Yes, you may close positions before expiration, but the spread on the contracts can be troublesome. Depending on what you're trading the binary options on, the spread can be anywhere from $5 to $10, on a contract that is worth a max of $100. For example, say I want to buy the EUR/JPY 7AM, 128.40 binary. The spread is currently at 60.50 x 69.50. So if I buy it at 69.50, it would have to move several pips on the base pair before I would be able to sell for even money. So it isn't the easiest thing to do, making money before it expires, but you do have the ability to close out of a position before expiration, if you want to.
The S&P 500 futures tend to have better spreads of about $5, and can be quite profitable to trade on a flat trading day. The last 10 minutes with the hourly expiration available during market hours, if you see the futures right between 2 of the strike prices (2 points between them on the hourly stuff), you can buy (or sell) the nearest ITM and OTM contracts for $20-30 potential profit, and usually it works out. Likewise, after a big drop, if you expect a bounce in the next few minutes, the strike just a little out of the money (less than 2 points), can be extremely cheap, like yesterday with the 1PM, 1540.3 strike. I bought a contract at 12:51PM when the futures were down around 1539, for $13.50, and sold a minute later at $71.5.
It all depends on your risk tolerance, how you choose to trade there, but more often than not, with a near-expiration, slightly ITM or OTM strike, I've managed a double in 3-4 hours before I end up being foolish and lose it all going all-in on something.
AI
