Over the past 3 years, I have invested a large amount of time and money into the crypto world. Along the way mistakes have been made and inevitably you end up paying for your “education”. I'm going to share some personal advice, for anyone who is new and entering the market.
The first thing I suggest, is buying a hardware wallet to safely store your cryptocurrency. Hardware wallets are also called “cold storage wallets”. It's basically a device (usually looks like a USB stick), that you connect to your computer to send and receive crypto's. I personally use a Ledger Nano S, which today costs around $70. Ledger have also released a newer version called the Nano X which would definitely be worth looking at. If you decide to purchase one, go through there official website and make sure the product has not been tampered with. Other than the Ledger range, I have heard Trezor hardware wallets are ok as well. Be very cautious about any other products that are available, hackers and scammers are everywhere.
Now i'm guessing you want to buy some Bitcoin. The majority of folks go through a company called Coinbase. Highly trusted, very professional. They sell other cryptocurrencies as well, such as Ethereum, Litecoin, XRP and many others. They require you to register and do a “Know Your Customer” check. This usually is confirmed in 48 hours and then your good to go. You deposit dollars, euros or pounds to your Coinbase account and then simply buy the cryptocurrency you desire. On your Coinbase account, you have your own secure wallets where they are held. Ideally you want to send them to your own hardware wallet where they are completely secure from everyone.
Coinbase hand picks which cryptocurrencies it wants to offer. Which to date, is roughly around 20 different ones. But what about if you want one that's not being offered, such as Neo, Tron, Cardano etc? Well, they are offered on cryptocurrency Exchanges. The best and most widely accepted Exchange currently, I believe is Binance. For large amounts traded, again requires you to do the KYC process. In the long term, its worth it. Binance are always expanding, adding new coins, looking after there customers and have built a very respectful reputation for themselves. Again though, you want to remove your coins from the platform and send them to your secure wallet.
The simple truth is, companies get hacked or shutdown all the time. The last thing you want, is to lose what is yours.
Storing cryptocurrencies securely, CHECK. Where to buy them from, CHECK.
Keeping up to date with the price action, I use a website called “Coinmarketcap”. They list every single crypto that has been officially released. By default, in order of the coins market capitalisation . Example, 1.Bitcoin, 2.Ethereum, 3.XRP. You want to spend some time exploring the site and researching on what you intend to invest in. Clicking on the name of the coin will give you in depth information such as previous prices, history, charts, volume, the maximum supply and so on. A common mistake amongst new investors is believing certain cryptocurrencies can reach values such as Bitcoins $11,000 a coin. They can't, based on “token metrics”. I'll explain. Total supply of Bitcoins is 21 million. The current circulating supply is 17,858,862 Bitcoins. If you multiply the amount of coins by the current price of $11,700 you end up with the market capitalisation price which $209.3 billion. Now lets look at the XRP coin. The total supply of coins is 100 billion, not 21 million like Bitcoin. This is why XRP is trading at $0.32. Do not think it will be worth $11,000 one day, because that would mean XRP as a whole would be worth $110 trillion.
I find one of the most reliable “influencers” on Youtube, is the “Crypto Zombie” channel. The guy known as Kdub, releases a video practically every day. Keeping his viewers updated on what's happened in the crypto news. He also carries out interviews with founders of new crypto companies. He also does step by step tutorials, on how to use platforms like Binance or devices such as the Ledger nano. For TA (Technical Analysis) I would check out a channel called “Krown's crypto cave”. Again, he releases regular videos on trades that he's made and a good in sight on how to trade in general.
Let's be clear, investing and trading are two completely different things. Ok so you buy an asset say for $1, keep it a year and then sell it for $2. Yes you have traded money for an asset and then traded it back for money. Technically you have invested and traded. But this is not trading trading. I don't recommend it at all, but a real trader could of turned that $1 into $100 by using 100X leverage. Trading platforms such as ByBit allow you to trade with 100 times more than what you own. So what's the catch? There's a liquidation margin and if the price goes the wrong way, you lose everything you own. You can make / lose money shorting or longing. Shorting is when you believe the price will go down and if it does, you can make money that way. 100X leverage is extreme, its practically gambling, a gimmick for the platform, even professional traders would stay clear. Personally I feel comfortable at 10X but you can just stay at 1X. Why use a trading platform if you only plan on using 1X leverage? Mainly because trading platforms allow you to short, but also because of all the trading tools you can use. You really need to learn and study hard before even contemplating about placing your first trade. Most don't bother and are happy just holding there cryptocurrencies until the price rises drastically. If you do decide to trade however, I recommend ByBit.
So the key companies I recommend are Ledger, Coinbase and Binance. Currently ByBit if your interested in trading.
Best place for additional information, Coinmarketcap, Youtuber's such as Crypto Zombie and Krowns Crypto Cave. You will pick up other resource outlets over time.
Be smart and be safe.
Congratulations @vypzilla! You have completed the following achievement on the Steem blockchain and have been rewarded with new badge(s) :
You can view your badges on your Steem Board and compare to others on the Steem Ranking
If you no longer want to receive notifications, reply to this comment with the word
STOPVote for @Steemitboard as a witness to get one more award and increased upvotes!