The Complete Newbie’s Guide to Trading Bitcoins

The world’s first official cryptocurrency – bitcoin is responsible for the ignition of the creation of myriad cryptocurrencies. Soon after the introduction of the decentralized payment system, it has started becoming popular not among the community of finance experts but also among the common people.

According to CoinMarketCap, the total value of cryptocurrencies hovering in the market is over $200 billion. Bitcoin is leading the pack in terms of market capital with an astonishing $111.95 billion, followed by Ethereum that has a market cap $22.07 billion, Ripple $11.08 billion and BCH $7.84 billion. Since the big boom in the crypto market that occurred at the end of December in 2017, the world started to talk. Many investors jumped on the bandwagon and invested their money in Bitcoin. If you want kickoff your new career and start trading Bitcoin as well but you do not know how to begin, check out this complete Bitcoin step by step guide.

Getting your first coins

There are a few ways how you can get your first Bitcoins – either from a person (if you sell them let’s say goods or services) or from a crypto exchange or from a BTC ATM. The most preferable way to get bitcoins is through a crypto exchange. Exchanges often require you to go through a verification process so they would prevent people from laundering money. In other words, you will have to provide them with a scan of your ID or of your driving license. Once the verification is completed you can deposit your desired amount in your account and immediately use your funds to purchase Bitcoin. Depending on the exchange you choose, the transfer might be either instant or take up to 5 business days. Note that every exchange does not require to verify your ID, but most of them do.

Choose the right crypto exchange for trading

There are vast amounts of crypto exchanges offering various services at certain cost. Since trading is the concern, there are certain factors you need to consider. These factors are trading fees, transaction time, security, storing facility, insurance, number of cryptocurrencies available for trading, reputation etc.. Most crypto investors and traders choose popular crypto exchanges like CoinBase, Gemini, Kraken, Binance, etc. rather than picking an unknown exchange (since they are not sure whether they can trust companies that are not very famous).

Store your Bitcoins

Storing your Bitcoins on an exchange may not always be the safest option. The risk is lower if you purchased your coins on an exchange that has insurance because they keep the majority of their assets in cold storage, and employ other best-in-class security precautions such as top-tier encryption. Most exchanges, however, do not have insurance and that is why people usually choose to store their coins on crypto wallets. Broadly speaking, there are five kinds of wallets: web (cloud), desktop, mobile, hardware, and paper. You can choose one as per your need.