Binary Touch Options - Rates & Conditions

Bid/Ask Spreads and Autoexecution

Saxo Bank offers streaming Binary Touch Options prices in 6 of the most traded currency crosses: EURUSD, USDJPY, GBPUSD, EURJPY, EURGBP and AUDUSD. This means you have direct access to trade Forex Binary Touch Options on live prices without dealer intervention. There is no minimum ticket fee commission on trading Binary Touch Options, only the difference in the spread. Since Saxo Bank always quotes both the bid and ask price, the current spread is always visible to you.

Pricing/Premium

The price of a Binary Touch Option is expressed as a percentage of the potential payout. For instance, for a notional size of 10,000 and a price of 10%, the premium will be 1,000 units of base currency and the payout is 10,000 units of base currency.

For Long positions you pay a Premium, for short positions you receive a Premium. The pricing model Saxo Bank uses is similar to the one we apply to Vanilla Options (based on Black-Sholes model). Spreads are variable depending on maturity.

Trading FX Binary Touch Options Short

When selling a Binary Touch Option, the premium is received on the account under “Transactions not booked” and the maximum payout of the position is reserved on the account, so it will no longer be available for trading or as margin collateral. (The negative value of the position, which is the current cost to close the position, will be included in the “Non Margin position” on the account summary. The remaining value up to the full payout is reserved in the margin calculation under “Not available for margin collateral”.)

Expiry and Exercise method

When FX Binary Touch Options reach the trigger level they immediately exercise. All Binary Touch Options are cash settled instantly at the time of exercise, which for a One Touch Option is once the trigger level is reached, and for a No Touch Option, once maturity is reached without reaching the trigger level. A Trigger level is considered reached if the mid-price of the spot of the underlying price of the currency pair reaches the Trigger level.

Binary Touch Options automatically exercise at 10:00 New York time (New York cut) on the day of expiry.

Settlement procedure

Although profit and loss from a closed Binary Touch Option (e.g buying and selling an option before it exercises/expires) will be available for trading other products or for margin trading, final settlement is done end of day (EOD) just like for Vanilla Options.

Positions with price and payout in a currency different from the account currency will have the premium and payout converted to the accounts currency at the EOD rate. This applies to initial positioning, squaring of existing positions and positions being triggered, including conversion of realized profit and loss to the account currency.

Payout profile and margin requirement

When buying a Binary Touch Option, the full premium is paid and the value of the position is immediately reserved on the client´s account so it will no longer be available for trading or as margin collateral. This means that the Binary Touch Options are not tradable on margin/with leverage. If a bought Binary Touch Option exercises the payout is 100% of the amount of the first (base) currency. If it expires without exercising the payout is 0%.

When selling a Binary Touch Option, the seller receives the premium and the maximum potential payout of the position is reserved on the client account, so it will no longer be available for trading or as margin collateral.

Trade sizes / liquidity / maturities

The minimum trade size is 100 units of notional currency. Saxo Bank provides streaming prices up to 25,000 units of notional currency. Request for Quote (RFQ) is available for larger positions. The offered maturities are standardized in the Forex Options Board (analogous to the dates offered for Vanilla Options). The Options Board covers maturities from 1 day to 6 months.

Order types supported

Binary Touch Options can only be bought or sold. No other order types are supported for this instrument type.

Netting for margin calculation

No netting is available for open positions. Cash required for holding each option is calculated separately and added together. This includes the Premium for long positions and the potential payout of a short position. The only exception is for existing closed positions or triggered positions as described under settlement procedure.