EASY Beginner’s Guide - How to buy Cryptocurrencies
Coins such as ONT, ADA, IOTA, SUB, ZIL, ELF, XRP, TRX, ETH, BTC, EOS, NEO, XLM, Ripple, Steller, Ethereum, Bitcoin etc Ripple (XRP), Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), BitShares (BTS), Litecoin (LTC), EOS, Stellar (XLM), Iota (IOTA) & other cryptocurrencies + 5 tips for getting started
Understanding the world of cryptos can seem a bit overwhelming. But guess what? You’re here, you took the first step. If you are a beginner and wondering where to start, by the end of this you will have learned the basic concepts to get the ball rolling.
First, I would like to start off by saying that I am not giving you advice on WHAT cryptocurrencies to buy, but rather HOW you can purchase them and HOW you can get started.
There are many different ways to start buying cryptocurrencies. I will talk about using Coinbase and Binance. (Don’t know what those are? Don’t worry, keep reading!)
Here, I discuss 1 way of purchasing cryptos , but keep in mind, there are many other roads to get to the same destination.
Some basics to know before getting started :
This initial set up may take a day or two (signing up, validating your account, etc).
It’s important to get started immediately as you may be missing opportunities.
A common misconception is thinking you have to buy a whole coin at a time, that is not the case. You can buy a part of a coin. The amount of money you put in will decide how much of a coin you will receive.
Now, when buying cryptos you have to realize that you are essentially buying into supporting the technology that the crypto was designed for. Like a company, each currency has a specific goal they are trying to accomplish, solving real world problems.
Fiat money, are the physical dollars we hold in the real world. When we aren’t using them, we keep them in our wallet. When we want to invest in stocks, we take money out of our wallets, and put it into Stock Exchanges like NASDAQ to buy and sell stocks.
Crypto money works in a similar way. We have virtual wallets where we take money out of and put them into Crypto Exchanges so we can exchange them for other altcoins. When you are investing in a crypto, you are saying you believe in the technology and its capabilities.
Summary of what I'll be covering
How to get started buying cryptos:
1. Sign up for Coinbase to buy Bitcoin, Ethereum, or Litecoin
2. Sign up for Binance
3. Send your coin from Coinbase to Binance.
4. On Binance, exchange your coin to whatever cryptocurrency you’d like.
5. Send your coins out of the exchange into your virtual wallet.
Step by Step Instructions - How to get started buying cryptos
Ready to buy? Let’s go!
If you sign up through the link, and initiate a buy or sell of $100 USD or more we both receive $10!
Once you have signed up, you must;
Verify your email
Verify your account
Upload a License or ID card
Attach a credit card or bank account
Coinbase is a basic exchange platform. From here you can directly purchase 3 of the most popular cryptos: Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Litecoin instantly.
It’s important to realize that many cryptos cannot be bought with direct USD, instead you have to change to one of the main cryptos first (Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin) and then exchange that for whatever crypto you please.
If you would like to purchase other cryptos, I suggest you buy Litecoin, due to the tiny transaction fee when transfer your coins out.
When I first bought $50 worth of Bitcoin, and wanted to send it from Coinbase to another exchange platform, I decided to only send $25 worth, and was hit with a $13 fee!
However, if I would have bought Litecoin first, then transferred, the transaction fee would have been a few pennies. Huge savings!
After confirming your email, log in.
Binance is another exchange platform like Coinbase, however from here you are able to trade multiple types of cryptos vs only 3.
*Optional Step When you first login it will ask you to enable 2FA (2 Factor Authorization) You can skip this by pressing “skip now” If you would like to enable it, you have to download “Google Authenticator” from the app store. From that app, you must scan the QR code given to you (or type it in) Once completed, you will be given a 6 digit code. This code updates every 30 seconds. When logging in, you have to use this code along with your password. This ensures that if someone does manage to steal your password, they won’t be able to get the random 6 digit code. Just an extra security factor.
[3] Getting ready to buy cryptos
What we are about to do is send Litecoins from the Coinbase Exchange to the Binance Exchange.
At the top of your browser in Binance, you will see “Funds”. Click “Funds” then “Deposit Withdrawals”.
In the top left of your screen, you should be able to search. Type “LTC” and you will be given 1 option. Then select “deposit” all the way on the right.
A “LTC Deposit Address” will show up and give you a code. This code is the address of your exchange wallet, which you need in order to send money to it.
Notice the Coinbase fee to purchase and remember there is still a transfer fee (which we have reduced significantly by buying LTC) . Although this is the quickest way to get started, you can avoid purchase fees and transfer fees all together. Check out this link for more info.
Then access your LTC wallet. Click accounts at the top of the page, then select your LTC wallet.
Enter the “LTC Deposit Address” you received from Binance, the amount you wish to send, and send it.
