IQ Option

The CySEC licence of the EU company was confirmed on the register. The global business runs through SKY LADDER LLC, which IQ Option itself describes as not licensed by any regulatory body.

• StrengthIQBroker Europe Ltd, formerly IQOption Europe Ltd, holds CySEC licence 247/14, issued 30 July 2014; the register lists eu.iqoption.com and quadcodemarkets.com as approved domains.
• HighIQ Option’s global terms name SKY LADDER LLC (company ILLC 004, Antigua and Barbuda) as operator of the global brand, and its introducing broker agreement states that “SKY LADDER LLC ... is not licensed by any regulatory body”.
• ObservationIQ Option documents also name IQOPTION LLC (St Vincent and the Grenadines) and Digital Invest Limited (Seychelles, licence SD085); Digital Invest Limited does not appear on the FSA Seychelles register today. A March 2026 IQ Option blog post still names IQ Option LLC as the global operator.

The EU company’s audited Pillar III report discloses its owner, QHL Quad Code Holding Limited, and its ultimate controlling party, Sergei Dobrovolskii. The owner of SKY LADDER LLC is not disclosed, and IQ Option’s own documents name different global operators.

• StrengthIQBroker Europe Ltd publishes annual Pillar III reports; the 2025 report states it is wholly owned by QHL Quad Code Holding Limited, reports own funds of €19.0 million and a capital ratio of 652.82% at 31 December 2025.
• MediumNo owner or accounts for SKY LADDER LLC were found.

EU clients are covered by CySEC’s Investor Compensation Fund and the EU company states segregation and negative balance protection. Clients of the global company have no compensation scheme and no negative balance protection clause, and its money is not overseen by any regulator.

• StrengthIQBroker Europe Ltd states that it is a member of the Investor Compensation Fund, segregates client funds and applies negative balance protection to retail clients.
• HighSKY LADDER LLC’s global terms offer no compensation scheme and contain no negative balance protection clause; they say only that funds held by third-party payment providers are segregated from those providers’ own funds.
• ObservationBrazil’s CVM has charged IQ Option LLC with, among other things, raising funds from the public with unjustified retention of the amounts invested. This is a charge in a pending case, not a finding.

Not assessed in a desk audit. Spreads, slippage and fill quality can only be measured with live accounts.

CySEC reached a €450,000 settlement with the EU company in 2019. In Brazil the CVM issued a stop order in 2020, dismissed IQ Option’s appeal, and in March 2026 rejected a second settlement offer in a sanctions case, sending it to trial.

• HighOn 15 April 2019 CySEC’s board reached a €450,000 settlement with IQ Option Europe Ltd (announced 21 May 2019) over possible breaches relating to conflicts of interest, appropriateness assessments, due diligence on execution venues, and customer due diligence and monitoring under anti-money-laundering law. The company paid the amount.
• HighThe CVM ordered IQ Option Ltd to stop offering investments to Brazilian residents on 20 April 2020 and unanimously dismissed its appeal on 2 June 2020. In sanctions case PAS 19957.006709/2021-81 against IQ Option LLC, the CVM noted the activity continued after the stop order, and on 24 March 2026 unanimously rejected a settlement offer for the second time, deciding the case should go to judgment.
• ObservationA €180,000 CySEC fine of September 2016, of which CySEC later revoked €20,000, is more than eight years old and is recorded but not scored.
• ObservationThe global operation has been named as unauthorised by regulators in Malaysia (2020), the Philippines (2021), Ukraine (2024) and India (RBI Alert List), and Indonesia’s Bappebti blocked IQ Option domains in 2021 to 2023. Under our methodology these warnings are recorded but not scored.
• ObservationThe global terms offer digital options, binary options and “Blitz” options to retail clients. The EU has prohibited binary options for retail clients since 2018, and IQ Option’s EU company offers them to professional clients only. Under our methodology offshore products are recorded but not scored where lawful.

Not assessed in a desk audit. Uptime, incident history and security controls require evidence from the firm or live monitoring.

No Great Place to Work certification and no community programme were found in public sources.

• ObservationNo Great Place to Work certification or community programme was found in public sources.