Cookie Policy for OptionsSimulator.com. Learn what cookies we use, why we use them, and how to manage your preferences. PECR and GDPR compliant.
1. Introduction
This Cookie Policy explains how Thetix Technologies Ltd ("Company", "we", "us", or "our"), a company incorporated in England and Wales under Company Number 17113756, uses cookies and similar tracking technologies on the OptionsSimulator.com website and platform (the "Service").
This policy should be read together with our Privacy Policy, which explains how we collect, use, and protect your personal data, and our Terms of Service, which govern your use of the Service.
We comply with the UK Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003 (PECR), Regulation 6, and the EU ePrivacy Directive (2002/58/EC), which require us to obtain your consent before placing non-essential cookies on your device.
2. What Are Cookies?
Cookies are small text files that are placed on your computer, smartphone, or other device when you visit a website. They are widely used to make websites work efficiently, to remember your preferences, and to provide information to the website operator.
Cookies can be categorised in two ways:
- By duration: Session cookies are temporary and are deleted when you close your browser. Persistent cookies remain on your device for a set period or until you delete them manually.
- By origin: First-party cookies are set by the website you are visiting (OptionsSimulator.com). Third-party cookies are set by external services embedded in our website (e.g. Google Analytics, Stripe).
3. How We Use Cookies
We use cookies for the following purposes:
- Essential operation: to authenticate your session, protect against cross-site request forgery (CSRF) attacks, and process payments securely through Stripe.
- Functional preferences: to remember your user interface settings, such as your preferred language (English or Slovak).
- Analytics and improvement: to understand how visitors use the Service, which pages are most popular, and where users encounter problems, so we can improve the Service.
We do not use cookies for advertising, behavioural targeting, or the sale of personal data to third parties.
4. Cookies We Use
The following table lists the specific cookies used on OptionsSimulator.com, grouped by category:
4.1 Strictly Necessary Cookies
These cookies are essential for the Service to function. They cannot be disabled without breaking core functionality. No consent is required for strictly necessary cookies under PECR and the ePrivacy Directive.
| Cookie Name |
Provider |
Purpose |
Duration |
Type |
session_id |
OptionsSimulator.com (1st party) |
Maintains your authenticated session after login. Identifies your browser session on the server. |
Session (deleted when browser closes) |
First-party |
csrf_token |
OptionsSimulator.com (1st party) |
Protects against Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) attacks by validating that form submissions originate from our Service. |
Session |
First-party |
__stripe_mid |
Stripe (3rd party) |
Used by Stripe for payment processing and fraud prevention. Helps Stripe detect suspicious payment activity. |
1 year |
Third-party |
__stripe_sid |
Stripe (3rd party) |
Used by Stripe to maintain payment session integrity during checkout. Helps correlate browsing session with payment session. |
Session (30 minutes) |
Third-party |
4.2 Functional Cookies
These cookies enable additional features that improve your experience but are not strictly necessary for the Service to function. We request your consent before setting functional cookies.
| Cookie Name |
Provider |
Purpose |
Duration |
Type |
lang_pref |
OptionsSimulator.com (1st party) |
Stores your preferred user interface language (English or Slovak) so you do not need to select it each time you visit. |
1 year |
First-party |
4.3 Analytics Cookies
We use Google Analytics 4 (GA4) to understand how visitors interact with the Service. Analytics cookies are only set after you provide consent through our cookie banner. IP addresses are anonymised by GA4 before processing.
| Cookie Name |
Provider |
Purpose |
Duration |
Type |
_ga |
Google Analytics (3rd party) |
Distinguishes unique users by assigning a randomly generated identifier. Used to calculate visitor, session, and campaign data for site analytics reports. |
2 years |
Third-party |
_ga_<ID> |
Google Analytics (3rd party) |
Used by GA4 to maintain session state and track engagement across pages. The <ID> suffix corresponds to our GA4 measurement ID. |
2 years |
Third-party |
_gid |
Google Analytics (3rd party) |
Distinguishes unique users on a per-day basis. Used to throttle request rate for high-traffic sites. |
24 hours |
Third-party |
_gat |
Google Analytics (3rd party) |
Throttles the request rate to Google Analytics to limit data collection on high-traffic pages. |
1 minute |
Third-party |
4.4 Marketing and Advertising Cookies
We do not use marketing, advertising, retargeting, or behavioural tracking cookies on OptionsSimulator.com. No data collected through our Service is used for targeted advertising purposes.
5. Cookie Consent
When you first visit OptionsSimulator.com, you will see a cookie consent banner that allows you to accept or reject non-essential cookies (functional and analytics categories). Strictly necessary cookies do not require consent and cannot be disabled, as they are essential for the Service to function.
You can change your cookie preferences at any time by clicking the cookie settings link in the footer of any page on the Service. Your consent choices are stored and applied across subsequent visits.
If you reject analytics cookies, Google Analytics will not be loaded and no analytics data will be collected from your visit. The Service will continue to function normally without analytics cookies.
6. How to Manage Cookies in Your Browser
In addition to our cookie consent mechanism, you can control and delete cookies through your browser settings. Each browser provides different procedures for managing cookies:
- Google Chrome: Settings → Privacy and Security → Cookies and Other Site Data
- Mozilla Firefox: Settings → Privacy & Security → Cookies and Site Data
- Apple Safari: Preferences → Privacy → Manage Website Data
- Microsoft Edge: Settings → Cookies and Site Permissions → Manage and Delete Cookies and Site Data
Please note that disabling or deleting cookies may affect the functionality of the Service. If you block strictly necessary cookies, you may not be able to log in, process payments, or use certain core features.
For comprehensive information about managing cookies across different browsers, visit allaboutcookies.org.
7. Similar Technologies
In addition to cookies, the Service may use the following similar technologies:
- Local storage: we may use browser local storage (HTML5) to store non-sensitive user interface preferences and simulation settings locally on your device. Unlike cookies, local storage data is not automatically sent to the server with each request.
- Server-side session storage: your session data is stored securely on our servers and linked to your session cookie. This data is automatically deleted when your session expires.
We do not use web beacons, pixel tags, or fingerprinting technologies on the Service.
8. Third-Party Cookie Policies
Some cookies on the Service are set by third-party providers. Their use of cookies is governed by their own privacy and cookie policies:
You can also opt out of Google Analytics across all websites by installing the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on.
9. Data Collected via Cookies
The data collected through cookies on the Service may include:
- Strictly necessary cookies: session identifiers and security tokens. These do not collect personal data beyond what is needed for authentication and security.
- Functional cookies: language preference setting (EN or SK). No personal data is collected.
- Analytics cookies: anonymised IP address, browser type and version, operating system, screen resolution, pages visited, time spent on pages, referral source, and geographic location (country/city level only). Google Analytics anonymises IP addresses before storage, and we do not combine analytics data with personally identifiable information.
For full details on how we process personal data, please refer to our Privacy Policy.
10. Changes to This Cookie Policy
We may update this Cookie Policy from time to time to reflect changes in the cookies we use, changes in technology, or changes in applicable law. When we make material changes, we will update the "Last updated" date and, where appropriate, re-request your consent for non-essential cookies.
We encourage you to review this Cookie Policy periodically to stay informed about our use of cookies.
11. Contact Information
If you have any questions about our use of cookies or this Cookie Policy, please contact us:
Thetix Technologies Ltd
2 Frederick Street, Kings Cross
London WC1X 0ND, United Kingdom
Company Number: 17113756
Email: support@optionssimulator.com
Website: www.optionssimulator.com