Give it sometime to process, you may not see the funds in your Binance Exchange wallet immediately. It may take 10 minutes, or a few hours, all depending on how busy the network is. Once it is deposited, it will reflect it in your Binance account in “Funds -> Deposit Withdrawals”. To see the status of the deposit, select “Funds -> History”.
Boom! You are all set to start exchanging your LTC for other cryptos!
For a complete list of cryptos you can purchase on Binance, visit this link.
These include Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Litecoin (LTC), Ontology (ONT), Substratum (SUB), Zilliqa (ZIL), BitShares (BTS), EOS, Ripple (XRP), Stellar (XLM), Iota (IOTA), Cardono (ADA) and many other cryptocurrencies.
On the top left select “Exchange” then “Basic” It may seem overwhelming when the Exchange first pops up, but trust me it’s easy to navigate once you get the hang of it.
On the right side of the screen, you will see a box that says “Favorites BTC ETH BNB USDT” at the top. Select “ETH”, then in the search section underneath it, type “LTC” and you will see the LTC/ETH pair. Select the pair and a new graph will load.
Underneath the graph you will see a box with 3 options; Limit, Market, Stop Limit.
Select Market. This will sell your LTC’s at the market value for ETH at the current time.
Using the Limit or Stop-Limit options, you can set the price you would like to buy or sell at and if it hits that number it will go through. I will not go more in depth with those options, rather just show you how to buy immediately.
Now from here you can either buy or sell. We want to exchange or “sell”, 100% of our LTC’s for ETH. The reason we do this is because in order to buy other cryptos, we need to have ETH (Ethereum), BTC (Bitcoin), BNB (Binance Coin), or USDT (Tether). So in the “sell” region, click 100% then press “Sell LTC”. The order will immediately go through, and to double check, you can go back to “Funds -> Deposit Withdrawals”.
Now, once you have ETH, go back to the box on the right that says “Favorites BTC ETH BNB USDT” at the top. Make sure ETH is selected, then find the crypto pair you would like to exchange to.
For this example I will use XRP (Ripple).
Go back to the 3 options under the graph (Limit, Market, Stop-Limit) and select market. From there you can type in the amount of XRP you would like to purchase, or select the “25% , 50%, 75%, 100%” options to purchase XRP. If I wanted to use 25% of my total ETH to buy XRP, I would click 25% and it will automagically tell you how much you will receive. Click “Buy XRP”.
Congrats! You are the new owner of the Ripple coin!!
Repeat this process, with any other coin you would like!
To check your funds, or to see how much you have in each of the cryptos just go back up to the top and select “Funds -> Deposit withdrawals”
[5] Storing your Cryptos
You must understand that exchanges are not a place you want to keep your cryptos unless you are trading constantly and need them in there. The reason is in case the Exchange gets hacked, by storing your coins offline, you will not lose them. The exchange wallet is not where you want to keep your cryptos, I REPEAT, it is NOT where you want to keep your cryptos for the long haul.
Instead you need to download a desktop virtual wallet for the specific currency or even better store it offline. If I wanted to store my XRP in a virtual wallet, by a google search I would type in "Ripple Virtual Wallet" and come up with this link.
From there I would download the wallet, set it up, and in the same way I sent crypto from 1 exchange to another, I would do the same but instead send it from the Binance Exchange to my virtual wallet.
Once my Ripple wallet is set up, I would go to Binance -> Funds ->> Deposit Withdrawals, Find XRP (Ripple) and click “Withdrawal”. In my Ripple Wallet, I would be assigned an address that I would copy and paste into Binance in the Address section. The “label” entry box can be whatever I want it to be, and is meant to help you keep track of your transactions. For this example, I will call it “My first crypto”. I would then send it to my wallet.
When downloading your virtual wallet, make sure you google search and find the most trusted virtual wallet for that coin. Also, be aware that your computer might see it as a virus if you have a virus protector, which is a False Positive, and you will need to allow it from your virus protector settings.
BAM you are done!
To keep cryptos offline completely I would recommend the Ledger Nano. The nice thing about the ledger is that I can store a bunch of cryptos in 1 place, check out their website for a complete listing.
Deciding on what crypto you want to invest in and don’t know where to start?
Like any investment, there will always be risk. I know this may sound crazy, but you have to use your brain when deciding! Look at different factors that could show long term growth like;
Does it solve a problem in the real world?
Is the technology behind it doing something innovative?
Who are the people running the projects and what are their qualifications?
What kind of milestones have they reached and how has that effected there value?
If you are serious about investing in a coin, and have all those answered, you should learn the basics of reading trends on charts and making technical decision based on data.
It is important to pay attention to what’s happening in the real world with the currency, and not solely depend on reading charts and technical analysis methods to place your bets.
Cryptos are volatile!
The data might project one thing and the coin could go in the complete opposite direction. There are many other factors that can show promise, but at least these will get you started going in the right direction.
Once you gather all of this information, YOU have to make a decision. Taking all of these factors into account, you have to make a judgement on whether you believe your investment has potential.
