Dear owners of The Crypto Trader,
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Thanks for reading my book, I really hope you're enjoying it and are on your way to becoming better traders. You'll find all the latest updates to the book here on this page.
How to Buy Bitcoin
If you sign up using this link, you get $10/£7 of free Bitcoin when you buy your first $100/£76 of cryptocurrency. It also helps support my site.
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Coinbase is where most people in Europe and America go to buy Bitcoin. It is based in the United States and has millions of customers. You can buy Bitcoin with credit card, debit card, paypal or bank transfer. Coinbase claims that even if it went bust, customers' money held in its accounts would be protected by insurance, up to a maximum of $250,000 per customer.
Localbitcoins works in a similar way to ebay. You can buy Bitcoin from other people. In some countries you can buy Bitcoin using gift cards, and other prepaid cards, as well as credit / debit cards. It is important to select a reliable trading partner with a good track record on the site and a high rating from other buyers/sellers.
Luno is particularly useful for buyers in Nigeria, South Africa, Malaysia and Indonesia, as those countries are not served by some other big sellers. Luno also serves European customers, but not those in the U.S. You can buy Bitcoin using bank transfer, and also credit / debit card in some countries.
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If you sign up using this link you will receive 15 Euros worth of Bitcoin when you buy your first 250 Euros of Bitcoin. It also helps support my site.
How to Store Bitcoin
In The Crypto Trader I mentioned that it's possibly to create free paper wallets at sites such as bitcoinpaperwallet.com.
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There have recently been allegations that some people have had Bitcoins stolen from paper wallets created on that website. The site owners deny this is the case, but it's better to be safe than sorry, so if you're worried about these allegations, then it's probably best to avoid this website altogether.
The BRD or 'Bread' wallet is a respected alternative to the Mycelium wallet used as my example in 'The Crypto Trader' book. The free Mycelium app scores well in the Google Play Store, but a lot of users of the iOS version are now reporting bugs, so I'm providing this free alternative for iPhone users.
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The BRD Wallet for android and iOS has 2 million users and is able to store BTC, BCH, ETH and ERC20 tokens. As explained in the book, all 'hot wallets' like this one are theoretically hackable because your phone is connected to the internet.
How to Buy Cryptocurrencies
Binance is the world's largest, most popular crypto exchange. It was founded in China but is now notoriously 'stateless'. It charges relatively low fees compared to some other popular exchanges, and you can trade a vast array of cryptos, small and large. It is not tightly regulated, so your money is always at risk.
You can now buy Bitcoin on Binance using VISA/Mastercard credit cards, which means you can cut out the middleman (Coinbase, Luno etc) by buying Bitcoin directly on Binance and then trading it for whichever cryptos you're interested in.
Kraken is partially regulated in the U.S., which makes it a more 'respectable' exchange than most. It offers a far smaller range of cryptocurrencies to trade than Binance, but it offers margin trading on a few of them, which means you can borrow some of the money you trade with. Margin trading is high-risk so is only recommended for advanced traders.
Spread Betting platforms (UK traders only)
Bad news I'm afraid - at the start of 2021, the Financial Conduct Authority banned the trading of 'cryptocurrency derivatives' by retail traders in the UK. Spreadbetting comes under this heading, so ordinary traders are no longer allowed to trade crypto assets tax-free.