How to buy and sell Bitcoin and crypto
How to buy and sell Bitcoin and crypto
While there are several options, the easiest is to use an exchange.
There are many exchanges located around the world but they are subject to the laws of the jurisdiction in which they operate. Due to increasing regulatory restrictions in the USA, some exchanges do not offer their services to customers in that jurisdiction. Many of the exchanges that operate on a global basis can be viewed in several different languages.
Some exchanges have more strict requirements than others to open an account. Some require a high level of identity verification while others simply require an email address and a password. You may be limited to basic functionality until your identity has been verified.
Registering
Once you have found an exchange that you like and is available to be used in your part of the world, you need to register as a user. Depending on your local laws, this may range from providing your basic contact details to providing documentary proof of your identity. You will see this process referred to as “know your customer” or KYC.
Once you have created your account you need to transfer money to it. Again, the process depends on the laws where you live but it can be done through bank transfers, credit cards or other options such as Paypal or Applepay.
Purchasing
When you make a purchase, the exchange will create a wallet for you that is specific to that asset. For example, if you buy Bitcoin, a Bitcoin wallet will be created for you. Any Bitcoin you purchase using this exchange will be put into that wallet. You can then transfer your coins out to another wallet of your choice.
Most exchanges will allow you to set up a buy order to buy a certain amount of a coin once it hits a price you set. You can also buy it immediately at the “spot” price. Once you have purchased your coins you can either leave them on the exchange or transfer them somewhere else such as another exchange, online wallet or cold storage wallet.
Selling
If you remove your coins into cold storage and you later want to sell them, you will need to transfer them back to an exchange first. It doesn’t need to be the same one you bought them from. You can either sell your coins at the current market value (the spot price) or set a target price to sell them when the market reaches that price. Once your coins sell, the proceeds of sale will go into your account on that exchange and you can either use them to buy more crypto or move the money out to your connected bank account.
We have listed the worlds most popular exchanges to make it easy to find the one that is best for you. Go to our exchanges page using the button below and start exploring.