Short answer
No. Binary options, including apps like Quotex, are gambling. You stake money on whether a price will be above or below a level after a set time; if you are right you win a fixed payout, if wrong you lose your stake. Nothing is bought or owned, so it is maysir, which the Quran forbids.
Binary options are qimar and haram: money is staked on an outcome, one side gains exactly what the other loses, and no asset changes hands. Money won should be returned to the party it came from where possible, otherwise given to the poor without hope of reward.
The four schools agree on this.
Explanation
A binary option asks one yes-or-no question: will EUR/USD, gold or Bitcoin be higher than this level in 60 seconds, 5 minutes or an hour? You put in, say, $10. If you are right, you get back your $10 plus a fixed payout, often 80 to 90%. If you are wrong, you lose the $10.
Ibn Abidin defines qimar as a deal in which each side may lose his money to the other or win the other's money. That is exactly what happens here:
- You own no currency, share or commodity at any point.
- Your gain is the platform's loss and your loss is its gain.
- The result depends on a short price move you cannot control.
The apps call it trading, but changing the name does not change the ruling. The Quran calls gambling "defilement from the work of Satan" (5:90) and says its harm is greater than its benefit (2:219). Many binary options platforms are also unregulated and have been linked to fraud, so people lose money even when they "win".
Demo accounts with fake money raise the questions in Is it haram to gamble with fake money? For trading that can be halal, see Is day trading halal? If you have made money from binary options, stop, repent, and treat the winnings as in What should I do with haram money?
The evidence
Quran, Surah Al-Maaida 5:90
يَٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوٓا۟ إِنَّمَا ٱلْخَمْرُ وَٱلْمَيْسِرُ وَٱلْأَنصَابُ وَٱلْأَزْلَٰمُ رِجْسٌۭ مِّنْ عَمَلِ ٱلشَّيْطَٰنِ فَٱجْتَنِبُوهُ لَعَلَّكُمْ تُفْلِحُونَ ﴿٩٠﴾
O you who have believed, indeed, intoxicants, gambling, [sacrificing on] stone alters [to other than Allah], and divining arrows are but defilement from the work of Satan, so avoid it that you may be successful.
Staking money on an outcome is the gambling the Quran forbids.
Quran, Surah Al-Baqara 2:219
۞ يَسْـَٔلُونَكَ عَنِ ٱلْخَمْرِ وَٱلْمَيْسِرِ ۖ قُلْ فِيهِمَآ إِثْمٌۭ كَبِيرٌۭ وَمَنَٰفِعُ لِلنَّاسِ وَإِثْمُهُمَآ أَكْبَرُ مِن نَّفْعِهِمَا ۗ وَيَسْـَٔلُونَكَ مَاذَا يُنفِقُونَ قُلِ ٱلْعَفْوَ ۗ كَذَٰلِكَ يُبَيِّنُ ٱللَّهُ لَكُمُ ٱلْءَايَٰتِ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَتَفَكَّرُونَ ﴿٢١٩﴾
They ask you about wine and gambling. Say, "In them is great sin and [yet, some] benefit for people. But their sin is greater than their benefit." And they ask you what they should spend. Say, "The excess [beyond needs]." Thus Allah makes clear to you the verses [of revelation] that you might give thought.
Any apparent gain does not outweigh the sin.
Sahih Muslim 1513
Sahih... عن بيع الحصاة وعن بيع الغرر ...
"He forbade the pebble sale and the sale involving gharar."
Deals that turn on chance, with nothing real exchanged, are forbidden.
Where the ruling is recorded
- Radd al-Muhtar (Ibn Abidin), Kitab al-Hazr wa al-Ibaha, chapter on contests (al-istibaq). Defines qimar as a deal where each side may lose his money to the other or take the other's.
Checked by our team. For a more accurate answer to your own situation, consult a scholar. Quran translation by Sahih International. Hadith Arabic from the standard editions of the six books and the Muwatta, with gradings as recorded there; the English is our own rendering. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.