With that said, please do your research... Go and google terms like 'blockchain', 'hard fork', and 'proof of work'. Document their definitions and as you gain experience in crypto, go back and update the definitions with your own words. (You'll be amazed of how little your understanding was when you first wrote down these definitions)
Look, it's a #cryptopicnic ↴
Start with coinmarketcap.com (I refer to this site at least 25 times a day). The first page ranks all the currencies and provides the name, price, % change in past 24 hours, etc. Please spend some time to get familiar with the site. For our example, if you click on 'Ethereum', you will be taken to a page with more Ethereum details:
Links on the left are research sites - crypto's website, forums, announcements, etc. (Take the time to check out these links. Your goal is to understand a crypto's technology and it's intended purpose before investing in it).
Scrolling down, the tabs in the middle displays:
- Charts: market cap and price (you can adjust the date ranges)
- Markets: what exchanges you can use to obtain this particular crypto, pair (what currency is needed to exchange for this crypto), volume, price
* We will dive deeper into the 'Markets' tab later in this post*
- Social: recent tweets and popular reddit posts
- Tools: website widget
- Historical data
For your crypto research, I highly recommend you to research and track a few cryptos, join an online community (forums, reddit, etc), and create a crypto group with your close friends.
Once your life is consumed by crypto research, you are ready to invest!
(almost)
Like all investments, never invest money that you can't afford to lose.
So once your life consists of checking coinmarketcap everyday, following your favorite cryptos on social media, and having crypto picnics with your friends AND you have extra cash to invest....you're ready for your first crypto investment!
Let's start with one of the 'Big Three' - Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), and Litecoin (LTC). Since we looked at Ethereum's page above, let's continue with Ethereum and determine where we can obtain it. On coinmarketcap, go to the Ethereum Markets tab.
In this image, the exchange platforms are ranked by the most trades (highest trade volume). We need to select a platform that will exchange your fiat money - US Dollar (USD), South Korean Won (KRW), etc. into Ethereum (ETH). Refer to the column 'Pair'. If you have USD, you can use platforms: 3 (Bitfinex), 7 (GDAX), and 15 (Gemini) to exchange USD to/from Ethereum (ETH/USD is the exchange pair).
*Don't mix up USD (US Dollar) with USDT (a cryptocurrency called 'Tether')*
As another example, if you have KRW, you can use platforms: 2 (Bithumb), 16 (Coinone), and 19 (Korbit) to exchange KRW to/from Ethereum (ETH/KRW).
*For future reference, use this same technique to determine which exchange platforms have your desired crypto and what currency is needed for the exchange pair.
Conclusion:
I want you to be a successful crypto investor. Seriously. But it's not going to be easy. Please do your research and utilize the tips above. Consider current issues such as high credit card fees, slow transactions, etc and determine which coins are designed to solve those problems. A coin's long term value will grow based on how well it improves a process that is important to everyday life.
For those that live in the US, I can tell you right now that you can't use platform #3 above (Bitfinex) as of November 9, 2017. Also, the very popular platform Coinbase owns the platform #7 (GDAX).
Therefore, in my next post, I will walk you through setting up an account in Coinbase and initiating your first crypto exchange! Read it here: First Crypto Investment with Coinbase
Ready for more? Join the cryptopicnic!
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