How to Maybe Not Get Totally Reamed On The Crypto Market

Hey, n00b. Yes, I’ve been telling you to buy crypto all year. And if you’re family, I was probably telling you YEARS AGO. But, water under the bridge.

So now you’re scrambling to buy into the crypto market. At all time highs. Well, I guess that’s one approach. It’s a pretty safe bet that you won’t lose your money, if you’re careful.

But there are a million ‘gotchas’ that are not going to be apparent. Even if you consider yourself a seasoned stock trader. The crypto market is not the stock market. Thank god.

Security. Ugh, I could write a whole post just on security. Two-Factor Authentication. Learn what it is. Use it religiously. Don’t access accounts on public terminals, borrowed phones, virus-riddled computers. Don’t give out passwords to people, even if you think they’re tech support. Obviously.

If the website (bookmarked, never Googled) doesn’t say HTTPS://, don’t go there. Don’t keep your non-trading money on an exchange if you don’t have to. If you’re not in for short term profits, but actually understand and believe in crypto to a degree, get a hardware wallet.

You’d pretty much learn some damn basic PC security. Kinda need it regardless.

So, you’re gonna use Coinbase. It’s okay, we all did. Some of us still do. But you’re paying out of the ass. There are exchanges that let you buy BTC via USD. Fund them. Tether is also a thing. But don’t hold Tether. It’s kinda valueless? Get some, buy your crypto. Try not to stay in Tether long term, if you trade in and out with it. Just call me suspicious. If they ever fold…

Don’t join any flaky exchange out there. There’s a handful of fairly regarded, trusted sites. Look into them. Poloniex, Binance are good places to start. Your mileage may vary.

So, you’re probably FOMOing yourself to death right now. In a big goddamn hurry. The crypto market moves incredibly fast. Guess what? If you’re trying to do this in haste, you’re gonna get screwed.

Your bank can take a week to put funds on your account. It can take days (WEEKS), easily, to get an account verified in the first place. Using a credit card or Paypal instead of a bank account or debit card can speed this up, in some cases.

Then, you don’t know about fees. Purchase fees, sales fees, transfer fees. Bitcoin will eat your lunch with transfer fees right now. Please don’t buy $20 worth and try and send it. You’ll be in for a rude awakening. From Coinbase, Litecoin is your best bet, right now. Lowest fees, good transfer times.

Also, this is not the damn local bank. If you screw up, no one can help you. If you send the wrong coin to the wrong address, guess what? It’s more than likely gone forever. And no one cares how much it was, if it was your life savings, etc. It’s a network, and humans. Neither of them care about your personal misfortune. So pay attention. Verify addresses twice before sending. There ain’t no Bitcoin company somewhere that you can call.

So, if you’ve never traded before, don’t. Well, I’m not saying don’t day trade. But don’t day trade. I mean, you can. It’s a thing. For a while, the crypto market is fish in a barrel, with easy 10-15% gains available for most people every few days. But watch your step.

When Bitcoin goes on a big rise, your altcoin holdings will drop by roughly the same percentage. This can be devastating to your portfolio. Trust us. (I sure miss those two additional BTC I had earlier this year…)

If you’re trying to, like, hustle cash for Christmas, do whatever. Go nuts. I can’t really help there. But if you’re looking for long term growth, you might start looking at the sub $1.00 crypto that have potential. There are plenty out there. They’re kind of a no-brainer, at the moment.

If you do trade, make a spreadsheet, or find a custom one, and use it to track your purchases. If you’re buying ETH with BTC, then flip into USDT, and back into LTC, did you really make money? You can sell a Bitcoin, immediately buy it back for slightly less, say a dollar, and at the end of the trade, you’re down $100. Don’t make hasty decisions. Weigh your options, always with an eye on BTC gains. It’s possible to gain in USD, but lose BTC. Which really means losing USD.

Finally, I guess, the crypto market is now really getting saturated with scammers. And I don’t just mean shady people who IM you. There’s an entire cottage industry of people offering impossible returns. And they won’t even sell you Bitcoin. Just take your money and run. Some of the schemes are quite elaborate. Pro websites with tens of thousands of users. Entirely fraudulent. 2018 will be the year of the financial horror story.

But it doesn’t have to be. If you’re new to crypto, good luck. But luck is only a small part of it…

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