The Regulation is addressed to the providers of such instruments, and not to the Belgian consumers. If a consumer has taken the initiative to contact a provider without any prior action taken by that provider, then no 'distribution in Belgium' is involved. A website without any references to Belgium and without any advertising or campaigns in Belgium (e.g. advertisements, banners, letters, phone contacts, etc.) thus does not fall within the scope of the Regulation.
The FSMA points out that offering binary options, CFDs and forex instruments via the Internet is very risky and can give the impression of fraud: anyone who invests in binary options, CFDs or forex instruments runs the risk of losing the entire sum invested. The chance of loss is much greater than the chance of gain: studies conducted by other European supervisors among investors show that at least 75% to 89% of the investments in derivative products, such as binary options or forex products, generate losses. These products are appropriate only for those who really wish to speculate, are prepared to lose the entire amount invested or even more and are familiar with derivative financial products. A considerable amount of fraud has also been detected with such instruments. In a number of cases, it was found that no actual transactions were ever carried out by the provider.