IG Markets gained the distinction last year of being the first online forex and CFD broker to launch bitcoin trading, when it began to offer bitcoin binary options in April 2013. IG followed up that launch with the distinction of being the first broker to scrap bitcoin trading when they ceased offering the binary options product a month later.

Showing that times are changing, IG is again bringing binary options for bitcoins back to their platform. Launched yesterday, and promoted via their Twitter account, IG is offering bitcoin trading in both Sprint and Ladder binary options. Sprint is IG’s terminology for classic binary options in which customers wager whether prices of an instrument will close higher or lower than the current market prices, with a fixed payout if they are correct. (More about trading bitcoins)

Join the iFX EXPO Asia and discover your gateway to the Asian Markets

With ladder style binary options, IG provides multiple in and out-of-the money price points over daily, weekly and monthly expiration periods to wager whether bitcoin will close above or below the strike prices. With multiple durations and strike prices, ladder options are more similar to traditional exchange traded equity options. The main differentiator is that ladder binary options offer a fixed payout versus a variable one of traditional options.

With the relaunch of binary options at IG, the broker is offering a fairly robust variety of tradable bitcoin products by providing both classic and ladder style binary options and many strike prices and durations. Among binary options brokers offering bitcoin products, their offerings have typically been limited to either only classic or ladder style options with a few expiration and strike prices. As such, with such a robust variety of its bitcoin offering, our bet is that the product will last more than a month this time around.

This article first appeared earlier today on our parent site Forex Magnates