Intro
Summary
ExpertOption is an offshore broker that was established in 2014 and operates in St. Vincent and the Grenadines. It offers stocks, forex, and cryptocurrencies for trading. Although it is regulated by the Vanuatu Financial Services Commission (VFSC) and the Financial Market Relations Regulation Center (FMRRC), in our opinion these are not top-tier regulators.
We do not recommend trading with this broker.
We at BrokerChooser care about our users: we want to make sure you have a good understanding of how investing works, and we have reviewed over 100 brokers to help you decide which fits your needs best. We also want to help you to avoid bad experiences.
In this article, we highlight a broker that we do not recommend based on the objective research of BrokerChooser’s analysts. Read below to find out which brokers we do recommend!
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| Regulation | VFSC, FMRRC |
| Foundation date | 2014 |
| Annual financial statements published | No |
| S&P credit rating | No |
| Big 4 auditor | No |
| Listed on stock exchange | No |
| Banking background | No |
| Investor protection | No |
Regulation
The legal entity behind ExpertOption is called EOLabs LLC, which is registered in St. Vincent and the Grenadines. It is regulated by the Vanuatu Financial Services Commission (VFSC) and the Financial Market Relations Regulation Center (FMRRC). However, these authorities are not considered to be top-tier regulators, so we at BrokerChooser do not recommend trading with this provider.
Main issues
ExpertOption has numerous issues why we don't recommend you use it for trading:
- It is an offshore company operating in St. Vincent and the Grenadines and although it is regulated, we consider the VFSC and FMRRC to be not top-tier regulators.
- It provides no investor protection.
- It has no banking background.
- It does not publish financial statements regularly.
- We found no information about its auditor or pricing policy.
How to get your money back
If you get scammed by a broker, you have a few options you can try to get your money back:
- You can turn to your bank and file a chargeback request.
- You can take legal action and issue a so-called Mareva (or freezing) injunction against the company.
- If the broker has a financial regulatory body, you can also report the scam to them.
How to spot if a broker is a scam?
There is a higher likelihood that a broker might be a scam if:
- it is not regulated at all
- it is regulated under a jurisdiction widely seen as an offshore haven (e.g. Vanuatu or St. Lucia)
- it is featured on a warning list of a top-tier regulator (e.g. the UK’s FCA, or the SEC in the US)
If you would like to know more about scams, how to avoid them, and how to get your money back, read our Forex trading scams page.
Everything you find on BrokerChooser is based on reliable data and unbiased information. We combine our 10+ years finance experience with readers feedback. Read more about our methodology.
