Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have been trending lately and you are probably wondering how to invest into them so you can start making money. In this article, I will show you what I did to start trading cryptocurrencies. I will tell you at the end of this article how I was able to double my investment without any prior knowledge. Lastly, if you don’t like reading, I created a Youtube video that summarizes everything located at the bottom of the page. Disclaimer – this is not financial advice, please consult an expert before you make any investment decisions.
Remember to only invest enough money that you are willing to lose.
Step 1 – Sign up on Coinbase
The first thing I did to start trading cryptocurrencies was sign up on Coinbase. I downloaded the app on my iPhone and did all my initial investments there. Their website is a lot easier to navigate, but if you’re always on the go, the mobile app will be your best friend. All I had to do was input my bank info and purchase the currency of my choice. You will have to wait a few days for it to show up in your Coinbase account. However, if you decide to purchase with a credit card it will be instant, but the fee will be extremely high.
You can receive $10 in Bitcoin for free if you sign up through this link https://www.coinbase.com/join/59231dc587b0bf0395caea31.
The current fees for Coinbase transactions will depend on your location. You can find the fees here.
Step 2 – Switch over to Gdax
After you have received your coins in your Coinbase account, you will want to transfer them over to a new exchange . The reason why you want to switch over to a new exchange is because there are no fees on transactions as long as you do limit orders. I will explain what this means later. For now, the exchange you want to switch over to is called Gdax. Gdax is run under the same company as Coinbase, so the integration will be super simple. In addtion, Gdax allows you to see the change in prices much easier on their charts. The only difference is that it is only available on computers. Also, if you wanted to learn day trading, this would be the easiest place to learn it.
Once you have transferred all your coins into Gdax, you are able to do transactions for free using the limit option. If you are looking to buy some LTC for example, you need to input the amount you want to purchase under LTC, then you will input the price in USD that you are comfortable buying in at. The way Limit orders work is that you are placing a bid at the price you desire, and when someone decides to sell their coins at that price, it will fill your order. However, if you put a super low price that you wish to get in at and the price never drops, you will never have your order filled. For example, if the current price of Litecoin is $50 and you put a limit order at $43 USD, it would have to drop $7 before your order becomes filled. If Litecoin decides to boom to $65, then your order will remain unfilled until it drops back down.
Gdax does have transaction fees if you decide to purchase from the market tab, however, they are very micro compared to Coinbase. You can see the fees for Gdax here. Once you are comfortable with Gdax and learned a lot more about cryptocurrencies, it is time you moved to another exchange. Yes that is right! You want to move to another exchange so you will have access to hundreds of other coins that you won’t find on Gdax or Coinbase.
Step 3 – Move to Bittrex
The new exchange that I recommend switching to is Bittrex. If you are not planning on purchasing any other coins besides Bitcoin, Ethereum, or Litecoin, then you could just stay on Gdax and be fine. However, if you want to invest in some alt coins that can increase by insane %’s , then I would advise switching over.
Bittrex can be extremely confusing and overwhelming at first. I know the first time I went on it, I immediately exited out because I could not read a single thing. Also, I didn’t even know how to purchase any coins because it was so different from Gdax and Coinbase.
The first thing you wanna know is that you will need to have some Bitcoin to purchase the coins shown on Bittrex. So if you already have Bitcoin, then you are good to move forward. However, if you have ETH or LTC, you are probably wondering how do I get Bitcoin? Well, one way would be to transfer over your ETH or LTC into Bittrex by copying the address from Bittrex to Gdax or Coinbase. Then once it gets transferred over, you will want to sell your ETH or LTC to get Bitcoin. Note, you don’t have to transfer you entire portfolio into Bittrex, but you want to transfer enough to purchase the other alt coins. I recommend this way because you will already be in Bittrex at this point.
Once you get into Bittrex, it is the same as Gdax except everything will be in Bitcoin units so you have to get used to reading the charts and understanding the different prices. I would recommend you do extensive research into all the different alt coins they offer before investing because they are very volatile and could either make you or break you.
At this point, you should have enough understanding of how cryptocurrencies work and it’s all up to you to do your own research. I recommend watching plenty of YouTube videos and keeping up with crypto news to make sure you know what the best moves are for investing.
Last thing, I did say I was going to tell you how I doubled my invested in under a month without knowing a single thing about cryptocurrencies. My secret was that I had some friends who knew what they were doing and told me to invest into a specific coin and just HODL (means hold it and don’t sell) . So, I did this and they were right and I ended up doubling my investment. Also, you gotta be the first too because if I tried this technique now, it most likely wouldn’t work unless I found a very good alt coin that would sky rocket and maintain their position. Since cryptocurrencies are starting to get more attention, a lot of regulations and news are starting to happen and it can completely change the way you trade cryptos. Hopefully this article gave you a better understanding of how trading cryptocurrencies work and will help you move forward in your journey.
Also, I created a YouTube video that shows everything I stated above right here.
