free resources that anyone can access, even without an account.
Courses:
These multi-part courses can get you up-to-speed quickly on how the platform and trades work. This can be a good guide on whether or not options trading makes sense for you.
Additional resources include example trade articles and videos, weekly live webinars, videos, and ebooks. The site also contains a market news blog and glossary to better understand options trading terms.
If you are brand new to options trading, you should be able to learn enough from the free resources and demo platform to get started. Just don’t lose sight of the risks involved and don’t trade with more funds than you can afford to lose and you should be in good shape.
“Trading should be mostly limited to experienced and expert traders. However, beginners can learn enough to get started through the combination of educational resources and trying things out on the live demo platform.”
In general, options trading is something that should be reserved for experienced and expert traders only. However, everyone has to start somewhere. Among options trading platforms for beginners, Nadex is a good choice.
Because you can try the demo and trade risk-free, new options traders have a good place to get started and learn the ropes. The online and mobile platforms are easy enough for beginning traders to understand but powerful enough to run the account of someone with far more experience.
Because it is web-based only, you don’t need advanced computer skills to use the platforms and tools. As long as you have an updated and modern browser, you should be able to use Nadex without any need for technical support.
“Nadex is an exchange and platform for trading expert options products such as binary options. The platform offers reasonable fees and good resources for new traders to learn the world of binary trading with a wide range of underlying assets.”
If you want to get started with binary options trading, Nadex is a good platform. It gives all traders an even playing field with its useful web-based trading platform. While it lacks a desktop and native mobile apps, it offers everything you need to dive in and explore binary options, touch brackets, and call spreads. If you place the right bet, you could walk away with big profits. Just be sure to understand the extensive risks before getting started.
Headquarters Country | United States |
Foundation Year | 2009 |
Regulations | CFTC (United States) |
Publicly Traded | No |
Number Of Employees | 100-200 |
Trading Desk Type | Market Maker |
Trading Platforms | |
Supported Languages | English |
Min Deposit | $250 |
Max Leverage | 1:50 (CFTC) |
Deposit Options | ACH, Credit Card, Wire Transfer |
Withdrawal Options | ACH, Wire Transfer |
Products | Crypto, Currencies, Indices, Commodities |
Demo Account | Yes |
OCO Orders | No |
Offers Hedging | No |
Automated Trading | No |
API Trading | No |
Guaranteed Stop Loss | Yes |
Guaranteed Limit Orders | Yes |
Guaranteed Fills / Liquidity | No |
Economic calendar | No |
Trading From Chart | No |
One-Click Trading | No |
Expert Advisor | No |
Social Trading | No |
Autochartist | No |
Trading Signals | No |
24 Hours Support | No |
Support During Weekends | Yes |
Live Chat | No |
Daily Market Commentary | No |
News (Top-Tier Sources) | No |
Webinars | No |
Deposit Fee | No |
Withdrawal Fee | No |
Inactivity Fee | No |
Eric Rosenberg is a finance, travel, and technology writer in Ventura, California. He is a former bank manager and corporate finance and accounting professional who left his day job in 2016 to take his online side hustle full-time. He has in-depth experience writing about banking, credit cards, investing, and other financial topics, and is an avid travel hacker.
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