Bitcoin: How do you buy Bitcoin? Is it easy to buy Bitcoin? Quick guide here
BITCOIN has swept the world with its volatile, unpredictable but potentially profitable price swings. How do you buy bitcoin if you are looking to invest?
By Owen Gough
The cryptocurrency market is an incredibly unpredictable
world, where bitcoin prices and fluctuate wildly in an instant.
The bitcoin craze has simmered down in recent months after
prices slumped to more than half of the 2017 peak of $19,000.
Investor confidence has waned, but there is still plenty of
opportunities for new traders to buy and sell bitcoin in an attempt to make a
profit.
The UK is not particularly active in the cryptocurrency
market, with Britain usually placed at the bottom of the top 10 most active
markets, according to CryptoCompare.
Like all other markets, there is potential for investors to
lose a lot of money on bitcoin and cryptocurrencies, so it is always advised to
stay cautious.
Indeed, many experts warn new traders to stay away from
bitcoin, which is notorious for its volatile behaviour.
If you are still interested in buying and selling bitcoin,
Express.co.uk explains how to invest in bitcoin.
What is bitcoin?
Bitcoin is the global phenomenon that has burst onto the
financial scene and taken everyone by surprise.
The technology behind bitcoin is incredibly complex, but in
simple terms, bitcoin is a digital currency that is entirely separate and
decentralised from any bank or government, making it a completely free
currency.
Bitcoin can be bought or sold like any other commodity, as
well as a real currency to purchase goods, such as pizza, clothes or even taxi
rides.
The underlying tech behind bitcoin is called Blockchain.
Bitcoins are generated through a giant, global network of supercomputers that
complete extremely complex mathematical equations which produce bitcoin onto a
digital ledger called the blockchain.
The Blockchain cannot be edited or tampered with, giving its
users complete trust and security. The ledger is public and open for everyone
to view, with each block in the chain revealing new bitcoin to track and
monitor.
Bitcoin is the oldest and most famous cryptocurrency, which
was created in 2009 for online purchases.
The coin started life as a nefarious means of paying for
illicit goods on the Dark Webb - an anonymous internet platform that allowed
users to buy and sell goods ranging from drugs to weapons.
Since then, bitcoin has grown in legitimacy to be accepted
as a genuine alternative to real currencies.
In its meteoric rise, bitcoin has jumped from a value of
roughly $10 to nearly $20,000, as modern investors picked up on the trend.
The coin has gone on to gain acceptance and promotion from
giant Wall Street firm Goldman Sachs, as well as many top hedge fund managers
as a viable investment opportunity.
The coin has a controversial history, with a lot of analysts
denouncing the coin as a bubble ripe for bursting.
How to buy bitcoin
First off, you will need to get yourself a bitcoin wallet to
store your digital tokens.
The most popular among the UK audience are Coinbase,
Blockchain.info, Exodus, MyCelium and Xapo.
If you go to their website and fill in your details, such as
your name, email address and password, as well as your bank or credit card
details, you can get started in the cryptocurrencymarket.
It is advised you secure your account with a two-factor
authentication service to stop people from accessing your wallet and stealing
your investment.
Access to all three of these wallets will let you see
bitcoin’s ever-changing value in real time.
You will notice bitcoin has an extremely disrupted and
unpredictable value, particularly in the last few months, so take some time to
look at the graphs and understand how the value has changed.
Bitcoin prices, as of writing, are reasonably good, though a
full bitcoin token is pretty pricey.
In 2018, bitcoin has averaged out around $7,000 a coin - in
2017 the cryptocurrency peaked at $19,000.
However, you do not have to buy an entire coin to get
involved in bitcoin trading. You can buy small fractions of a coin for much
smaller prices.
Your bitcoin wallet will help you to work out how much of
your actual money will translate into bitcoin.
Decide how much you are willing to invest in and complete
the transaction in the wallet. Be mindful that once the transaction is
complete, any funds you have paid will not be refunded.
From this point, trading is up to you. You can now buy and
sell your bitcoin at your leisure whenever the price moves.
Some wallets allow you to set notification reminders when
the price moves above or below a certain point, helping you react quicker to
the fast-moving market.
Bitcoin is extremely fast and incredibly volatile, so be
aware that your money can be lost very quickly and you will not be able to get
it back.
Only invest
money you are happy and willing to lose.
If at any
point you want to withdraw your investment, you can exchange the bitcoin value
back out into cash straight to your bank account.
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