Advertising a trading platform: what the ad rules actually allow
Advertising binary options does not run into strict moderation. It runs into a flat ban: Google's policy says such ads are not allowed at all. Next door lies a category that can be advertised, and it carries four conditions at once.
Binary options: the platform bans them outright
In Google's financial products policy this sits as its own line: ads for binary options or equivalent financial products are not allowed. The reason is given right there too: the significant risk of financial loss involved in trading them.
The ban reaches further than most people expect. It covers broker sites offering binary options, signals or software for them and nothing else besides. It even covers educational sites and blogs about those products, so an article on binary options cannot be advertised either.
For planning purposes that settles the question early. Where a product is built entirely on binary options, Google offers no channel for it at all, and no packaging of the creative changes that. Budget decides nothing here.
| Product | What is allowed | On what conditions |
|---|---|---|
| Binary options | Ads are not allowed | The ban covers broker sites and educational sites and blogs about them too |
| CFDs, spread betting, rolling spot forex | Allowed in select locations | Advertiser is a licensed provider or aggregator; product and ads comply with local law; the location is eligible; the account has Google's approval |
| Signals for speculative products | Disapproved | A destination that provides trading signals is refused |
| Any financial product | Mandatory disclosures | Business address, all fees and accreditation links visible at once, without a click or a rollover |
What is allowed next door, and on what terms
Next to it sits the category of complex speculative financial products: contracts for difference, financial spread betting, rolling spot forex and related forms. Ads there run in select locations only, and just one missing condition closes the door.
Four conditions, to be exact. The advertiser is a licensed provider or aggregator; the products and ads comply with local laws and industry standards; the targeted location is eligible under this policy; and the account has received approval from Google Ads to run those ads.
Signals get their own line in the same policy. A destination that provides signals for trading complex speculative products leads to disapproval, whoever advertises it and whatever licence they hold.
What the regulator decided, and why a deposit bonus became a problem
In March 2018 ESMA agreed measures on binary options and contracts for difference for retail investors in the European Union. For binary options that meant a prohibition on marketing, distribution and sale outright.
Five measures landed on CFDs: leverage limits on opening positions, a margin close-out rule per account, negative balance protection per account, a bar on the use of incentives by a CFD provider, and a firm-specific risk warning delivered in a standardised way.
That fourth measure is where the familiar funnel mechanics break. A deposit bonus, a doubled top-up, a gift for registering - all of that is an incentive, and incentives by a CFD provider are barred. Behind the decision sit the regulator's own figures: national authorities found 74-89% of retail accounts typically lose money, with average losses per client running from 1,600 to 29,000 euros.
Disclosures that have to be visible at once
Any financial product drags a page requirement along with it. The physical address of the business offering the product, all associated fees, and links to third-party accreditation where affiliation is asserted or implied all have to be visible straight away, and only that counts as visible.
No loophole is left in the wording. Disclosures cannot be posted as roll-over text, moved behind another link, or parked on a separate tab. A reader sees them without clicking and without hovering.
Checking that works better through someone else's eyes. Open the page the way a person in the target country will: on a phone, in their language, without your own habit of knowing where everything lives.
Telegram Ads and clause 5.7 on financial promises
The platform keeps a separate clause for deceptive or harmful financial practices. An ad must not promote get-rich-quick offers, pyramid schemes, multilevel marketing, investment offers with guaranteed returns, or claims of insider tips.
Alongside that sits a ban on concealing anything material: fees, terms, payment deadlines. Where the promoted product is paid for, the terms of purchase still have to be explicit and easy to understand.
Format adds its own edges. Ad text runs to 160 characters including spaces plus a button, one link may sit inside the text, and line breaks, bullets and numbered lists are out. URL shorteners are banned separately.
Why the route around review ends with the account
A separate Google policy covers abusing the ad network, and any attempt to circumvent the review systems is named in it directly. Its neighbours under that heading are malware, hacked sites and content manipulation.
This branch carries its own price. For the severe violations the account is suspended immediately, with no warning beforehand, and only an appeal remains, one that has to explain itself.
By comparison the financial policies and the destination requirements run gently: a warning arrives at least seven days before any suspension. Which of those two branches you are standing in decides whether the team has a week to fix things or no account at all.
What gets checked before the first dollar
Paperwork comes before channels. The provider's licence, the country the ads will run in, and whether the account carries Google's approval - without those three, talk of bids and creative means nothing at all.
Then the page itself gets opened. On it belong the business address, every fee and the accreditation links, all visible at once. Separately it is worth checking that the page answers the crawler and returns no error, since destination requirements live in their own policy and a breach there buys seven days to fix things.
Only after that does measurement get wired. A postback carrying the click id and the status, conversion windows lined up on both sides, a report with breakdowns - from here on there is finally something to count.
What actually gets measured in this vertical
While the question of whether the product can be advertised at all is still open, there is nothing to count. Once a channel is legally open, ordinary work starts: your own accounting instead of somebody else's benchmarks.
A postback is the HTTP request a network's or advertiser's server sends to the tracker to report a conversion. Keitaro records it from two mandatory parameters, the click id and the status. Without a status the request is just dropped.
After that the conversion windows in the account and in the tracker are lined up, and the report is built with source, campaign and creative breakdowns. One figure out of that report belongs to your product and your week, though any range lifted from an article belongs to neither.
What is left when the paid channel is closed
Sometimes the rules answer plainly: this cannot be advertised. Then the honest move is to change the object of the advertising rather than the wrapping of the creative. A licensed broker offering contracts for difference in an eligible country and a binary-options brand are different objects, and the policy treats them differently.
Where no licence exists and none is coming, that platform simply has no paid channel for you. Budget goes where ad-network policy does not reach: your own site and search, email to a list you own, community, partner networks operating under their own compliance.
Getting around review does not belong on that list. It belongs in the policy on abusing the ad network, and the price is written there too.
FAQ
Can binary options be advertised on Google at all?
No. The policy states plainly that ads for binary options or equivalent products are not allowed, and the ban extends to broker sites, to signals and software for them, and to educational sites and blogs about those products.
What about CFDs and forex?
Those run in select locations only, and only when every condition holds: the advertiser is a licensed provider or aggregator, the products and ads comply with local law, the location is eligible, and the account has Google's approval.
Can we offer a bonus for funding an account?
In the European Union a CFD provider is barred from using incentives, one of the five measures ESMA agreed. Telegram separately treats guaranteed-return offers and concealed terms as deceptive financial practice.
What happens if a creative is pushed past review?
Circumventing the review systems is written into the policy on abusing the ad network, next to malware and hacked sites. For the severe violations the account is suspended immediately, without prior warning.
Sources
- Google Ads policy: financial products and services, binary options and CFDs
- ESMA: prohibition on binary options and restrictions on CFDs for retail investors
- Telegram Ads policies: clause 5.7 on financial products
- Google Ads policy: abusing the ad network and circumventing systems
- Google Ads policy: destination requirements and the seven-day notice
- Keitaro postback: click id and conversion status
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