"What are binary options? Also called ‘all-or-nothing’, ‘fixed return options’ or ‘digital options’, binary options enable you to make (or lose) money by predicting the short term movements in the price of a share, commodity, currency or index. Usually, the timeframes are short and you don’t have long to make your call – in some cases less than a minute. For example, you might put money on your guess that a share will trade above its current price in the next hour. If you guess correctly you could ‘win’ a fixed amount of money. If you guess incorrectly you would lose the money you invested." Source: https://www.fma.govt.nz/investors/ways-to-invest/binary-options/