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Introduction

Overview

As betting markets become more and more sophisticated (epitomised by the advent of specialist sports hedge funds) the crossover between sports betting and financial trading will intensify. Already futures trading by way of spreadbetting has become established in the sports betting market, while in turn fixed odds bets, by way of binary options, are being increasingly used for speculating in the financial and commodity markets.

Binary options (aka financial fixed odds bets, aka binary bets) have a number of characteristics which will enable them to become the most heavily used and popular derivatives instrument. They provide:

1 easy access for the trader via the internet;

2 a limited risk environment for all participants;

3 at expiry greater gearing for the speculator than, for instance, futures, CFDs, spreadbets or conventional options;

4 a far greater degree of flexibility enabling the sophisticated trader to customise his bet to take full advantage of accurate forecasts;

5 a product range that ranges from financial and commodity instruments to sports, political, media and weather; and finally

6 they are tax-free in many jurisdictions.

Binary options are used by people in many countries, albeit under a different name – that of a fixed odds bet. Nowadays many nations have their Kentucky Derby, Breeder’s Cup, Grand National and Melbourne Cup, which attract wagers from a broad range of people; and recently betting on ‘reality TV’ events has become popular. All these betting participants are (unwittingly) buying binary options, and the flexible nature of this instrument will enable it to pervade the lives of many of whom are already avid sports punters but have always shied away from participating in the world of sophisticated financial instruments. Henceforth the term fixed odds bet will be interchangeable with the term binary option throughout this book.

Distribution

Hitherto, if one ignores fixed odds sports betting, binary options have been very much the preserve of the financial OTC (over-the-counter) market. Financial and commodity derivatives markets generally restrict themselves to offering futures and conventional options while the stock markets offer shares only. One must suspect the omission of binaries from derivatives markets has been an oversight, while from stock exchanges one suspects an attitude bordering on snobbery owing to the speculative nature of the instrument. Whatever the reason, these exchanges are likely to watch in awe as the trading volumes on binary/betting exchanges soar.

What are the grounds for such an assertion?

The following points explain why this instrument will see the same exponential growth that futures/options exchanges did throughout the latter half of the 1980s and most of the 1990s. The basic tenet springs from the fact that since binary option positions create a quantifiable maximum downside risk, this results in:

1 Risk Management

Conventional options are the most heavily exchange-traded option, yet volumes rarely exceed that of the underlying future with one or two exceptions (e.g. the Kospi index). This can be partly explained by the end-users’ reticence in using a complicated instrument, but the major constraint is the reluctance of brokers to offer accounts to many customers who may not be capable of sustaining the potential losses that can be incurred from losing positions. These losing scenarios will always be predicated on the naked writing of options that occasionally explode, leaving the short with a potentially limitless, unrecoverable debit on his account.

In contrast to the above high-risk situation, the binary option enables all potential losses to be calculated on the inception of the trade, since the price of a binary option is constrained by the limits of 0 and 1. As we will see later, writing (selling) a binary call has the identical profit & loss (P&L) profile of buying the same strike put of the same series. On selling an out-of-the-money call at 0.2 (equivalent to a 4/1 bet) the seller’s maximum loss will be at 1.0, where he will lose four times the amount he sold.

Clearly the broker is likely to have less unease in opening accounts for clients with this scenario; and if the broker insists on 100% upfront payment of the maximum potential loss, then the broker’s potential liability is now totally covered.

2 Clearing and Settlement

A major constraint on starting and operating a derivatives exchange is the necessary cost of engaging a clearing house. The Eurex and the Chicago exchanges operate their own clearing houses, which require huge sums of cash in order to operate their exchanges with financial integrity. Clearly binary options alleviate this cost since the risk management is a more exact methodology. This is likely to lead to a proliferation of binary/betting exchanges globally.

3 Regulation

Regulatory authorities are placed between a rock and a hard place over the regulation of binary options exchanges. The nature of the risk involved means that these exchanges will distribute binary options via the internet in much the same way as eBay offers everything but bets via the internet. If regulation in any one jurisdiction becomes overburdensome then the exchange will up sticks and go offshore.

It is clear that the ability to distribute the product cheaply over the internet will be a major advantage to the exchange and the binary option user/trader. The combination of a homogenous, limited-risk instrument with zero credit facility ensures zero account defaults.

Leverage

The nature of binaries changes sharply as expiry nears. Shares and futures have linear P&L profiles that lie at a 45º angle to the horizontal axis. Conventional traded options have profiles that approach an angle of 45º. A 45º angle means that if the share/future/option goes up by 1¢, then the owner makes 1¢. A binary approaching expiry has a P&L profile that can exceed 45º (indeed it will approach the vertical for an at-the-money option) meaning that a 1¢ rise in the underlying share could translate into a multiple (say 5¢) increase in value of the option. Clearly this feature is likely to attract the player who is looking for short-term gearing, for it is safe to state that a binary option can provide greater gearing than any other financial instrument in the marketplace.

Dexterity

At present financial fixed odds betting suffers from a paucity of available strategies compared with conventional options. Spreadbetting companies’ binary offerings are usually restricted to the regular upbets, downbets and rangebets in regular or one-touch/no-touch mode; but this is very plain fare in comparison to what’s available on the high table of the OTC market. Knock-Out bets, Knock-In bets, Onions and bets on two separate assets are all available and over time are likely to, with one handle or another, enter the trader’s vocabulary. Of course the trading community will require educating in order that they may use these instruments proficiently, but this is standard in all new markets. Once the trading community has a clearer understanding of binaries, there will no doubt be increased pressure on mainstream exchanges to issue binaries on their current products – with the CBOT’s introduction of a binary on the Fed Funds rate the process has already started.

Product Sets

When considering binary options, the usual product revolves around foreign exchange bets and, more recently, bets on economic data and the aforementioned Fed Funds rate. Earlier in this introduction sports bets were proffered as alternative forms of binary options, but the product set need not end there. Bets on political events are prevalent particularly at the time of elections. Furthermore, the media is increasingly becoming a sector where wagers may be placed. Reality TV events are now widely accepted as a betting medium, but there is no reason why this should not be extended to, for instance, the film industry. Binary options on weekend cinema box office takings would no doubt be a welcome hedge for film producers and nervous actors.

Summary

Although this book steers clear of complex mathematics, it systematically analyses the anatomy of fixed odds bets. Hopefully this book will:

 l allow the part-time punter to learn enough to eradicate amateurish mistakes;

 l open up the financial and commodity fixed odds market to the sports betting enthusiast; and

 l provide enough material and new concepts for the professional binary options trader to, at the very least, look at combining different forms of financial instruments with binaries in order to maximise potential profits and minimise unnecessary losses.