In the world of crypto, there’s a lot to learn. And we’re not just talking about blockchain technology and how it works—we’re talking about how to make money from cryptocurrencies themselves.
If you’ve been researching the world of cryptocurrencies for a while but haven’t yet made much money, don’t worry: you can get started on this lucrative hobby today! Just follow these nine simple steps for getting started trading and making money on cryptocurrencies—you’ll be an expert in no time at all.
Investigate the Market
Before you start investing, you need to do your research. This means looking into each of the major components of cryptocurrency: coins, exchanges, and wallets.
Research different coins. There are thousands of different cryptocurrencies out there, each offering its own unique features. The best way to learn about them is by researching their market caps (how much they’re worth), total supply, and circulating supply (how many people actually own them). You can find this information on CoinMarketCap or CryptoCompare—two websites that list all available cryptocurrencies in a clear and easy-to-read fashion.
Also, research different exchanges. Cryptocurrencies can be bought and sold on two types of exchanges: centralized or decentralized exchanges. Centralized exchanges are run by companies like Coinbase, whereas decentralized ones are peer-to-peer platforms where users deal directly with each other rather than through an intermediary company (in other words, they’re not controlled by anyone).
Decentralized exchanges also tend to have lower fees than centralized ones because they don’t incur as many overhead costs due to their lack of central management structure..
Open an Account With a Crypto Exchange
Crypto exchanges (AKA cryptocurrency markets) are online platforms where you can buy, sell and trade cryptocurrencies. In order to get started trading in crypto, you will need to sign up for an account with a reputable exchange that allows you to do so.
Once you have registered with an exchange and transferred some funds into your new account, you can begin buying and selling coins on it. You may also want to use the same platform as your wallet (where you store your currency), but this is not necessary—you could use two different platforms for these purposes if desired.
Many different exchanges are available today, each offering different features such as user-friendly interfaces or low fees versus higher security measures such as 2FA authentication codes.
Find a Good Wallet
You’re heading in the right direction if you want to start investing in crypto. Your first step is picking a good wallet to store your coins.
A good wallet will allow you to send and receive funds, keep your coins safe, and access them easily when it comes time to spend them.
There are many different types of wallets available—desktop, mobile, hardware—but we recommend using one that supports multiple currencies so that as new coins come onto the market (and old ones go out), you won’t be left behind. It should also be easy to use and easy to manage for beginners who aren’t tech-savvy yet but want something secure enough for long-term use.
Make Your First Trade
Buying your first cryptocurrency is the most important part of beginning your crypto journey. You can’t start trading or investing until you have some coins in your wallet, so getting this step right is important.
To buy cryptocurrency, you need an exchange account with a supported coin and an account with a payment method that they accept (such as PayPal or credit card). This can be done through many websites — we recommend Coinbase or Gemini for beginners because they are reputable exchanges with simple interfaces.
Once you have set up an account on one of these exchanges, go ahead and purchase some coins! If you want to trade immediately after buying them, then simply make sure that there is enough in your balance for the number of trades you plan to make each day.
Start Trading Altcoins
Once you’ve bought some bitcoin and Litecoin, it’s time to start trading altcoins. You can trade altcoins on an exchange like Bittrex or Poloniex.
To buy or sell tokens, you’ll need to create an account at one of these exchanges and link your bank account (or credit card). Then you can use the exchange wallet to store your funds—and there are plenty of options for different kinds of coins: Ripple (XRP), Stellar Lumens (XLM), Cardano (ADA)—the list goes on! If you want to learn more about which crypto projects hold promise as investments in 2019 after reading this article, check out our guide, “The Best Altcoins.”
You’ll also need a way to keep track of all those transactions with minimal effort. While writing up each transaction manually isn’t ideal, tools like CoinTracking allow you to track trades automatically by importing data from exchanges into Excel spreadsheets, where they’re easier to manage than spreadsheets created directly through the sites’ interfaces themselves.
Be Careful How You Research the Market and Store Your Coins!
When you’re trying to find ways to learn about the market and start making money with crypto, it can be tempting to read the news and buy coins that are getting a lot of attention.
But don’t just go by what other people are saying — make sure you do your own research! There are lots of scams out there (especially in this unregulated space), so make sure that you don’t fall prey to them. And be careful how you store your coins! If someone hacks into an exchange where they hold all their coins, they could lose everything they invested in.
That’s why it’s important not only not just keep them on the exchanges themselves (#2). But also make sure that if you go off-exchange, then back up any data securely (like in Google Drive) so if anything goes wrong with one computer/phone/tablet, etc., then there will still be some way for us to recover our assets from somewhere else
Use Your Coins to Buy Something of Value
If you’ve made it this far and are still interested in buying cryptocurrency, we recommend you consider these next steps.
Buy something that has value. This could be a piece of art or a collectible. If it’s currently worth $100 and grows to $200 in 5 years, then your investment will be worth $100 plus the amount it increased in value ($20).
Think about what you can use it for. For example, you buy a bottle of wine and store it away until its value increases over time (like the stock market). Your bottle of wine will have no practical use besides being sold at auction when its value reaches an appropriate level.
There are many things out there which might increase in value but aren’t really useful–think diamonds! These types of items are often referred to as “asset-based investments.” However, if you buy milk or bread (which have limited shelf lives), they’re more likely to become “income-producing assets.” When people start making money from their cryptocurrency profits–you might want one too!
Learn From Other Investors
Learning from other investors is one of the best ways to learn about crypto. There are thousands of blogs, tweets, books, articles, and podcasts out there that can help you get started investing in the crypto space and help you learn how to grow your portfolio.
If you don’t know where to start learning from other investors, here are some great resources:
- The Bitcoin Podcast with Andreas Antonopoulos – This podcast features interviews with industry leaders and experts on blockchain technology
- The Bad Crypto Podcast – Michael Oved (one half of the team behind CRYPTO20) hosts this show that covers everything related to cryptocurrency
- YouTube channel – Crypt0’s youtube channel has over 500 videos covering everything from beginner topics like “What is Bitcoin?” all the way up to more advanced topics like “Understanding ICOs.”
Grab Some Free Cryptos
We’ve covered a few ways to get started with cryptocurrency, but the easiest way is to grab some free coins by joining airdrops and mining pools. Airdrop sites are places where you can sign up for free and get airdropped crypto in return for doing tasks on their site or following them on social media. Mining pools are groups of people who pool their resources together so that they can mine more efficiently than if they were solo-mining. Each individual would be able to do it alone.
You can also find numerous tutorials online about setting up your own mining rig at home or joining one of these pools if you prefer not to deal with all the technical details yourself (though it’s fun!).
Conclusion
If you’re looking to get started with crypto trading, these 9 steps will help you make the most money possible in this exciting new space. We hope they will also help you avoid costly mistakes.
