North American Derivatives Exchange™ (Nadex) is a premier US-based platform for binary options, call spreads, and touch bracket contracts. It is the first of its kind to operate in the US, offering limited risk, low cost, and legal way to trade in binary options in the country. Before its launch in 2004, traders in the US had to transact with unregulated offshore entities, but issues with reliability and fidelity were characteristically inherent.

In the world of binary options, traders are used to dealing with brokers. Nadex, formerly known as “HedgeStreet,” is not a broker, but an exchange. The differences between brokers and exchanges are significant and worthy of attention. Brokers are the go-between guys that connects you to big players in the markets, who then give you access to their trading platforms. Exchange gives you direct access to the market by matching buyers and sellers directly. As an exchange, Nadex gives you a glut of advantages over traditional brokers; the most vital are transparency and dependability.

Regulated by the CFTC (Commodity Futures Trading Commission) and a unit of IG Group (LON: IGG), Nadex secure and innovative platform for traders to participate in the market. As a suitable exchange for seasoned and novice traders alike, this Chicago-based platform has received recognition and awards from industry watchers for its steadfastness and transparency. Most notably, it was named the best US exchange by the Fair Binary Options for the year 2016.

Why Trade on Nadex?

Regulated & Legal for US Residents

As mentioned previously in this document, Nadex, is the first and largest US-based exchange that offers direct low cost and legal means to trade binary options, call spreads, and touch bracket contracts with user-defined reward/risk. Unlike some brokers, this exchange offers participants a level-playing ground for trading, and funds are secured in leading US banks.

Low Trading Costs

Opening an account is absolutely free, and with a low minimum opening balance, you can use your debit card and start trading immediately. Your trading software as well as market data are also free and features robust charting and analytical tools. You only pay a low $1 fee per contract side. With Nadex, you trade without worrying about hidden costs or commissions.

Wide Range of Markets from One Account

Nadex is the first CFTC-regulated exchange where users can conveniently trade binary options, touch bracket, and call spread contracts on a wide range of the world’s markets while at the same time choosing maximum risk and reward. From a single Nadex account, participants can trade contracts based on the underlying asset classes that include stock index features, forex, and commodity features with low opening balance.

Products Offered

Nadex has revolutionized the approach to trading for the active short-term and long-term traders with various exchange options. Basically, there are three ways to trade here: Binary Options, Touch Bracket Contracts, and Call Spreads.

Binary Options

At Nadex, trading in binary options is turned into a simple question—will this market be above this price at this specific time? If you believe the answer to this question is yes, buy, if not sell! No matter how experienced you are, these trading options allow traders all the excitement they can handle along with the control they can manage.

If you predict the market right, you get the full value of $100 [minus costs paid, of course]. But if you are wrong, you get zero. The best thing about Nadex Binary Options is that you can never lose more than you paid for. What’s more, these options allow you to exit the trade at any time before expiration, which means locking in profits or cutting your losses.

Touch Bracket Contracts

A Nadex Touch Bracket contract features a floor and ceiling ‘knockout’ points. This allows traders to maximize effective leverage while providing natural profit targets. Simply put, when you trade here, you’ll know what you thrive on and live for moving markets. This revolutionary type of asset offers traders specific benefits. Firstly, the price range is capped at both the top and bottom, and the value of the contract moves linearly as the target market moves.

If you think the market will move up, you buy, if not you sell. These high and low limits work at your advantage because it becomes easy to manage risk. It provides you with an automatic approach to take profits or cut losses when a floor or ceiling is touched. Secondly, the defined floor and ceiling on each contract allows traders to identify clear profit margins and determine risk/reward boundaries.

Thirdly, with effective leverage, there are no calls for additional margin or risk of slippage through floor or ceiling. It allows you control to pick the Touch Bracket in a forex or stock indices market that provides the right level of risk for you. Unlike Nadex Call Spreads that expires at the pre-determined time, Touch Brackets expire immediately after the floor or ceiling is touched.

Call Spreads

Nadex Call Spread is quite unique to the previous two products as it allows traders floor-to-ceiling trading ranges that offer defined risk/reward without needing to stop. This provides a unique platform that allows time for the market to prove you right. The optionality afforded to you in these types of contracts gives you the ability to utilize a premium on time to protect your position. Without a stop, there’s no potential for slippage. By purchasing a small premium, you effectually define the maximum risk you are willing to take on a position.

The benefit of choosing Nadex Call Spreads is that they allow you to trade between two price levels. This permits you to trade your preferred strategy with total risk protection and natural profit targets. The built-in floor and ceiling in such a contract provides you with similar loss-protection to stop-loss, but without stopping. If the market is against you, you can never get stopped out or lose more than the maximum allowed by the floor or ceiling.

Markets to Trade

With Nadex, the US and international traders can legally trade a broad range of world’s market from one account using limited-risk binary options and spreads. There exist virtually limitless opportunities here, but your risk is always limited.

Stock Indices

You can trade in the US and global stock market indices without index futures or ETFs, all with lower fees than what is offered in the industry. The stock indices featured here include:

• US Tech 100
• US 500
• Wall Street 30
• China 50
• US SmallCap 2000
• FTSE 100
• Japan 225
• Germany 30

Forex

Nadex offers 10 of the most traded spot forex pairs as limited-risk binary options and spreads. These are traded 23 hours a day and six days a week. These include:

• EUR/USD
• EUR/GBP
• USD/CAD
• GBP/USD
• GBP/JPY
• USD/JPY
• AUD/JPY
• AUD/USD
• EUR/JPY
• USD/CHF

Commodities

Binary options and call spreads allow traders to trade commodities with a lower cost of entry and limited risk. Nadex offers binaries on energies, metals, and agricultural products as follows:

• Energy—natural gas and crude oil
• Metal—copper, silver, and gold
• Agriculture—soybeans and corn

Contract Duration

Trading duration on Nadex entails both what other exchanges refer to as trading hours or trading session. This is typically the time between the opening and closing bells, not forgetting the after-hour trading. This exchange supports both 5 minute and 20-minute binary options, as well as daily and weekly trading hours.

Depositing Funds

Nadex welcomes its new players by requiring a minimum deposit of $250 as the initial deposit. US residents can make their deposits via Debit Card, ACH (Bank Transfer), Wire Transfer (Telegraphic Transfer), and Paper Check. Non-residents can make deposits via International Bank Transfer (Wire), and Debit Card.

Withdrawing Funds

Nadex offers two forms of withdrawal options for its traders; ACH and Wire transfer. US residents can use both, but non-residents can only use wire. All withdrawals can be completed promptly via the online form found on the site, with a processing fee of $25.

Account Types

Opening an account with Nadex is a hassle-free affair that’s free and easy to do. Nadex provides a level playing field for individuals, trusts, and corporate entities to trade binary options and spreads. As such, there are four different types of accounts that can be created here:

• Individual account, for US residents
• Individual account international, for eligible countries
• Business account, for corporations, partnerships, LLCs, and trusts
• Permanent demo accounts, which gives $25000 in virtual funds to learn the platform

Final Thoughts

Having explored the various nuts and bolts of Nadex, it’s quite straightforward to see why it is regarded as one of the best in the US, if not outright best. As a regulated exchange, this is a top avenue for people looking to trade in binary options in a reliable and transparent way. It allows traders to pay a fixed fee at which the loss is capped, and successful trades guarantee you maximum profits.