The ads keep popping up online, even on reputable business news websites. Click on the ad and you are taken to an online trading site that explains how you can earn an income by trading in foreign exchange forex or derivatives such as binary options.

First of all, the legitimacy of the operation may be questionable, and it may operate in a slack regulatory jurisdiction. Second, even if it is legitimate and works in a well-regulated environment — a number of operators are registered financial services providers with the Financial Services Board — the chances of you scraping a living, let alone acquiring fabulous wealth, are slim, and the chances of you losing your money are enormous.

These risks are spelt out in small print on the site, but they are deliberately understated. It is no easy life being a full-time trader.

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And the types of derivative instruments offered on these sites are normally used by professional traders only under certain controlled circumstances, often to hedge positions on assets such as shares.

Few professional traders use binary options as their instrument of choice for their own accounts. Simon Shear, a founder of financial education website MyTreasury, takes a dim view of binary option trading, saying it is not investing at all, and is much more akin to gambling.

An investigation [by The Times of Israel] revealed that these companies manipulate pricing data, and even refuse to pay investors who try to withdraw their money.

For these reasons, Shear says, it is important to state categorically that binary options are not legitimate investment products and binary options providers are not reliable financial services providers. In a blog on his Traders Corner website, professional share trader Garth Mackenzie, a popular figure on radio and television, says he is often approached by people, who may have about R to invest, wanting advice on how to make a living out of trading.

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That means one in 20 people can make a success of trading, or should I say that one in 20 can stay the course. Far less than one in 20 are actually successful as traders. I can vouch for that statistic, having worked as a broker in the retail derivatives trading space since Mackenzie says a colleague of his who works for a well-known international forex and CFD provider told him that the average lifespan of a retail client at their firm is 18 months.

With binary options, unlike some other derivatives, you cannot lose more than you put in for more information, read "Derivatives for beginners". Wikipedia explains binary options thus: Traders place wagers as to whether that will or will not happen.

If a customer believes the price of a commodity or currency will be above a certain price at a set time, he buys the binary option.

If he believes it will be below that price, he sells the option. If, after considering the risks, you are still keen to try your luck, keep the following in mind:.

Trading is buying and selling assets in the short term from intra-day trades to trades over a few weeks in order to make small profits frequently.

Investing is buying an asset that you expect will increase in value over the long term months to years and from which you may also receive dividends. Under the Financial Advisory and Intermediary Services FAIS Act, the Registrar of Financial Services Providers determines the requirements with which financial services providers, key individuals and representatives of providers must comply to be granted a licence by the Financial Services Board.

These are termed the Fit and Proper Requirements for financial services providers. The requirements were updated in , and there have been several amendments since. Further amendments are in the pipeline. The requirements set criteria regarding the honesty and integrity, competency, operational ability and solvency levels for providers.

Among other things, they require providers and their representatives to have qualifications and experience that are appropriate for the products the offer. There are different categories for different types of products.

The companies must be financially sound, and must have certain solvency reserves. Once registered, financial services providers are required to uphold the Code of Conduct under the FAIS Act regulations.

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My Money Banking Budgeting Spending Wisely. Invest Collective investments results Fund look up Fund Ranking Tool Performance Comparison Tool. Money tools Loan Calculator Interest on Savings. But you must be very, very careful. Regarding forex trading sites, these essentially operate in the same way. FSB's requirements Under the Financial Advisory and Intermediary Services FAIS Act, the Registrar of Financial Services Providers determines the requirements with which financial services providers, key individuals and representatives of providers must comply to be granted a licence by the Financial Services Board.

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