I still remember the day I wanted to invest in cryptocurrency and had to google it and go through pretty complex articles to understand it. Misinformation and confusing terms almost had me. When I first read “HODL” I was thinking it was a misspell of Hold – if you’re also confused, let me guide you through. Believe me, it is a lot easier than you think.
I have divided this article into two main parts:
- Before Investing:
In this part, we will try to understand cryptocurrencies and answer the most important questions.
- Buying:
In this part, we’ll learn to buy a cryptocurrency and discuss when and how to buy and sell it
Before Investing:
- Introduction
In this article I’ll be taking you through easy steps to help you buy your first crypto coin… token …. Coin or Token?? Let’s start by understanding this difference. To understand this, you’ll first need to understand what is blockchain. Blockchain basically is a digital ledger that records immutable or temper-free transactions to help track the assets. A cryptocurrency coin has its own blockchain like Bitcoin and Ethereum and the famous Dogecoin. Tokens operate on other blockchains. You must have heard about Shiba Inu. Shiba Inu is not a coin but a token as it uses the Ethereum blockchain to operate.
Coming to the “HODL” part that bothered me when I was starting, the word breaks into Hold On for Dear Life. Cryptocurrencies are nefariously volatile which means the market can move even 50% on either side in a matter of seconds. If the market movement is not in your favor, you need to hold your assets until the dust settles and the market stabilizes. The term HODL is used to ask people to hold their assets and not sell in fear.
A similar term FOMO is used to discourage people from buying a coin or token when the price of the assets has already spiked. FOMO breaks into Fear Of Missing Out. You hear your friend talking about a guy who made some good bucks from a coin so he’s also buying it because he feels like missing the opportunity already – that’s FOMO. When it comes to buying a crypto asset there are certain entry and exit points which I’ll be discussing in the next part. Wait… Did some FOMO send you here? Don’t listen to it because in the very next video you’ll be learning how to pick a coin to buy. Definitely, your FOMO can’t decide it… (you can).
- Fundamental and Technical Analysis:
Choosing the right crypto to trade or invest in is very important, you can end up buying a scam or Rug pull project otherwise. If you are not aware of what is a rug pull you read our detailed article here about Rug Pull. This article also covers how to do fundamental analysis.
The fundamental analysis actually is the in-depth study of a coin to know if it’s worth buying or not. Reading whitepaper, checking tokenomics and several other things can help us check the authenticity. The next part is doing the price analysis with the help of historical data to predict the future price. We have covered Technical Analysis in detail in this article.
- Choosing the Platform:
Choosing the right exchange to buy cryptocurrency is very important and you should keep the following points in mind:
- The exchange should have a user-friendly interface with the necessary tools available. When you’re a beginner too many options and a complex interface can be problematic.
- The next thing might want to focus on is the trading fee. The lower the fees the better it is. Binance has minimum fees if you’re wondering.
- KYC or Know Your Customer is the feature that allows exchanges to collect user information to provide the services and adhere to the local laws. Crypto buyers should trust the exchanges that implement KYC.
We have covered a detailed article that compares the top exchanges in 2022. You can read that here.
Buying Cryptocurrencies:
Buying Cryptocurrencies has a different approach. One way is to buy from Cryptocurrency wallets and the other is to open an account on an exchange and buy from there. In this article we’ll be focusing on the second approach, Buying from Cryptocurrency Exchange Binance. Binance has a user-friendly interface and it offers huge trading options with the lowest possible fees as given:
TRANSACTION | BINANCE FEE |
Buy/Sell with Bank Account | 0.10% |
Buy/Sell with Wallet | 0.10% |
Buy/Sell with Credit/Debit Card | 1.10%–2.10% |
Instant Card Withdrawal | N/A |
Wire Transfer (USD) | Free |
Exchange Crypto | 0.10% |
ACH (USD) | Free |
- Making Account:
To open an individual account on Binance, follow the following easy steps:
- Go to Binance Signup Click “Create Personal Account” and choose your country or region.
- Enter your Email and password and agree to the terms and conditions. Choose a strong password and don’t forget to make a copy of it.
- You’ll receive a confirmation email with an OTP (One Time Password). Enter it to verify your account.
- Always remember to add 2FA (2 Factor Authentication) for added account security. Even if your password is stolen 2FA provides an additional layer of security to your account. You can add your phone number or Use Google Authenticator for the purpose.
- After phone verification, you’ll be redirected to the Binance trading page.
2. Transferring funds:
- Now that you have signed in, click from the top left tab on Buy Crypto and choose the deposit option.
- Binance Offers a number of options to buy cryptocurrencies and you can choose whichever suits you.
- For the sake of this example let’s just choose a credit or a debit card.
- You can directly buy the cryptocurrency at the market price or buy stable coins to trade them for your favorite coin at a relatively lower price.
We will cover in detail how to manage your portfolio, how to place limited orders, and use stop loss and will try to understand risk management in our next article.
Concluding Note:
Cryptocurrencies involve high risks and the risk factor is higher when you are just a newbie. Try to understand the market, learn the important terms and techniques and then experiment with a small amount. Cryptocurrency trade is a test of your greed and fear and if you can overcome these two factors you’re more likely to succeed in this arena.
Happy Trading!