Are binary options legal in Indonesia? What BAPPEBTI decided
Indonesia is one of the few markets where the regulator acted decisively against binary options, and where courts then convicted the influencers who promoted them. Here is the situation as of September 2026, with sources and without the affiliate spin.
Checked on 29 September 2026. Sources are linked where they are used. This is general information, not legal advice.
What BAPPEBTI decided
Indonesia's Commodity Futures Trading Regulatory Agency (BAPPEBTI) ruled that binary options cannot legally operate in the country: they lack a legal basis that protects consumers and function closer to gambling than to a futures product. Together with the Ministry of Communication, it blocked 92 unlicensed binary options sites — part of a wider action covering more than 1,200 pages of "trading-wrapped gambling".
The figures, as reported by Hukumonline: in 2021 BAPPEBTI had 1,222 websites blocked for illegal commodity futures trading. They included 92 binary option domains (Binomo, IQ Option, Olymptrade and Quotex among them) and 336 "robot trading" sites such as Net89/SmartX, Auto Trade Gold and Viral Blast. BAPPEBTI's then acting head, Indrasari Wisnu Wardhana, described the effort as blocking "gambling disguised as trading activity". The blocks were done together with the communications ministry. Blocking a domain does not stop mirror domains or VPN access, but it does settle the legal status: a blocked platform is not "allowed if you can reach it".
Why the regulator moved
- Extreme risk profile — fixed-time products where total loss is the normal outcome of a single wrong trade.
- Fraud exposure — most platforms operate offshore with no local entity to hold accountable.
- No consumer protection — no compensation mechanism when a platform freezes withdrawals.
The court cases that settled it: Indra Kenz and Doni Salmanan
Indonesia prosecuted the people who promoted these apps, since the platforms themselves are offshore. The two best-known cases:
| Case | Platform promoted | First instance | Later |
|---|---|---|---|
| Indra Kenz | Binomo | Tangerang District Court, 14 Nov 2022: 10 years and a Rp5 billion fine, for spreading false information that caused consumer losses (ITE Law) plus money laundering; assets seized by the state (Tirto) | Not covered here: we have not verified the appeal outcome |
| Doni Salmanan | Quotex | Bandung District Court, 14 Dec 2022: 4 years and a Rp1 billion fine; acquitted of money laundering (Tirto) | Bandung High Court raised it to 8 years; the Supreme Court rejected both cassation appeals on 15 Aug 2023 (Detik) |
In the Indra Kenz judgment, the Tangerang court described the traders as "pemain judi yang berkedok trading Binomo", meaning gamblers disguised as Binomo traders. Victims in the Salmanan case asked for his assets to be returned to them, and the first-instance court declined, which shows how hard it is to recover money even after a conviction. If you lost money on one of these platforms, the realistic route is a police report together with other victims. Do not expect a refund from the broker.
Who regulates what since 2025
Indonesia reorganised supervision under Law No. 4 of 2023 (UU P2SK) and Government Regulation No. 49 of 2024. According to the joint BAPPEBTI–OJK–BI press release of 10 January 2025, crypto assets and financial derivatives with securities as the underlying moved from BAPPEBTI to the OJK. Derivatives on money-market and foreign-exchange underlyings moved to Bank Indonesia, with a transition of up to 24 months. None of these regulators licenses fixed-time binary options.
| Product | Regulator in 2026 | Binary options? |
|---|---|---|
| Commodity futures (e.g. gold, oil) through licensed futures brokers | BAPPEBTI | Not a licensed product |
| Crypto assets and financial derivatives with securities as the underlying (stock indices, foreign stocks) | OJK (transfer from BAPPEBTI began 10 Jan 2025) | Not a licensed product |
| Derivatives on money-market and foreign-exchange underlyings | Bank Indonesia (same transfer) | Not a licensed product |
| Shares and bonds on IDX | OJK | n/a |
How to check a platform before you deposit
- Ask what the product is. If you pick "up or down" and a fixed expiry and win a fixed payout, it is a binary option, and no Indonesian licence covers it. You do not need to look further.
- For anything else, find the broker on the regulator's own site: bappebti.go.id for commodity futures brokers, ojk.go.id for securities and crypto. A licence number in a Telegram screenshot proves nothing.
- Treat "use a VPN" as a red flag, not a workaround. Needing a VPN to reach a platform means it is on the block list.
- Distrust affiliate "proof". Both convicted influencers built their audiences on screenshots of winning trades, and their referral income came from their followers' losses.
The maths the affiliates skipped
A binary contract with an 80% payout needs a win rate of 1 / (1 + 0.80) = 55.6% just to break even. At 85% you need 54.1%, and at 70% you need 58.8%. Expected result per trade is p × payout − (1 − p). At 80% and a 55% win rate, each Rp100,000 trade loses on average Rp1,000. In our own tests on real forex M1 data, the best strategies reached roughly 57–61% out-of-sample and most did not beat break-even (results). The OTC markets these platforms offer behaved like coin flips (analysis). No legal platform will change those numbers, and no illegal one will either.
What is legal instead
BAPPEBTI-licensed commodity futures brokers, and equities through OJK/IDX-regulated channels. Since January 2025, crypto and securities-based derivatives are supervised by the OJK and FX derivatives by Bank Indonesia (see table above). Check the licence number on the regulator's site before depositing anywhere — that single step filters out most scams.
Where our free bot fits
Same position we take for India: use it as a learning and research tool on a demo account — read the Python code, study the 13 strategies, reproduce our backtests. That is free, legal and genuinely educational. We do not publish deposit guides for platforms your regulator has blocked.
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Open-source bot for Quotex & IQ Option (13 strategies). Edit it with ChatGPT/Claude — no coding. Free, no spam.
FAQ
Are binary options legal in Indonesia?
No. BAPPEBTI (the commodity futures regulator) has declared binary options illegal, treating them as gambling with no legal basis for consumer protection.
Which platforms were blocked?
In 2021 BAPPEBTI and the communications ministry blocked 92 binary option domains, including Binomo, IQ Option, Olymp Trade and Quotex, within a wider action against 1,222 illegal trading websites.
What is legal in Indonesia?
Commodity futures brokers licensed by BAPPEBTI, and securities trading through OJK/IDX-regulated channels. Always verify the licence number with the regulator.
Can I still use the free bot?
On a demo account, for learning, backtesting and studying the open-source code — yes. We do not encourage trading real money on platforms blocked by your regulator.
Is Quotex legal in Indonesia?
No. Quotex was among the 92 binary option domains BAPPEBTI had blocked in 2021, and Doni Salmanan, the best-known Quotex affiliate, received a final 8-year sentence after the Supreme Court rejected his appeal in August 2023.
What happened to Indra Kenz and Doni Salmanan?
Indra Kenz (Binomo) was sentenced in November 2022 by the Tangerang District Court to 10 years and a Rp5 billion fine for spreading false information and money laundering. Doni Salmanan (Quotex) got 4 years at first instance, raised to 8 years on appeal, and the Supreme Court rejected his cassation in August 2023.
Who regulates trading products in Indonesia since 2025?
BAPPEBTI keeps commodity futures. Since 10 January 2025, crypto assets and securities-based derivatives are moving to the OJK, and money-market and FX derivatives to Bank Indonesia, under Law 4/2023 and Government Regulation 49/2024. None of them licenses binary options.
Related: South Asia: India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal · Demo account guide · Why OTC is random
→ See the full country-by-country legality table
⚠️ General information, not legal advice. Binary options carry a high risk of total loss and are illegal in Indonesia per BAPPEBTI. Verify current rules with the regulator.