Full review
IQ Option review
A complete assessment of IQ Option - regulation, costs, platforms and who it suits.
Last checked
The record on IQ Option is mixed, and part of that is genuinely about the broker while part of it is about how little it publishes. Both are set out below with the source for each. Regulated by International entity: registered in Antigua and Barbuda, not regulated by a major financial-services regulator; EEA entity: CySEC (247/14), offering IQ Option Web Platform, IQ Option Desktop, IQ Option Mobile.
Our rating
One rating, identical across our sites - only the way it is shown changes. It averages six assessments: regulation, trading costs, platforms, markets, support and education.
What it costs to trade
- Spread from
- 0.0 pips
- EUR/USD spread
- Approx. 1.0 pip
- GBP/USD spread
- Approx. 1.5 pips
- Commission
- $0 on standard CFD forex trading
- All-in cost, EUR/USD
- Approx. 1.0 pip
- Spread type
- Variable
- Overnight swap
- Both: overnight financing may be charged; rates depend on asset and direction
- Inactivity fee
- €10/month or equivalent after 90 consecutive days of inactivity
- Withdrawal fee
- Generally none; bank-wire charges may apply
- Currency conversion
- Conversion at applicable exchange rate
Costs below are the broker's published figures, which is not the same as what you will pay.
A quoted spread from 0.0 pips is a raw-spread figure, which almost always means a separate commission per lot. Compare the two together - a "zero spread" account with a high commission can cost more than a wider spread with none.
Quoted spreads are best-case figures on the most liquid pair, in normal conditions. What you actually pay widens around news and at the session open.
IQ Option lists a minimum deposit of $10. Treat it as the cost of opening an account, not the cost of trading one - position sizing on a small balance is what tends to cause damage.
Markets and execution
- Markets
- Forex, Stocks, Cryptocurrencies, Commodities, Indices, ETFs, Binary Options, Digital Options, Perpetual Futures
- Currency pairs
- 40+
- Total instruments
- 500+
- Crypto CFDs
- Yes
- Maximum leverage
- 1:1000
- Execution model
- Market maker / principal
- Execution speed
- Under 100ms
- Order types
- Market, limit-style pending orders, stop-loss, take-profit, trailing stop, Auto-Close
- Servers
- Global trading infrastructure
Leverage up to 1:1000 is available on this entity. High leverage does not increase your expected return - it increases position size for the same deposit, and shortens the move needed to close you out.
IQ Option covers forex, stocks, cryptocurrencies, commodities, indices, etfs, binary options, digital options, perpetual futures. A wider range matters less than depth in the instruments you actually trade.
Funding options: credit/debit cards, bank transfer, e-wallets and extensive local/regional payment methods. Check withdrawal routes as well as deposit ones - they are often not the same, and the difference only becomes apparent when you try to take money out.
Platforms and tools
- Platforms
- IQ Option Web Platform, IQ Option Desktop, IQ Option Mobile
- Own platform
- Yes
- Mobile app
- Proprietary, iOS and Android
- Browser trading
- Yes
- Automated trading
- No MetaTrader EA support
- Copy trading
- No
- Indicators
- 100+ indicators and analytical tools
- Third-party tools
- Integrated technical indicators, drawing tools and market-analysis functionality
- API access
- No official standard retail trading API
IQ Option offers IQ Option Web Platform, IQ Option Desktop, IQ Option Mobile. A proprietary platform can be excellent, but it means your setup does not transfer if you later change broker.
Regulation and safety
- Regulated by
- International entity: registered in Antigua and Barbuda, not regulated by a major financial-services regulator; EEA entity: CySEC (247/14)
- Regulator tier
- Tier 1 through EEA entity; Unregulated internationally
- Register entry
- CySEC CIF Register, licence 247/14
- Client money segregated
- Yes
- Held at
- Regulated banking institutions
- Negative balance protection
- Yes
- Compensation scheme
- ICF up to €20,000 for eligible EEA clients; none for international clients
- Audited by
- Independent external auditors
- Not available to
- United States, Canada, EU/EEA, United Kingdom, Australia, plus additional restricted jurisdictions
This is the one claim on the page that can be checked against a public register, so it is the one to check.
IQ Option holds a tier-one authorisation from CySEC. That matters more than any headline spread: it determines your leverage cap, whether losses can exceed your deposit, and what happens to your money if the firm fails.
CySEC licences passport across the EU and follow the 1:30 retail leverage cap, with the Investor Compensation Fund covering eligible claims.
Check the licence yourself: the CySEC register of investment firms.
Accounts
- Minimum deposit
- $10
- Account types
- Real, Demo/Practice, VIP
- Account currencies
- USD, EUR, GBP and numerous regional currencies
- Islamic account
- Yes, jurisdiction-dependent
- Demo account
- Yes
- Professional account
- Yes, EEA professional classification where eligible
- Minimum trade size
- $1
- Time to open
- Typically a few minutes
Deposits and withdrawals
- Deposit methods
- Credit/debit cards, bank transfer, e-wallets and extensive local/regional payment methods
- Withdrawal methods
- Bank transfer, cards, e-wallets and applicable original funding methods
- Deposit time
- Cards/e-wallets generally instant; bank transfer several business days
- Withdrawal time
- Typically processed within 1 business day; settlement varies by method
- Minimum withdrawal
- $2
- Local payment methods
- Extensive country-specific local bank transfers, e-wallets and payment systems
Support and education
- Support hours
- 24/7
- Contact channels
- Live chat, email, Help Centre
- Languages
- Multilingual
- Telephone
- N/A
- support@iqoption.com
- Live chat response
- Approx. 30 seconds
- Education
- Extensive: video tutorials, trading guides, educational articles, platform tutorials and market education
- Research
- Market analysis, technical indicators, news, trading ideas and analytical tools
The company behind the brand
- Legal entity
- SKY LADDER LLC
- Company number
- ILLC 004
- Headquarters
- Saint John's, Antigua and Barbuda
- Founded
- 2013
- Publicly listed
- No
- Parent company
- Independent
- Employees
- 500+
- Also trades as
- IQ Option; IQOPTION
Information is regularly updated. Last compiled from IQ Option's own website on 26 August 2026.
Questions people ask about IQ Option
What can actually be verified about IQ Option?
We check the licence against the regulator's own register and the company registration against the register that issued it, last on 27 August 2026. Everything else on this page, including spreads and execution figures, is what IQ Option publishes about itself, and we say so rather than presenting it as independently confirmed.
When was this IQ Option review last checked?
The facts on this page were last checked on 27 August 2026. The date comes from our own record rather than from when the site was last rebuilt, so it does not move just because something else on the site changed.