Tips on Buying your first bit of Bitcoin or Alt Coins

Buying your first bit of Bitcoin (BTC), LiteCoin (LTC), Ethereum (ETH), Ripple (XRP), or any of the vast number of coins can be overwhelming. The purpose of this article is to help ease that feeling and share many of the tips I have learned over the last few months. ***Disclaimer, this is not investment advice, strategy advice, or recommendations of which cryptos to buy, that is entirely up to you. Do your own research and due diligence, I am no financial adviser or asset manager. I am just like you and sharing my experience and what I have learned through hours if not days of independent research.

First, there are some terms you should familiarize yourself with, especially if you will be hanging around any crypto message boards or forums:

  • ATH = All time high
  • HOD = High of the day
  • HODL = Hold on for dear life
  • CB = Coinbase
  • Fiat = Government issued money (USD)
  • USD = US Dollar
  • Whale = Very large investor
  • Long = Long term holder holding for value
  • Short = Short term holder hoping for a spike up to sell and a drop to buyback
  • Bear = Someone expecting the price to drop
  • Bull = Someone expecting the price to rise
  • FOMO = Fear of Missing out
  • FUD = Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt. Normally associated with untrue rumor to cause price to drop.
  • Fork = a change to the coding of a coin
  • Hard Fork = Change that normally spawns a new recording block and subsequently a new coin.
  • BTC = Bitcoin
  • Alt Coins: (coins other than the original Bitcoin)
    • BCH = Bitcoin Cash
    • BCG Bitcoin Gold
    • ETH = Ethereum
    • ETC = Ethereum Classic
    • LTC = LiteCoin
    • XRP = Ripple
    • There are many more, these are some of the most popular examples.

There is much more terminology, but this will get you started. You will see me use several of this abbreviation in this blog.

Creating an account to convert Fiat

So you have some cash and need to convert your Fiat into coinage…..How to do this??? First, be ready for this to possibly take several days to happen. Once you decide on a Fiat exchange that will allow you to transfer your cash into a crypto coin, you will have to go through the signup process and verification of banking account or credit card. For some this may only take a few hours, in my case it took about three days. For newcomers to this, Coinbase is one of the best and easiest means to do so. There may be others available in and out of the USA, but this is the one I am familiar with.

To begin with, you will have to create a Coinbase account, by providing your name, address, and basic information. You will need to download a two factor (2F) authentication app onto your mobile phone or device such as Google Authenticator (all exchanges require 2F authentication.

  • Do not misplace the seed code provided when setting this up. It is important if you ever lose your phone or replace it.
  • Also, place this in a very safe location, you do not want anyone else to have access to it that you do not completely trust!

Once you have completed the signup process, you will need to link a bank account for your Fiat transfers or link a credit card. You will have limits placed on your account until you have made a few transactions, verified your ID, and requested an increase.

When linking a bank account, you will need:

  • Bank Name
  • Routing Number
  • Account Number
  • Online access to your accounts

Once this information is entered into Coinbase two small deposits will be made into your account. You will have to log back in and verify the amounts deposited.

For credit cards, you will be required to enter the card information and verify the two small transactions applied (they are very nominal). Again being able to access your credit card information to verify these charges is necessary.

Buying on Coinbase

Once you have created an account and had your bank account or credit card verified you can buy up to the allowed weekly maximum. This updates on regular basis. Congratulations, you can now buy BTC, LTC, ETH, BCH, and soon hopefully XRP!

You do have a few options now. You can move Fiat to a USD or local fiat wallet, to wait for the right time to buy, or you can select “Purchase” and the coin of you choosing. This will show you the Fiat rate and amount of coin to buy. There are fees associated with a buy, I believe 1% for bank transfer and 3% for credit card.

Coinbase like all exchanges provides you with a digital wallet with a send and receive address and an option for a cold storage vault. Most people do recommend you store large amounts or crypto you plan to hold in a offline or paper wallet. You can Google more about those. Also, check out the Edge Wallet .

So, you have played a bit on Coinbase and want to get in there with other folks on some other hot Alt Coins. My preference for this is the Binance exchange. Looking at any exchange like this can be a new and stressful situation. Switching from Coinbase, is not as difficult as it appears at first, so don’t let it rattle you to much. Just be sure you proceed with some caution and make sure you do the right things for what you want to accomplish. The most stressful thing in moving your coinage from Coinbase to Binance is the first time you send coins. ***Note Coinbase and other exchanges do charge a fee for sending coinage. The fees are typically less for ETH and LTC.

So first things first, go to Binance and start a new account. You can do this without validation and be able to withdraw up to 2 BTC per week. This is more than sufficient for most people. I have done the validation and it took around 24 hours. I don’t think most do this, and it is really unnecessary unless you plan on dealing with large amounts of BTC. You can set this up in about 20 minutes. Again, basic information, and remember that Google 2F authentication? You need that here also to help secure your account and online wallets. Again, when setting that up, do not loose that seed number! Put it away in a safe place, safe, safe deposit box or away from other eyes.

So now you have set up a Binance  account, what next??? Some people will tell you to go to GDAX which is affiliated with Coinbase and move your crypto there, then transfer to Binance.  I found it simpler and safer to only transfer mine once instead of twice.  I will say, it is cheaper to send LTC and ETH than BTC right now.

  • So open your Receive wallet on Binance and copy the address or use the QR code.
  • Make sure you open the proper one on Binance, if you send coin to the wrong wallet it may be gone!
  • Also, only send BTC to a BTC wallet address, same for any other coin.
  • Next open your send wallet address on Coinbase.
  • Paste in your Binance BTC receive wallet address or use the QR scanner on your phone. Do not type this in as it is easy to make an error. Copy and Paste or use QR Scanner.
  • Double check the send to and receive address and if correct.
  • Let er rip and hit the send button.

This process can take a bit of time. You will get an email from Coinbase saying that you sent your BTC, LTC, or ETH. You can also track your funds on the Binance Funds history tab.

Once it is there, you can hit the Exchange tab and look up which you want to use. I have linked the top three YouTube videos by searching Coinbase to Binance (these are not mine, and I can’t validate their accuracy) for your convenience. Please do additional research before proceeding.

I hope this information was helpful and did not send you into overload! If so, please follow the Coinbase and Binance links provided for the refer a friend program. With Coinbase we can both receive $10 worth of BTC after your first $100 transaction, and Binance allows referrers to get a small portion of the commission through their program.

Binance Referral Program

Coinbase Referral Program

3 thoughts on “Tips on Buying your first bit of Bitcoin or Alt Coins”

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