In the past, binary options, or exotic options as they were often called, were traded by a select few on futures exchanges and individual investors could not buy them over the counter. To trade binary options, investors needed to hire a special broker and pay up front fees just to be able to make purchases on the exotic options exchange. However, starting in 2008 the Options Clearing Corporation began listing binary options over the counter providing more traders with access to them, and the American Stock Exchange followed suit shortly thereafter making it easy for individuals to trade binary options online.


Now, in 2010, binary options are enjoying an explosion in popularity—in part because of the attractiveness of the fixed odds, risks, and rewards involved in trading these instruments, and in part because of the proliferation of binary option brokers offering direct binary options trading. These brokers have made it incredibly easy for you to sit comfortably in your home office and trade binary options throughout the day. In fact, you can now trade binary options from any location with a wifi connection 24 hours a day, 6 days a week.