So I finally did it, I bought my first crypto currency. I will be honest though, it was a bit of a pain in the ass to get it going and set up. It’s amazing the hoops you have to go through. A crypto wallet? A trading platform? Some of them have their own index. Most trading platforms don’t have all of the crypto currency and some only have a few. So the question is, which one do you go with? So far what I have found out is that your best choice is to go with a few or what ever works for you. I hope I haven’t already lost you haha. I also found out that you don’t have to buy the entire coin or token. You can actually buy a part of one or buy the entire thing and if you are really interested you should look up what the minimum amount of Bitcoin(BTC) is that you can buy.
My initial expectations was that it would be close to investing in stocks and it was fairly similar to be honest. Even setting up the account was very formal compared to stocks with the very intimate information required to open an account. I have found the funding to be more easy than stocks though, some accepting credit cards, pay pal, direct bank account deposit and even e-transfers. Talk about convenience. What I finally settled on was actually using the crypto trading account that is a part of my wealthsimple account. The biggest draw back? They literally only have Bitcoin and Ethereum(ETH). I decided to invest in Ethereum and the main reason for that is because it is the most actively used blockchain, its currently less then bitcoin and the creator of it is half Canadian.
Ethereum isn’t actually the only crypto I have and wealthsimple isn’t the only platform that I currently use. I also opened up a Newton account and decided to buy some Ripple(XRP) which the only reason I bought ripple is because it was in a down trend at the time. I am currently actually looking into other platforms such as Coinbase, Binance, Exodus, Gemini, Coinberry and Shakepay. As a Canadian it can sometimes be tough to get your accounts set up on your phone or tablet so I would very much recommend trying to do it on your computer. Although I am not pleased with the lack of options in crypto with wealthsimple at least Newton has 10 as of this moment, so that is a bit more of a variety especially considering there are over 4,000 different cypto currencies haha.
So far my experience with crypto has been a very interesting and positive one I would say. I truly enjoy the 24 hours a day 7 days a week exposure to being able to trade and invest in something. Although its all so new I still feel like its just a way more intense and volatile form of investing compared to stocks. I hate to constantly compare the 2 but its the only thing I currently can compare it to(other then actually currency trading that is). So would I recommend people who invest to get into crypto? Of course, I have been enjoying it in my first week so far and am working pretty hard at trying to find what works and what doesn’t for my style of crypto investing. I know that I have MUCH more to learn but I hope that I can find my stride sooner rather than later.
That is all for today and remember everyone, invest in yourself first.
*Disclaimer, I currently hold positions in Ripple and Ethereum.
Outsider Trading 