Getting Started

Here's an overview of the steps we'll take to get started:

  1. 1) Open a Coinbase.com Account
  2. 2) Decide on Goals
  3. 3) Purchase Coins
  4. 4) Open Poloniex Account

Step 1 - Open an Account

To buy and/or sell Bitcoin and other Crypto-currencies you need to start with some Bitcoin. You can buy bitcoin through some ATMs scattered about the city, or though sites like www.localbitcoins.com that let you buy directly from real humans. But, in my opinion the best way to start is to open an account at www.coinbase.com.

To open an account there you'll have to prove who you are and either fund it with credit cards or link it to your bank account. I suggest linking it to your bank account because you'll need that anyway when you want to cash out some of your BTC gains.

Personally, I didn't want to give them access to my main checking account, so I linked them to a savings account. I just log in to my bank's online banker and move money in an out of that savings account as needed.

I know it can be a somewhat of a hassle to open your Coinbase account, but once you have it done you should know that everything else is easier to do.

Step 2 - What are your goals

Once you have an account open with Coinbase, you have to decide what are your goals. Are you doing this to try to make money over time on the growth of BTC, or do you want to take some risks on smaller, more obscure coins to try to strike it rich if one of them takes off.

I'll cover both options, because I do both, but it is something you should think about ahead of time because the will determine what coins you purchase.

Step 3 - Purchase some coins

Based upon your answer to #2, you should purchase some coins. Coinbase let's you buy and sell 2 coins directly on Coinbase, Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH). Those are both great coins, probably the top 2 coins, and therefore the safest coins from a risk management perspective.

If you are just looking to buy some BTC and hold it while it grows, all you need to do is buy some BTC there and you are done. I would recommend splitting your money and buying 50% BTC and 50% ETH. BTC is already pretty expensive. Currently it is about $1350 per coin. ETH is comparitively inexpensive at about $55 per coin. Therefore it is much easier for ETH to double in value than it is for BTC to double in value.

Coinbase has a nice feature that let's you set up an auto purchase each month. So, you can tell it to buy $100 worth of BTC or ETH on your behalf and use that as a forced savings plan. I think that is a great idea and a great way to take advantage of Crypto Currencies without having to do anything else.

Step 4 - Open a Poloniex Account

If your goal is to just buy and hold BTC and/or ETH, you don't need a Poloniex account. If your goal is to try some other coins, then you need a way to purchase those other coins. There are a lot of trading platforms available, including GDAX which is owned by Coinbase, but I personally like Poloniex.

Just go to Poloniex.com and open an account there. It is much easier to do than to open the Coinbase account. Basically just enter your email addres and some basic info and you have an account.

Once you have an Poloniex account you can send some of the BTC or ETH from your Coinbase account to your Poloniex account. As soon as your funds are confirmed at Poloniex, you can start using your coins to buy other coins. I'll write a whole article dedicated to Poloniex trading.

Summary

If you've done the above steps, you should be the proud owner of one or more Cryto-currencies. Check out my other posts on the main "Bitcoin" page to see where to go from here.