Summary
No company behind Pocket Option holds a licence from any financial regulator, its terms do not name the company clients contract with, and it discloses no owner. Brazil’s CVM fined its operator R$3.9 million in August 2026 for systematic and repeated unauthorised offers after two stop orders, and regulators in more than fifteen countries have warned against it.
- Grade
- C
- Score
- 11/100
- Fieldwork
- 8 Oct 2026 to 9 Oct 2026
- Findings
- 5 high3 medium
Scorecard
| Pillar | Weight | Score | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|
| Regulation & Licensing | 19% | C | |
| Corporate Structure & Ownership | 14% | C | |
| Client Money & Payouts | 19% | C | |
| Execution & Pricing | n/a | ||
| Conduct & Disclosure | 14% | C | |
| Operational Resilience | n/a | ||
| People & Community | 5% | C | |
| Overall | 71% | 11 | C |
The overall score is the weighted average of the assessed pillars, with their weights scaled back up to 100.
This grade summarises the evidence we reviewed up to 9 October 2026. It is not a guarantee of the firm's safety or future conduct, and changes after that date are not reflected. Nothing here is financial or legal advice.
Findings
Regulation & Licensing
5/100No Pocket Option company holds a licence from any financial regulator, and the firm claims none. Every regulator record found describes Pocket Option or its operators as unauthorised.
- HighNo licence for any Pocket Option company was found, and the website claims none. Its footer names PO TRADE LTD, registered in Saint Lucia (2019-00207) and operating from Tbilisi, Georgia; this could not be verified, as Saint Lucia’s company registry is not publicly searchable.
Corporate Structure & Ownership
20/100Pocket Option’s client terms do not name a legal entity, and the companies named elsewhere differ: the footer names PO TRADE LTD of Saint Lucia, while Brazil’s CVM found the platform was run by Infinite Trade LLC of Costa Rica after an earlier operator, Gembell Limited, was dissolved in 2021. No owner is disclosed.
- HighThe public offer agreement defines the company only as “a legal entity, referred to as ‘Pocket Option’” and applies the laws of Costa Rica. Brazil’s CVM found the operator to be Infinite Trade LLC, a Costa Rican company, while the footer names PO TRADE LTD of Saint Lucia.
- MediumNo owner, parent company, director or audited accounts were found for any Pocket Option company.
Client Money & Payouts
10/100Clients’ money is held by companies no financial regulator supervises. Pocket Option makes no statement on segregation or negative balance protection, and its terms allow it to freeze accounts and funds without the right of withdrawal in some cases.
- HighNo regulator supervises how Pocket Option holds client money, no compensation scheme applies, and no statement on segregated accounts or negative balance protection was found in its terms or policies.
- MediumThe payment policy allows the company, if it detects duplicate accounts, “to freeze the customer’s accounts and funds without the right of withdrawal”, and says bank wire withdrawals can take “from 3 up to 45 business days”.
- ObservationThe CVM’s file records reports from Brazilian users of difficulties making withdrawals. These are complaints, not findings.
Execution & Pricing
Not assessed in a desk audit. Spreads, slippage and fill quality can only be measured with live accounts.
Conduct & Disclosure
15/100Brazil’s CVM fined Pocket Option’s operator R$3.9 million in 2026, citing systematic and repeated conduct after two stop orders. Italy’s CONSOB has ordered its websites and app blocked four times since 2020.
- HighOn 25 August 2026 the CVM unanimously fined Infinite Trade LLC R$3.9 million for publicly offering securities in Brazil without registration through the Pocket Option platform, adding aggravating factors for “systematic and repeated” conduct and damage to the market’s image. The CVM noted Brazil-facing activity continued after stop orders in 2021 and 2025. The company filed no defence and may appeal.
- HighCONSOB ordered Pocket Option’s operators to cease unauthorised services in Italy, and blocked its sites, on 28 January 2020, in December 2021, on 9 April 2025 and on 25 February 2026, the last order also covering the Pocket Option mobile app.
- MediumPocket Option’s terms allow it to end communication with or terminate clients for an “unfair attitude towards the Company”, including negative reviews, and require clients not to publish any information about the company without its approval.
- ObservationPocket Option or its operators have been named as unauthorised by regulators in the UK (FCA), France (AMF), Spain (CNMV), the US (CFTC RED List), Australia (ASIC), Canada (BCSC and Alberta), Belgium (FSMA), the Netherlands (AFM, which called PO Trade a suspected boiler room), Israel, India, Malaysia, Nigeria, Ukraine and Romania. Under our methodology these warnings are recorded but not scored.
- ObservationPocket Option sells fixed-payout “High - Low” contracts, which the CFTC, AMF and Israel’s ISA classify as binary options. The EU has prohibited binary options for retail clients since 2018 and the UK since 2019.
Operational Resilience
Not assessed in a desk audit. Uptime, incident history and security controls require evidence from the firm or live monitoring.
People & Community
0/100No 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.
Licences verified
Each licence was checked directly against the regulator's public register on the date shown.
| Entity | Regulator | Licence | Checked | Result |
|---|
Notes and sources
Sources
- CVM: CVM multa Infinite Trade LLC em R$ 3,9 milhões
- CVM: rapporteur’s report, PAS 19957.013932/2025-16
- CVM: rapporteur’s vote, PAS 19957.013932/2025-16
- CONSOB: resolution no. 23887 (25 February 2026)
- CONSOB: Consob Informa, 3 February 2020
- FCA warning: PocketOption
- CFTC RED List: Pocketoption
- ASIC Moneysmart: investor alert list
- AFM: warning on PO Trade (23 July 2026)
- AMF: black list entry, pocketoption.com
- Pocket Option: public offer agreement
- Pocket Option: payment policy
- ESMA Decision (EU) 2018/795 on binary options
Evidence and scope
Scope
Desk audit of the brand’s client-facing entities, using public sources only: regulator registers, warnings and sanction records, and the firm’s own published documents, as available on 9 October 2026. No accounts were opened, nothing was tested live, and the firm was not asked for evidence. No licence was found to verify against a register.
Limitations
Absence of a public enforcement record is not evidence of good conduct. The company registries of Saint Lucia and Costa Rica could not be searched, so the companies named could not be verified. Whether the CVM fine has been appealed or paid is not known. The Bank of Russia’s warning list could not be searched.
Evidence reviewed
- CVM judgment, PAS 19957.013932/2025-16, 25 August 2026 (report and vote)
- CONSOB resolutions of 2020, 2021, 2025 and 2026
- FCA, AMF, CNMV, CFTC, ASIC, BCSC, FSMA, AFM and other regulator warnings
- Pocket Option public offer agreement, payment policy and website disclosures
Version history
- Report published.
Request a re-audit
Staff of Pocket Option can ask us to reopen this audit, for example after correcting a finding or completing remediation. Requests must come from a company email address, and you can attach evidence.
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