One of the biggest issues that Americans face in the trading world is that we are often limited as to what we can do. This is one of the greatest paradoxes of being a Yank: coming from the "most free" place on the planet, only to find out that you don't have the freedom to take responsibility for you own actions. In other words, while our reckless cousins in the UK are having the time of their trading lives - we are stuck with 50 to 1 leverage, and not able to place trades in binary options markets.
Imagine how excited we are to find out that we have the NADEX here in America. It allows us to trade in a regulated market, in binary options even. This allows us to trade DAX, S&P 500, FTSE, and many other contracts. The payouts can be huge, and we are even allowed to trade 5 minute options. (Because we all know how important it is to hedge your positions 5 mins at a time...)
Simply put, someone somewhere (read: DC) lobbied the agencies in the US hard enough to make binary options essentially impossible for Americans to trade, unless of course you do it at the NADEX. Damn I wish I had that business model. This is kind of like that whole "carbon credit" market that Al Gore was balls-deep in. Of course, it went under - mainly because nobody gave a shit, and the regulations that were possibly forcing companies to go into the markets to "offset" their carbon emissions fell apart. (Poor Al, he could have made even more millions.)
So having said that, it's the only game in town. I would never go so far as to suggest that the NADEX is a scam, because I don't think it is. However, I think that it is a great way to lose money. This is because of the overly large spreads. Simply put, the markets aren't anywhere near liquid enough to trade. Some are better than others of course, but in the end - the spread is out of control. This is even worse when you consider that most options are of the short-term variety.
It is quite normal to see a $10 spread in gold for example, if not more. The silver markets are even worse. Try to trade natural gas, I dare you. The spread on even the short-term forex options are horrible. In other words, it is only a matter of time before you blow up if you are a small trader. In my opinion, this is simply another way for larger institutions to extract money from smaller traders.
Beyond that, the new "professional" platform is a fucking joke. Getting a fill can be a challenge, and it freezes up from time to time. (Either that, or the forex markets suddenly stop occasionally.) While I can live with this on a longer-term trade, on a short-term one - which is basically my only choice, it's a killer. The charts suck, although not quite as bad as they use to. (Zooming in and out can be an issue at times.) However, the real problem is mentioned above - the spreads. The liquidity just simply isn't there.
You are better off using the overseas brokers that don't care if you are an American.....and that's saying something coming from me.